Graduate Student Appreciation Week Q&A with SJMC Graduate Students

April 6–10 marked the first UW–Madison Graduate Student Appreciation Week and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication was thrilled to celebrate the incredible graduate students whose research, creativity and collaboration shape the SJMC community. From professional and research master’s students to PhD candidates, these students bring curiosity and passion to everything they do. We asked a group of SJMC graduate students a few questions to learn more about what brought them here and what inspires them inside and outside the classroom.

Diego Mazorra

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

SJMC is the best!

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

A capybara, just chilling with no stress in sight.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

Political communication is my research area. I don’t like politics, but politics likes me—and given the state of the world, there is still much work to be done in this field.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

Shoutout to Carlos for his work both in the field and in academia. Not everyone can balance a PhD while working as a journalist.

What is a fun fact about you?

A fun fact about me is that I can drink a liter of coffee and still function like nothing happened. My caffeine tolerance is probably concerning.

Alexus Moore

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

I knew the faculty at SJMC were knowledgeable and knew their stuff. I was excited to work with them. Plus, living by the lake piqued my interest.

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

Snapping turtle, so I can hide and bite when I need to.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

AI-generated health messages and how people perceive them. I was noticing how big AI was growing, and wanted to combine it with health communication, since that’s an interesting and crucial field.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

Shoutout to Indi for completing those prelims!

What is a fun fact about you?

I’m on track to read at least 50 books by the end of the year.

Caitlyn Nalley

Program: Professional MA

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

I liked the focus on tangible skills and the fact that a professional degree could be completed in as little as 3 semesters.

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

I would be a whale, they’re my favorite animal and it would be cool to roam the oceans.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

If I had to pick a focus, it would be natural resources management, but I also really love human interest features.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

Kat Hans is in my cohort and she is always asking insightful questions and doing really interesting community reporting!

What is a fun fact about you?

I’m originally from Kentucky, but I’ve also lived and worked in Michigan, Florida, and Colorado!

Sean Pauley

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

I finished my MA studies here, and I loved the collaborative environment!

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

I’d probably be a duck. Flying around and chilling on the water all day sounds pretty nice.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

I study news coverage of reparations for slavery. I’m interested in how people conceptualize racial justice issues like this and construct perceptions of viability.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

I’d like to shout out Naomi Mine! Her research does a great job taking a big-picture perspective, and she approaches methodology with an exceptional degree of criticality and thoroughness.

What is a fun fact about you?

I got my undergrad degree in game design, and I’ve developed two full-length games with a close friend! (And I’m currently working on a third.)

Tom Tse

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

Great faculty!

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

Shiba! They are cute but so stubborn!

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

Journalism studies. It was actually incidental, because I cannot see a future for myself as a journalist in Hong Kong!

Shout out another grad student and their work!

Laila Abbas! We are collaborating on a few projects regarding slurs and incivility. I always admire Laila’s work on visual framing and social movements — hugely important!

What is a fun fact about you?

I cannot eat chocolate!

Ryan Wettschurack

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

I chose SJMC because I wanted to earn a world-class education in a place that I loved, both for its environment and its people. Working with brilliant professors and supported by wonderful graduate student colleagues, it makes all the stress and work of graduate school not just bearable, but enjoyable.

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

I’d be a Koala Bear so that I could eat some poisonous leaves and then sleep for 21 hours.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

I focus on media history. I am an historian by training, but I was drawn to media by how important I saw it to be in Donald Trump success as a candidate and later as president, and I wanted to get to the roots of how the modern political media environment emerged out of the breakdown of the broadcast media monopoly in the 1970s and 80s.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

I want to shoutout Sean Pauley! Despite his protestations, he is one of the hardest-working graduate students I know, and I’ve been so inspired by his willingness to rethink and adapt his research approaches to use the best methods to answer the research questions he is interested in, even if that means learning an entirely new methodology.

What is a fun fact about you?

I love to play tennis, and I am sick of all the new pickleball players taking over my tennis courts!

Brule Woods

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

My Master’s advisor said this was a great program and I wanted to try to stay close to family. Also, everyone I knew said that Madison was an awesome city.

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

Some sort of high-on-the-food-chain bird, so that I can fly around and check things out without becoming prey.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

Effects of social media use on self-awareness, memes, video games, and media psychology things in general. Just have always been fascinated by media and our relationship with it, whatever form it takes.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

I think the stuff that JD is doing with far right media and online purity culture is extremely interesting.

What is a fun fact about you?

I like to race cars on my skateboard when going down hills.

Jingqi Yang

Program: PhD

Why did you choose the SJMC to pursue your graduate studies?

Great faculty and high-quality education.

If you could be one animal for a day, what would you be and why?

Be a dog, walking a human. Or be a jellyfish, born to float, drifting freely.

What is your research area or area of focus? What drew you to that area?

I haven’t narrowed it down to anything very specific yet. Broadly speaking, I’d say I’m interested in gender politics and information perception. I hadn’t expected gender to be such a political issue, but it really is. I’m also interested in how people perceive information differently under gendered norms and unequal power relations.

Shout out another grad student and their work!

Hihi Luhang, you are amazing and you are the best “buddy”. Your work deserve to be seen by more people!!!

What is a fun fact about you?

I can wiggle my ears and nostrils.