Qian Xu, professor of strategic communications and A.J. Fletcher Professor, collaborated with Cheng Chen, assistant professor at Oregon State University, on a study examining how AI conversational styles interact with users’ expectations of the roles AI should play.

Their article, “” was recently published in Behaviour & Information Technology, a peer-reviewed academic journal that focuses on human-centered information technology.

The experiment randomly assigned 137 college students to one of three Microsoft Copilot conversational styles of Copilot  – creative, balanced or precise – and measured which role they expected the tool to fulfill: co-author, creator, curator or converser. Participants then completed at least three rounds of interaction with Copilot to develop a strategic plan addressing a public health issue in their home county.

Key findings include:

• Copilot’s conversational style affected the readability and linguistic features of its responses, including the use of words associated with analytical thinking and authenticity.
• Users adapted their writing based on Copilot’s conversational style, particularly in the readability of their prompts.
• Users and Copilot showed linguistic alignment in emotional tone and clout across all three conversational styles but diverged in analytical thinking.
• Mismatches between Copilot’s conversational style and users’ expectations of its role reduced perceived credibility and relevance of its responses.

“AI conversational style is more than a matter of preference. What matters is how well the style fits the roles users expect AI to play,” Xu said. The findings point to opportunities for more adaptive AI interfaces that adjust conversational style based on users’ expectations and tasks.

Behaviour & Information Technology is an international peer-reviewed Taylor & Francis journal covering the human aspects of information technology, including usability, user experience, human-computer interaction and human-centered design.

The annual recognition honors emerging public relations professionals making their mark on the industry in the early stages of their careers. For Gibson, the recognition gave her a chance to appreciate how much she and HCM have grown in a relatively short time.

“PRNEWS is one of the most respected platforms in the industry, so it’s an honor to be recognized,” Gibson said. “I’ve spent the past few years watching Hannah Cranston Media grow from a team of three to a team of more than 20, and most days I’m too deep in pitching and problem-solving to stop and think about how far we’ve come.”

While Gibson has built her career in public relations, many of the skills that guide her work today were developed through her experiences as a journalism major at ������Ƶ.

The Honors Fellow was heavily involved with ������Ƶ News Network as an anchor and multimedia journalist, while also participating other immersive experiences like FreshTV. Those opportunities helped establish a foundation in storytelling that she continues to draw upon while working on the public relations side of the media industry.

“������Ƶ gave me a passion for storytelling and a tenacious curiosity, both essential to my career,” Gibson said. “Working as a reporter and anchor with ENN taught me what it takes to build a good story, and what makes people actually connect with one – the human element has to come first.”

That journalism background, Gibson said, has proved especially valuable as she develops stories and works directly with reporters.

“It’s shaped how I think about what a good story looks like and made me a better resource to the journalists I work with today,” she said.

Following graduation, Gibson spent three years with Jennifer Bett Communications before joining HCM in early 2024 as senior manager of public relations. She was promoted to director of public relations and business development six months later.

In her current position, Gibson oversees the agency’s consumer packaged goods, women’s health and wellness client roster, with responsibilities spanning client strategy and media relations. Her work can range from developing pitch strategies with colleagues to staffing events with reporters and cultivating media relationships. “My job changes shape depending on the week – which is one of the best parts,” she said.

Gibson credits much of her professional growth to learning the importance of surrounding herself with people committed to their work and to one another.

“Bet on people over playbooks. In an industry built on relationships, we can teach anyone to write a pitch or find the right story – but working alongside people who are passionately determined and hungry to see their teams succeed is an irreplaceable, unteachable quality.”

– Amanda Gibson ’21

Gibson also points to retired ������Ƶ faculty members Rich Landesberg and Glenn Scott as influential mentors. She credits Landesberg with instilling a respect for journalism’s ability to serve communities, an outlook that has influenced the brands and people she chooses to work with. Her research with Scott examining how stories are told around major events also continues to inform her approach to identifying stories and perspectives that might otherwise be overlooked.

Those lessons, along with the relationships she developed during her undergraduate years, remain important to Gibson five years after graduating.

“Beyond the classroom, the friendships and mentors I found at ������Ƶ continue to be a bedrock of both my life and my career,” Gibson said, “I’m endlessly grateful for my time Under the Oaks.”

School of Communications faculty members earned research and teaching honors and shared their expertise on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and internships to mentorship and First Amendment issues at the .

