Just before the semester started, I had the chance to see Brandi Carlile perform at Breese Stevens Field in Madison. She took requests, including one for “The Eye,” in which she sings, in three-part harmony, “you can dance in a hurricane, but only if you’re standing in the eye.” It was beautiful.
The week before the semester begins is a whirlwind of leadership meetings, chair trainings, new student orientations, navigating remote work in the wake of the broken (four foot wide!) pipe that cools the university, and welcoming new colleagues. I can dance in this hurricane, because the SJMC is always standing in the eye.
That is, our work is central to UW-Madison’s strategic framework, which seeks to:
- Deliver unrivaled educational experiences to prepare students for the future,
- Discover, create and innovate to change lives,
- Convene and collaborate for the public good, and
- Cultivate a culture of excellence to ensure a resilient future
Professor Sue Robinson’s “Practicing Communication for Social Change” course, delivered unrivaled educational experiences as students partnered directly with four Madison organizations to teach teens storytelling skills and build real fundraising, podcasting and strategic communication campaigns.
Professor Young Mie Kim, recently named a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, and SJMC Assistant Professor (and alum!) Ross Dahlke recently discovered, created and innovated a way to quantify just how much social media microtargeting suppresses voter turnout in minority communities.
We continue to convene and collaborate for the public good in a variety of ways. On October 16-17, the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal will host a conference, “State of Emergency: Freedom and Democracy at the Crossroads,” at the Pyle Center. Welcoming 17 scholars from around the country, we will share our research, learn from our guests’ scholarship and forge new collaborations to serve our faculty and students growth.
We are cultivating a culture of excellence in so many ways, including our hiring of new assistant professor Angela Lee, who joined SJMC this fall from Stanford. She studies how people’s beliefs about AI and algorithms shape their everyday behavior — exactly the kind of expertise our students . . . and our field needs right now.
All of this is possible thanks to our incredible staff, who deserve special recognition for doing all of the things that have to be done to prepare for the semester – all while we were out of Vilas Hall as the university responded to the broken pipe that brought chilled water to most of campus.
A little over two months into my directorship, the question I get the most from alumni is, “how can I help?” I love this question.
Taking a page from our own teaching and mentoring work, I will not bury the lede or miss an opportunity for a direct appeal. We need your continued financial support, giving to our Annual Fund and/or to particular projects you want to lift up for our students, faculty and staff. In this era of budget cuts, attacks on higher education and increased competition, your support makes it possible for us to thrive as the unrivaled leader in integrating scholarly discoveries, classroom innovation, transformative mentoring and democracy-oriented public-service engagement.
Just as important, we need your time, advice, experiences and energy. Whether holding office hours in the Journalism Reading Room and meeting with students, visiting a class, sharing updates from your own career and insights about industry trends we need to keep our eyes on from a curriculum and training perspective, your engagement with us is, frankly, exceptionally valuable.
It’s my pleasure to report that your SJMC faculty, staff and students are tightly packed in the eye of this semester’s hurricane, singing in a tight three-part harmony to advance the Wisconsin Idea.
On, Wisconsin!
Michael W. Wagner
Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communication