Jargon | School of Media and Journalism Alumni Newsletter

In March 2021, Lacy Starling, '02, got a call from a community organization in northern Kentucky looking for a CEO for a start-up news organization. They knew Starling only for her business background; after earning her Bachelor of Science in journalism from Kent State University, she went on to earn her M.B.A. For 20 years, she had been an entrepreneur. 

Alumna's research focuses on thought processes behind online dating, sexting and relationships in the digital age.

Brandi Neloms, '09, is a senior business development manager in Amazon’s Special Projects organization and Chief Strategy Officer and co-owner of Sipping Black Only, a business dedicated to driving equity for Black founders in the beverage industry. 

When Caty Payette, ’20, began working for Student Media, she didn’t imagine she’d one day work for a member of Congress. Yet since graduation, the journalism major has worked for three different U.S. Representatives, representing Ohio, Wisconsin and Alabama.  

“Kent State provided me with a world-class education that prepared me to be in the spaces I'm lucky to serve in now. The professors I had at Kent State became family to me. They saw something in me as a student that I didn't see in myself, and I'm grateful that they continue to be a part of my life."

On the White House communications team is a group of dedicated public servants working to craft messages from the President to the world, including one Kent State alumna – Brenna Parker, ’17. Brenna oversees all digital strategy, content and partnerships for Vice President Ka

For recent journalism graduates, the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped their entry into the news industry. Young MDJ alumni have focused much of their professional careers on the pandemic, mostly with a Northeast Ohio angle — not just on case numbers or other statistics, but also on the effects on the economy, businesses and the healthcare industry.

Public relations professionals are time and time again the backbone of communications and community building within their industries. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kent State alumni in healthcare fields have been put to the test to deliver important and timely responses to their network through both internal and external communications.

Deborah (Pritchard) Less, ‘09, Communications Manager for the Cleveland Clinic, finds her role as an internal communications professional is to keep all caregivers (the term used to identify all employees) “informed, motivated, and inspi

A degree from Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism can lead to opportunities to work across fields and businesses — and all over the world. Alumna Mary Jo Spletzer, ’10, has used what she learned as a public relations major to make her mark at Atlantis Resorts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  

When I walked into Taylor Hall as an 18-year-old freshman in 1983, I had no idea that the foundation for my professional and personal life would take place there.

While earning a bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1987, I was a section editor at the Daily Kent Stater — in a newsroom packed with future journalism giants whose achievements are too numerous to mention.

The opportunity given to Kent State Media and Journalism students to use real, up-to-date production technology leaves them with a great amount of knowledge and experience upon graduation. Jeff Johnson, ‘09, now a senior producer at MSNBC, saw Kent State Student Media, specifically TV2, as his first market to succeed in.

Johnson, a journalism major, began his TV2 career as a host on a campus-centered show called “College Corner” in early 2006, during his second semester. After that, he was a news anchor until graduation. His cohort was the last to experience the old newsroo