Held Aug. 5-8 in New Orleans, the conference brought together journalism and mass communication educators and scholars from around the world to present research, exchange ideas and explore emerging issues across the communications field.

Several ������Ƶ faculty members were recognized for their work during the conference.

Shanetta Pendleton and Michele Lashley, assistant professors of strategic communications, earned second place in the Teaching Paper Competition for their research, “Exploring the Perceived Efficacy of Custom AI Chatbots in Public Relations Education.” Their study explored how course-specific AI chatbots can serve as instructional supports in undergraduate communications courses, providing students with additional opportunities for formative feedback and iterative learning. The findings highlight the potential for thoughtfully designed AI tools to complement classroom instruction by helping students refine their work and deepen their learning while encouraging responsible and ethical AI use.

Qian Xu, professor of strategic communications and A.J. Fletcher Professor, and Jenny Jiang, associate professor of visual communication, were recognized during the Internships and Careers Interest Group’s Top Refereed Research Paper Session. They presented “AI in Media Analytics Job Postings: A Computational Analysis of AI Mentions, Expectations, and Semantic Networks,” a study analyzing more than 5,400 media analytics job postings to examine how AI is mentioned, framed and structurally embedded in job descriptions.

Presentations and panels

������Ƶ faculty also contributed to research and teaching sessions examining mentorship, internships, emerging technologies, workplace experiences and First Amendment concerns.

• Israel Balderas, assistant professor of journalism, served as a panelist for “Compelling Faith: The Growing Tensions between the Free Speech, Free Exercise, and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment.” The panel examined how recent Supreme Court rulings are reshaping debates over religious expression, compelled speech and civil rights in schools and universities. Balderas also moderated “Disrespected and Derailed: Women of Color Journalists Covering the Trump Administration,” a research panel examining the experiences of women of color journalists covering the administration.

• 

  Vanessa Bravo, professor of strategic communications, served as a panelist for the teaching session “Mentoring Minoritized Students and Fostering Resilient Young Professionals,” which examined how faculty can mentor and support students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Bravo also served as a discussant for “Media, Vulnerability, and Empowerment: How Mediated Spaces Both Endanger and Support Marginalized Groups” and moderated the International Communication Division teaching panel “Global Inclusivity in Comparative Research: Experiences and Reflections.”

• Hal Vincent, associate teaching professor of strategic communications, moderated a research panel session, “Spotlight: Research Scholars Exchange,” and served as a discussant for multiple refereed research paper sessions. He also moderated the members’ meeting for the Internships and Careers Interest Group.
• Qian Xu and former ������Ƶ Comm faculty member Chris Chen presented “Customizing Communication Styles in Claude: Control Benefits, Cognitive Cost, and Task-Dependent Effects” during a scholar-to-scholar refereed research paper session on AI and relationships. Their research examined how different levels of customization and task type influence psychological responses in human-AI interaction and perceptions of AI-generated output.

The strategic communications major is serving as a strategy and account intern, where he rotates between McKinney’s strategy and account teams. With a few weeks of the internship behind him, Arrasmith said the transition has been seamless thanks to the strong sense of community at the agency.

“Everyone here is so welcoming,” Arrasmith said. “Even though I’m the youngest person both in the agency and in my internship class, I don’t feel out of place.”

Arrasmith said McKinney has been on his radar for years. After his early exposure to the agency, he regularly checked the company’s internship page in hopes of one day earning a spot in the program.

As an account management and strategy intern, Arrasmith helps bridge communication between the agency and its clients. While the role has introduced new challenges, he arrived with a foundation built through classroom experiences and leadership roles at ������Ƶ.

For the past two years, Arrasmith has been involved with ������Ƶ’s student-run communications agency.

Arrasmith has served as an account supervisor with Live Oak and credits the organization for preparing him for the fast-paced agency environment.

“I feel I have a good grasp of what’s going on and what people are talking about,” he said.

While familiar with agency work, Arrasmith said the internship has broadened his understanding of how different departments collaborate to serve clients.

He’s also gained exposure to an industry he knew little about before arriving at McKinney. Working with the agency’s health division has required him to learn healthcare terminology, pharmaceutical companies and industry-specific concepts.

“I didn’t know anything about health or pharma, so it’s been a lot of just taking the time afterward to educate myself,” he said.

