Fiscal Year 2025 Update

College of Media

The Transformative Power of Your Investment

Thanks to a new $2.5M gift from Richard and Leslie Frank, who in 2020 endowed the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media and enabled the renovation of Richmond Studio, exciting upgrades in the lower level of Gregory Hall began this spring. This will result in the creation of a new hybrid/flexible, state-of-the-art classroom, a renovated main corridor, plus updated flooring throughout, including in faculty offices. (Pictured above; see more photos here.) We also expanded domestic and international experiential learning opportunities for students, made possible by the generosity of donors who recognize the value of immersive experiences beyond the classroom. Students traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit news outlets and key government locations; to Freetown, Sierra Leone, with the “Globally Focused Advanced Documentary Filmmaking” class; and to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden, for a closer look at the branding, advertising, and cultural strategies of major global companies. The College also engaged in timely conversations this year to help foster civic preparedness, hosting free webinars on “Bridging Divides: Conversations on Media and Disagreement,” with faculty and alumni panelists, including one in collaboration with the Suburban Illini Club.

Tracy Sulkin

Dean of the College of Media

$2,991,741

Dollars raised

346

Donors

534

Gifts

First-time donors

$170,395

Unrestricted dollars raised

Data reflects Fiscal Year 2025 (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025) and is current as of August 1, 2025.

Brandt Public Engagement Fellows assist with college projects

Since 2022, the Mark L. Brandt Public Engagement Fellows program has provided real-world experiences for students supporting faculty and staff on community-focused projects. It also funds the New Voices internship program for first-generation students.

Brandt Fellows are placed in units across the College of Media, including at Illinois Public Media. Lily Cohen (pictured at left), an advertising student, worked in development to enhance IPM’s fundraising and member recruitment efforts on social media. Cohen researched other public media organizations’ efforts, assessed their successes, and provided suggestions and best practices.

“I have had an incredible experience at IPM,” Cohen said. “Working with Nicky [Bennett, digital fundraising manager,] to research and strategize how to [improve] IPM’s fundraising on social media has been a great learning experience.”

Learn more about the Brandt Fellows program.

Students win multiple awards for documentary filmed in Sierra Leone

A student team won first place in the 2024-25 Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s Multimedia Digital News/Enterprise Team category for their documentary filmed in Sierra Leone. Donors helped fund their trips in 2024 and 2025.

Tailoring Hope focuses on Uman Tok, an NGO based in Sierra Leone, which aims to alleviate period poverty and menstrual exclusion and educate girls and boys about sexual and reproductive health awareness.

The team also won first place in the 2024 Illinois Broadcasters Association Student Silver Dome Award for Television Photojournalism for their entry “The Women of Uman Tok Reframe Menstruation in Sierra Leone.”

They also received an award for Outstanding Oral Presentation at this spring’s Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Watch the documentary.

Learn more.

Video still of the executive director of Uman Tok

Three College of Media students participating in yoga at a student wellness event

Journalism alum Marilynn Preston supports well-being initiatives for students

Marilynn Preston’s generous support of a multi-year series on wellness and self-care is helping nurture Media students while on campus and preparing them for a career in a demanding industry that can take a physical and emotional toll on its professionals.

So far, events have included a well-being open house, workshops on breathing with James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, and with the Campus Rec Student Wellness team, and a pre-final exams workshop with the Counseling Center on tips to tackle stress and burnout.

Media studies scholar Denise Bielby inspired to support Ebert Center through blended gift

Denise Bielby, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Emerita, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose research focuses on the culture-producing industries of film and television, has had a long appreciation for the scholarly value that the late Roger Ebert brought to film criticism.

As a major donor to the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, which launched in 2022, Bielby offered a blended gift, which includes a multi-year current use cash gift as well as deferred estate gifts.

Bielby said it was important to support the research of faculty in the College of Media, and the training of their graduate and undergraduate students.

Patricia Aufderheide, who presented the 2024 Roger Ebert Lecture, answers questions from the audience

Advertising alum Murray Kalis rewards students’ creative excellence

Since 2020, the Murray Kalis Award for Creativity in Advertising has provided monetary gifts to advertising students for creative excellence. Students who demonstrate smart positioning, outstanding creative concepts, strong execution, and a “wow” factor receive awards for Best Single Ad, Best Campaign, and Best Portfolio. Pictured are the 2024 Murray Kalis Award for Creativity in Advertising students holding their star awards: Greta Prepejchal (Best Portfolio), Rhea Moozhayil (Best Single Ad) and Brigid Kissane and Luke Routson (Best Campaign).

Kalis received the 2025 College of Media Distinguished Alumni Award for his outstanding career accomplishments and generous monetary support of advertising students.

“The response to the Award for Creativity in Advertising has been beyond what I anticipated,” Kalis said. “The students are thrilled to express creative ideas. And the questions I get when I teach are insightful, mature, and often surprising.”

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Donors ensure that the College of Media remains a place where access meets excellence to shape a better future. Thank you for opening doors, changing lives, and building a legacy of impact.

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