May 14, 2021

By Haley Parnell [INTERIOR CAPTION AND PHOTO CREDIT] Description of image here. Photo/Credit goes here. “I think the biggest thing that I learned at the University of Cincinnati was, it’s really important to go do,” says Tom Demeropolis, a 2007 graduate of UC’s journalism program and a senior reporter with the Cincinnati Business Courier. “You’ve got to be able to show potential employers that you can do the work,” he says. The journalism program encourages students like Demeropolis to apply classroom learning to hands-on experience like writing for The News Record (TNR), UC’s student-run media organization. This kind of training helps prepare students for internships, professional networking and later, career success.

July 26, 2021

By Nailah Edwards From the age of 15, Meghan Goth knew she wanted to pursue a career in journalism. She was inspired by the creative writing and journalism classes she took during middle school and high school in Denver, Colorado with teacher Elektra Greer. “(She) did a fantastic job of fostering my love of writing,” Goth said. Goth is now the senior manager of the enterprise/investigative team of WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, where she manages the I-Team and enterprise reporters. Goth and her family moved to Cincinnati when she was 16. She returned to Colorado to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder, but she decided to finish her degree at the University of Cincinnati, where she studied journalism and minored in French in the College of Arts & Sciences.

July 19, 2021

During Emily Maxwell’s fourth year studying English at the University of Cincinnati, she had an epiphany. After taking a course in journalism, she changed her major and didn’t look back, becoming the first student to graduate from UC with a concentration in photojournalism. Now an award-winning visual journalist with multiple Emmys to her credit, Maxwell is known for her documentary work on poverty, public housing, environmental issues and wildlife conservation. Maxwell credits the journalism program in the College of Arts and Sciences for teaching students how to do a little bit of everything in a journalism career. Students enrolled in the program were strongly encouraged to land internships at local news outlets and to contribute to UC’s student-run publication, The News Record, a training ground for UC journalists for more than 100 years.

February 22, 2021

Print media is an industry that is hard to break into, but for UC alumna Brande Victorian there were additional hurdles: being a woman of color.

July 2, 2021

By Jason Szelest From a young age, Keith Jenkins loved to write. He remembers in kindergarten, while other children would play with blocks and Legos, he would sit at a writing table, working on his penmanship. Before his teenage years, Jenkins had already begun to stand out as a writer, winning an essay contest in the sixth grade. “The first-, second- and third-place winners got to read their essays in front of the whole school,” Jenkins said. “I was hyped to read mine when the other two winners were so nervous. That’s when I really knew I loved to write, and I loved to speak.” Jenkins went on to major in journalism in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, and become editor in chief of The News Record, UC’s student-run media organization. Today, he is a sports reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer, where he covers UC athletics. But journalism was not the first career choice for Jenkins. His father played professional football, and his own accomplishments on the gridiron at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati led to a football scholarship at the University of Toledo.

June 16, 2021

By Olive Collins Niesz Maija Zummo has lived the dream of every journalism student: She rose in the ranks of the publication that gave her a start as an intern to become its editor-in-chief. Since she graduated in 2006 from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in journalism, Zummo has become one of the best-known voices in Cincinnati journalism as editor-in-chief of Cincinnati’s alt-weekly publication, CityBeat. “Maija arrived at UC with a virtual suitcase full of skills, the creativity of polished poet, and the gumption and confidence to go after her dreams,” says Jenny Wohlfarth, UC educator journalism professor. Studying journalism wasn’t part of Zummo’s plans when she enrolled at UC. She intended to study Classics for her undergraduate degree and attend veterinary school for her graduate degree. Then she took a newswriting and reporting course and promptly fell in love with journalism.

October 1, 2021

One might not think that degrees in history and journalism would lead to a successful career in the Silicon Valley. But they certainly have for University of Cincinnati alumnus Chad Reid, who is vice president of marketing and communications for a San Francisco tech company. Reid, who attended UC from 2005 to 2010, is an executive for Jotform, which has developed a platform for creating and sharing online forms. The skills Reid acquired in the College of Arts & Sciences at UC have translated well to a career in marketing, he said. “Companies need people who can write, especially who can write on a deadline,” he said. “They also need people who can research.” Becoming a journalism major at UC was “a no brainer” for him, Reid said, because he had been editor of his high school newspaper. But UC didn’t have the major when he first arrived at the university. It announced it was starting a journalism program after Reid’s freshman year.

September 20, 2021

Saleha Mohsin, the first student to graduate from the University of Cincinnati’s journalism program, knew from a young age that she wanted to do for a career. “My mom actually told me when I was 15, ‘I think you're going to be a journalist’,” she said. But when she enrolled at UC, the university did not have a journalism program – just a handful of journalism courses housed in the university’s English program. So she enrolled in 2001 first as an undecided student and then as an English major in the College of Arts and Sciences. It was during that first year when Mohsin became involved in the campus newspaper, The News Record.

April 19, 2022

When Brande Victorian changed her UC major to journalism, she found what she says was “the perfect fit.” The 2007 graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences took her skills and ran with them, carving a career in the competitive field of writing that has taken her from medical publishing to an editor’s role at a leading magazine for Black women. Currently the senior editor of entertainment for Essence magazine, Victorian was honored this month with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the A&S Alumni Association. The award is conferred annually on an A&S grad under age 40 with significant achievements in their field, and active involvement with the university. Prior to becoming a part of the Essence family, Victorian contributed to a variety of different publications, including Clutch Magazine, Vibe Vixen and Madame Noire. She has been profiled by Pose magazine, and featured in Jezebel and on the talk show The Real. Her passion for writing the stories of Black women’s lives continues in her role at Essence. As a Black woman herself, Victorian shares the story of who inspires her, how she was able to become a journalist despite obstacles, and advice for young Black women starting out in journalism.

August 1, 2023

German Lopez entered college undecided. Flash forward 10 years, and he now writes for The New York Times, ranked among the best newspapers in the world. The 2012 University of Cincinnati grad faced an increasingly competitive journalism field, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that the field will continue to shrink between 2021 and 2031.