Despite the learning curve, Arrasmith said the experience has reinforced the value of curiosity and continuous learning.

“I found great success in just always asking questions, always wanting to learn the most I can about a subject, because that shows people that you are interested, you’re engaged, and you actually care about what you’re doing,” he said.

As he enters his third year at ������Ƶ, Arrasmith hopes to leave the internship with meaningful relationships across the agency, developing a network he can lean on for guidance. To make that happen, he has set a personal goal of taking at least 10 colleagues out to lunch before the summer ends.

Some lessons start with a lecture. Others begin with a camera in hand, a deadline looming, and a story waiting to be told.

That’s how Blake Pierre-Louis described his experience in ������Ƶ’s Emerging Journalists Program, where the rising senior from Rochester, New York, joined 17 other high school students for a 12-day immersive journalism experience.

“It was like a two-week crash course in everything you might need to know if you’re getting into journalism,” Pierre-Louis said. “It’s a great opportunity to get hands-on experience and actually learn by doing instead of sitting in a classroom. You get to actually go out, apply concepts and use what you’ve learned.”

During the residential program, which ran June 15-26, the students worked as members of a functioning newsroom while reporting on stories on and off campus. Their assignments took them to the North Carolina State Capitol, the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Dash, while media tours introduced them to journalists at WUNC News and ABC11 WTVD-TV. They also produced professional web stories, a newspaper and a television news broadcast.

.

“We had an incredibly cohesive and collaborative group of students join us on campus this summer,” said Colin Donohue, assistant professor of journalism and EJP program director. “They were diligent and enterprising and intrepid. As important, they were generous and kind. They possess tremendous potential, and I look forward to seeing them apply their skills in their hometowns and in their schools.”

Led by Donohue and Kelly Furnas, EJP curriculum coordinator and associate teaching professor of journalism, students quickly moved from classroom instruction to real-world reporting.

For Thailik McCormick, a rising senior at Central Carolina Academy in Sanford, North Carolina, the experience built on the foundation he established as a founding member of his school’s broadcasting program.

“EJP does a really good job of throwing a lot at you, but then also making sure that you can apply these things really quickly, so you can retain them,” McCormick said. “I was presented with the information, and then immediately told to go apply it.”

The experience also expanded his vision for what his future might hold.

“Two weeks ago, I might have told you I’d study entrepreneurship or accounting, but now I’m really looking into public relations or marketing – and use the hard skills that I’ve worked on here and translate them into a field of my choice,” McCormick said.

Aly McFadden, a rising senior from Clark, New Jersey, said one of the most memorable experiences came while producing a full-fledged television newscast, where students were trusted with everything from anchoring and audio work to directing and producing.

“Everybody in that room made us feel like we were professionals,” McFadden said. “Even if I made a mistake, everybody made me feel like it was OK. It was such an interesting collaboration of people that you’ve known for two weeks who are all using their skills together to create one big production.”

McFadden said working alongside classmates from across the country became one of the most rewarding aspects of her time at ������Ƶ.

“It’s really eye-opening to see so many people have so many different life experiences,” she said. “Being in a room with people who are just as passionate about journalism as you are is incredibly motivating. I can’t wait to see them on the news or read their articles.”

Established in 2021, the Emerging Journalists Program introduces high school students interested in journalism and media careers through immersive, experiential learning. Students earn four hours of college credit and are paired with ������Ƶ student mentors who continue to provide guidance after the program concludes.

This year, a record 52 students from across the country applied to the program, with all applicants invited to participate in the virtual Exposure experience before 18 students were selected for the on-campus Immersion cohort.

Donohue also credited School of Communications students Charlie Crum ’28, Blair Mitchell ’29 and Emma Perman ’29 for serving as strong counselors and mentors throughout the experience.

“EJP is one of the most professionally fulfilling experiences I’ve participated in,” Donohue said. “I hope a year from now we can celebrate a sixth cohort.”

Before they could create communications campaigns, students in Professor Julie Lellis’ Senior Seminar in Health Communications spent time listening.

They listened to physicians and midwives. They listened to expectant mothers. And they listened to the stories behind the data as part of a partnership with Cone Health’s program that challenged students to address real-world maternal health communication needs.

Those conversations and observations laid the foundation for the students’ semester-long projects. Working with the Cone Health Center for Women’s Healthcare at MedCenter for Women, students developed strategic communications campaigns aimed at increasing enrollment, improving retention and expanding awareness of the program among patients and healthcare providers.

