
Faculty Spotlight

Department Chairs
Faculty
Holly Bartecki
Instructional Areas
Holly teaches in the Communications and Media Innovations department. Her courses include PR Issues & Crises, Introduction to PR, PR seminar (graduate) and Communications Essentials (general elective).
Zeline Bates
Instructional Areas
Media Planning and Buying, Communication Ethics, and Communication Essentials
DeRondal Bevly
Instructional Areas
Social Media, Strategy, Strategic Communications, Public Relations, Media Relations, Copywriting
Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin
Instructional Areas
Solutions Journalism, narrative journalism, magazine writing, magazine editing, travel writing, interviewing, blogging, grammar.
Dominic Calabrese
Instructional Areas
Media relations, journalism, public speaking
Kevin Christophersen
Instructional Areas
Advertising/Marketing/Social Media
Matthew Cunningham
Instructional Areas
Podcasting, Radio, Interviewing
Jorge De Santiago
Betsy Edgerton
Instructional Areas
Teaching and research interests focus on magazine editing, copy editing, business-to-business magazine and general business writing, grammar pedagogy, curriculum development, interdisciplinarity, teacher training.
Yonty Friesem
Instructional Areas
Civic Media, Multimedia Production & Digital Storytelling, Leadership in Media Production, Research Methods in Social Sciences
Curtis Lawrence
Instructional Areas
Urban Affairs Journalism; Scholastic Education; Civic Media at the graduate level; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Elio Leturia
Instructional Areas
Graphic design, typography, visual communication, visual journalism, visual literacy, reporting in Spanish, video storytelling, image making, publication design, documentary video
Kathleen Lorden
Instructional Areas
Branded Entertainment, Concepting, Production
Suzanne McBride
Instructional Areas
Investigative reporting, political reporting, community news
Erin McCarthy
Instructional Areas
History of Chicago, Oral History, Public History, 1930s, Sport History.
Marcella (marssie) Mencotti
Instructional Areas
Communications: Commercial Radio Audio Drama Voiceover
Laurence Minsky
Instructional Areas
Creative Advertising Portfolio Development, Advertising Creative Development, Copywriting, Digital Content and Analytics (including Social Media). •
Anne Marie Mitchell
Instructional Areas
social change, media relations, presentation skills, writing for public relations
Peg Murphy
Instructional Areas
Advertising, Creative Strategy/Account Planning, Marketing Research, Integrated/360 Communication, Interdisciplinary Competitions, Interdisciplinary Community Engagement Projects, Account / Brand Management, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Communication
Diane Odell
Instructional Areas
Teaching interest includes use of professional dialects necessary in professional settings.
Brian Plocharczyk
Instructional Areas
Voice Acting, Voice over, Narration.
Rachel Ready
Instructional Areas
Consumer Behavior Fall 2022. Past courses included Advertising Workshop, Campaign Practicum, Introduction to Advertising, Introduction to Media, and PR Presentation Skills.
Jackie Spinner
Instructional Areas
Digital Storytelling, Photojournalism, International Reporting, Conflict Reporting, News Reporting