As part of the partnership, students worked directly with healthcare professionals, including Dr. Kim Newton, founder and lead physician of Mom+Baby Combined Care, and Virginia Smith, CenteringPregnancy coordinator. Several students also attended the North Carolina and Virginia Centering Consortium, gaining firsthand insight into the impact of group prenatal care on maternal and infant health outcomes. During Finals Week, students presented their campaigns to Newton and Smith, who visited ������Ƶ’s campus.

CenteringPregnancy is an evidence-based model of group prenatal care that combines health assessments, education and peer support. Research has shown the approach can improve maternal and infant health outcomes while helping reduce disparities in care. At the MedCenter for Women in Greensboro, many participants are covered by Medicaid, and the clinic serves uninsured and underinsured patients throughout the region.

“The ������Ƶ students were a great part of our team,” Newton said. “They took the time to understand and engage with CenteringPregnancy and really captured how the group care feels different and meets people where they are. Their presentations were impressive to say the least and also provided our team with a roadmap for how to ensure our work to expand Centering feels cohesive and genuine.”

For Emmy Beauvais ’26, a strategic communications major with minors in health communications and business administration, the project demonstrated how classroom learning can translate into community impact.

“Participating in the Health Comm Senior Seminar class – and working with Virginia and Dr. Newton – was one of the most meaningful experiences of my time at ������Ƶ,” Beauvais said. “Unlike classroom projects, this project gave us the opportunity to develop and present a real communications campaign for an actual client. We did this through research-backed goals, objectives and strategies, and tangible deliverables that could be implemented in practice.”

Beauvais said attending the regional consortium early in the semester helped shape the team’s work and deepen her understanding of maternal healthcare challenges and opportunities.

“Overall, this experience showed me what it looks like to create work that extends beyond the classroom and truly can make a meaningful impact on a community,” she said.

The course also received a Community Partnership Initiative Grant from ������Ƶ’s Kernodle Center. The grant helped Centering providers purchase educational supplies for participants, while students assembled Baby Go! Bags filled with diapers, wipes, burp cloths and other newborn essentials for expectant mothers.

Lellis, who directs the health communications minor, said the partnership allowed students to see both the personal and systemic dimensions of healthcare communication.

“Students experienced everything from the joy of hearing a baby’s heartbeat to the heartache of exploring the realities of health disparities in maternal care,” Lellis said. “They learned how Centering is changing outcomes and making a direct impact on the lives of pregnant women in our local area.”

Lellis explained that the experience challenged students to translate research and data into actionable communications strategies for a community partner.

“Students learned how to generate insights based on data and turn those insights into creative strategies that inform audiences and motivate them to act,” she said.

Several of this semester’s studies center on TikTok and the platform’s growing influence on media consumption, identity and audience behavior. “The emphasis on TikTok underscores its increasing prominence in today’s media landscape,” journal editor Harlen Makemson wrote in his introduction to the issue.

Among the featured studies, strategic communications major Kyra Briggs examines how TikTok users responded to the Idaho college student murders, analyzing emotional expression, narrative construction, misinformation and collective sensemaking on the platform. Fellow strategic communications major Avery Ferguson explores how women ages 18 to 25 perceive the “clean girl aesthetic” on TikTok and how it influences their well-being, self-esteem and lifestyle choices. Elizabeth Walker, another strategic communications major, analyzes 100 TikTok videos to examine how Gen Z users expressed nostalgia, emotional memory and generational identity through references to 2016.

Several students investigated the relationship between television, fandom and audience participation. Delaney Guidi, a communication design major, studies how popular film franchises borrow principles from sports merchandising to create team identification, while also examining how fan-made merchandise attempts to establish authenticity. Sport management major Shelby Keel looks into how institutional framing and participatory fan discourse elevated the reality television phenomenon “Scandoval” into a culturally and commercially significant media event.

Additional research focuses on representation and identity in television storytelling. Jenna Moylan, a cinema and television arts major, analyzes four contemporary animated television programs to study trans characters’ narrative roles, the centrality of transness and the visual legibility of character design. Strategic communications major Evelyn Ealey compares portrayals of the Strong Black Woman archetype in television series before and after 2000, finding that more contemporary programs tend to offer greater complexity and depth to those characters.

The issue also includes Halli Harwood’s examination of how three cruise lines frame port communities through excursion descriptions. The strategic communications major found that cruise lines often present selective portrayals of destinations that result in limited diversity, equity and inclusion representation.

“These articles, produced in collaboration with faculty mentors, each represent exceptional achievements in undergraduate research,” Makemson said.

To assemble the spring 2026 edition, Makemson worked with an editorial board of 21 School of Communications faculty who participated in a blind-review process to select the strongest submissions. Since launching in 2010, the ������Ƶ Journal has published 33 issues, with each research article on its own dedicated webpage.

Among more than 200 undergraduate research journals cataloged by the Council on Undergraduate Research, the ������Ƶ Journal remains one of the few focused exclusively on student work in journalism, media and communications.

Emily Beauvais, Graduate Student, Northeastern University (Boston)

Nia Bedard, Graduate Student, ������Ƶ (������Ƶ, North Carolina)

Kiersten Bergman, Graduate Student, Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)

Max Berkson, Media Intern, Carmichael Lynch (Philadelphia)

Aidan Blake, Digital Content Creator, Kaulig Racing (Kernersville, North Carolina)

Anna Brett Blinston, Media and Content Analyst, Big Valley Marketing

Merrie Byers, Graduate Student, North Carolina State University (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Coco Cameron, PR & Social Media Associate, Devaney & Associates (Owings Mills, Maryland)

Luke Carey, Head Coach, Seacoast United MA North (Andover, Massachusetts)

Aaron Chan, Production Specialist, Amazing Studios (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Alexa Citrin, Graduate Student, University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Delaney Dickinson, Social Media Manager, Works Design Group (Haddon Heights, New Jersey)

Ava D’Innocenzio, Graduate Student, Boston University (Boston)

Philip Doherty, Freelance Technical Director (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Julien Dupas, Video Director, Discover Blind Spots (Burlington, North Carolina)

Liam Dupas, Video Director Co-Lead, Discover Blind Spots (Burlington, North Carolina)

Kaelyn Elien, Fellow, Bully Pulpit International (Washington, D.C.)

Anjolina Fantaroni, Reporter, WAFF 48 (Huntsville, Alabama)

Elliet Faust, Marketing & Operations Intern, Rise Social Partners

Avery Ferguson, Intern, Golin (New York)

Lila Goldberg, Project Manager, Mediaplanet (New York)

Jesse Gordon, Reporter, Sports Business Journal (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Sever Gregory, Graduate Student, University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas)

Rachel Holley, Reporter, WECT6 (Wilmington, North Carolina)

Daniel Jaeger, Agent Training Program, United Talent Agency (Los Angeles)

Shelby Keel, Golden Gopher Fund Intern, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Mira Maccarone, Graduate Student, Boston College (Boston)

Lucy McAfee, Graduate Student, Boston College (Boston)

Fiona McAllister, Media Rotation Program Fellow, Fox News (New York)

Morgan Minoff, Associate, ASC Advisors LLC (Stamford, Connecticut)

Maxine Motley, PR Intern, Jennifer Bett Communications (New York)

Tristin Oberg, Graduate Student, Montana State University (Bozeman, Montana)

Abraham Paley, Graduate Student, Saint Mary’s College of California (Moraga, California)

Max Quatroche, Graduate Student, John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television, University of Southern California (Los Angeles)

Hannah Riggs, Team Lead, HeadCount (New York)

Lexi Rogers, Graduate Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Hudson Sabiston, Graphic Designer, Cone Health Drawbridge Parkway (Greensboro, North Carolina)

Anabella Shpak, Graduate Student, Columbia University (New York)

Ben Solis, Sales, Grainger (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Benji Stern, Springboard Fellow, Brandeis Hillel (Waltham, Massachusetts)

Grace Stetler, PGA WORKS Fellow, PGA REACH Foundation (Philadelphia)

Evelyn Stuart, Recruiter, ALKU (Washington, D.C.)

Bernardo Vargas-Lopez, Co-Founder/Co-CEO, YAPA Global (Austin, Texas)

Erik Winikur, Management Accelerator Program, Concessions Manager, Aramark Sports & Entertainment (Washington, D.C.)

Pendleton’s article, “,” is available through Taylor & Francis Online.

Published in May, the study explores how journalism and communication students navigate questions of belonging, institutional support and identity as colleges and universities across the country reevaluate or scale back DEI initiatives. The research highlights the tensions students experience between feeling connected to their academic communities while also confronting isolation and uncertainty about institutional commitment to inclusion.

Pendleton, whose scholarship focuses on authenticity, relationship management and equity in strategic communications and higher education, said the project reflects her broader interest in how institutions shape relational dynamics and student experiences.

“Understanding how students experience belonging during moments of institutional and cultural change is critical for communication educators and university leaders,” Pendleton said. “This research examines the complexities students face as they navigate identity, support and community in evolving educational environments.”

Pendleton joined ������Ƶ in fall 2023. Her scholarship has appeared in several journals, including Public Relations Review, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Health Communication, Social Responsibility Journal and The Journal of Social Media in Society.

is a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on communication studies, media, culture and social issues. It is published by Howard University and is especially known for scholarship examining race, identity, representation, gender, politics and marginalized communities in media and communication.

In the midst of finals week, inside a second-floor conference room in Schar Hall overlooking the Historic Neighborhood, ������Ƶ seniors presented communications campaigns for one of the world’s most recognizable digital brands: TikTok.

The May 15 presentations marked the culmination of a semester-long partnership between students in Professor Lee Bush’s Strategic Campaigns course, TikTok and ������Ƶ alumna Julia Denick ’15, a brand partnerships manager in media and entertainment for the company. A second class taught by Bush shared its presentations remotely with Denick via Zoom a few days later.

Throughout the semester, students were challenged to think beyond TikTok’s identity as an entertainment platform and instead position it as a powerful marketing tool capable of driving discovery, engagement and purchasing decisions for brands and small businesses. For students, the project offered an opportunity to tackle the kind of real-world strategic communications challenge they may encounter after graduation.

“������Ƶ gave me so much,” said Denick, explaining her decision to partner with current students. “This felt like a small way to give some of that back. I also remember being in their shoes and how much I would have loved working on a project like this.”

A 2015 graduate of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, Denick now works with NBCUniversal and other major media partners, helping brands develop creative and data-driven campaigns on TikTok.

“I’m responsible for building strategic partnerships with NBCU and helping them drive business results on TikTok,” Denick said. “Much of that work is blending creativity and data – advising on media strategy, measurement, creative and building custom campaigns around their biggest tentpole moments.”

Bush explained that the partnership challenged students to look beyond their everyday use of the platform and consider how brands strategically connect with audiences through TikTok.

“Students are, of course, prolific users of TikTok,” Bush said. “This was a great opportunity for them to experience the platform from a different perspective – that of a business or brand manager who needs to reach their customers through the platform.”

Bush said the project reflected the experiential learning focus that defines the Strategic Campaigns course, which serves as the capstone experience for strategic communications majors.

“We are so grateful to Julia for agreeing to be the client for not just one, but two Strategic Campaigns classes and for flying in from New York to see student presentations in person,” Bush said. “What a thrilling culminating experience for our graduating strategic communications seniors.”

For Tori Tyson ’26, one of those graduating seniors, the class project highlighted both the strategic thinking and collaboration required to develop a successful campaign.

“Our assignment was to work with TikTok to create a strategic campaign that repositioned the platform as more than just an entertainment app,” Tyson said.

Tyson noted that one of the most rewarding aspects of the semester was working alongside classmates who each brought different ideas and strengths to the campaign process.

“Everyone on our team brought different strengths, perspectives and ideas to the table, which made the project more creative and well-rounded overall,” Tyson said. “Teamwork played a huge role in our campaign, especially when it came to brainstorming, problem-solving and refining our ideas into one cohesive strategy.”

She also credited Bush with encouraging students to think creatively while maintaining a professional approach to client work.

“Professor Bush created an environment that encouraged collaboration and pushed us to think more strategically and creatively throughout the semester,” Tyson said. “She gave us the confidence to take risks with our ideas while still guiding us in a professional and supportive way.”

The experience also challenged students to narrow broad research and ideas into focused, achievable strategies.

“TikTok is such a fast-moving platform with so many opportunities,” Tyson said, “so it took a lot of collaboration and problem-solving to create a campaign that was both creative and strategic.”

For Denick, the project reinforced the value of experiential learning opportunities before graduation and offered a meaningful way to give back to her alma mater.

“Group projects don’t end after college – life is one big group project,” she said. “And what better prep for post-grad than the real thing.”