School of Journalism and Media - University of Texas at Austin

02/05/2026

This senior student and minor has made the most out of her time at UT — here’s Nicole Vargas from San Antonio, TX!

Nicole was drawn to study journalism at because she knew everyone there wanted to help her succeed. “When I toured, it really excited me to hear that all of the Moody professors are passionate about their fields and want to help students grow into young professionals.”

Speaking of passionate professors, she loves any class with Dr. Kate West! Robert Quigley’s “Editing Techniques” class and Michael Pearson’s “Reporting Words” class have also been integral to improving her journalism skills.

In the future, Nicole wants to be a news reporter and serve an active role across communities. She enjoys meeting new people, learning their stories, and tying visuals into it all to show audiences something meaningful!

She has kept herself busy on campus as a reporter and digital producer for and as social media officer for Noteworthy A Ca****la. In terms of internships, Nicole is both a news intern at KXAN and a communications intern for Texas Athletics! She also spent the past summer as a production intern for NBC Sports Boston.

Her #1 advice for incoming JOU students: “Really get to know the people in class with you every day because the journalism school is so small, and you will often have multiple classes with the same people. It’s great to build those strong connections and not only have that community of friends, but also have people who are like-minded in career goals. You end up leaning on each other a lot!”

We’re very proud of you, Nicole! Hook ‘em! 🤘

01/28/2026

For our first student feature of the semester, here is Grabiel Silva from Alice, Texas!

His dream school has always been UT, and telling stories in sports is also a passion of his, making the JOU school and the sports media minor perfect for shaping the path he wants to take. Along with his time at UT being a dream, Grabiel says it’s also been incredibly memorable and enlightening. In the future, he would love to be a sports reporter, covering not just the games but the people involved!

Being at Texas has given him lots of experience in this realm, as he’s been involved with for three years and is currently the co-sports director for the department. From his involvement, he’s had the opportunity to cover big sporting events like when Texas Football faced Ohio State, Georgia, and played in the SEC Championship.

Dr. Kate West’s Television Reporting and Broadcast Capstone classes have been his favorite because they have fine-tuned his broadcast journalism abilities.

“Whether it’s making a package as a reporter or helping to produce a newscast, both classes have made me a better broadcast journalist and ready for the real world.”

The advice he would give to future JOU students is to “find your journalistic path, whether it’s broadcast, writing, audio, etc., and work on it as much as possible to be the best journalist you can be!”

We can’t wait to see what you accomplish next, Grabiel! Hook ‘em! 🤘

12/05/2025

For our final student feature of the semester, we’re highlighting a Dallas native who’s graduating this month – say hello to Bennett Ismert!

She’s always loved storytelling, especially through fashion. Growing up, she dreamed of writing for Vogue, and studying journalism felt like the best path to build the skills to “connect style, culture and people in a way that actually means something.”

stood out to her because she wanted a place where she could strengthen her writing, try new media forms and create work she’s proud of. Three words to describe her time at Moody? Creating, motivating, and rewarding!
“The opportunities, mentors and peers I’ve been introduced to through this program have pushed me creatively and helped me figure out the kind of journalist I want to be.”

During her time on the Forty Acres, Bennett has gained experience as a social media staffer and opinion columnist for and a writer for and . Off campus, she’s worked as an intern at both Austin Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. Most recently, she’s been an editorial intern at Modern Luxury and a Fashion PR Intern for Nuvula.

When she’s not working or in class, you can find her grabbing a bite at Cabo Bobs or Central Market. Her favorite Austin activity is watching the sunset at Mount Bonnell!

As she wraps up her studies this month, we wish her the best of luck on her future endeavors! Hook ‘em! 🤘

11/20/2025

Our next student feature isn’t from far away—it’s Joseph Sweeney from San Antonio, TX! This and student discovered his passion for storytelling after joining a high school broadcast journalism class, initially to impress a crush.

At UT, Joseph has taken advantage of countless opportunities as a student journalist, experiencing things most people his age don’t get to see. He’s worked with multiple student publications and professional newsrooms, currently interning at KXAN and previously at KSAT-12 and Austin PBS. He also serves as executive producer of TSTV’s Texas News Primetime, where he’s spent the past three years honing his skills in writing, on-air work, directing and broadcast engineering.

Joseph is also the digital media director at The Daily Texan, where he has held positions including video editor, audio editor and politics reporter.

“Working at the Texan for so long has allowed me to shape the current coverage of the newsroom. When I first entered the paper, I noticed our video department hadn’t been as involved in covering contemporary political and social issues as some of our other departments. So I was able to take initiative and change that.” 

His go-to places to eat in Austin are Tumble 22, ATX Gyro, Jewboy Burgers, Saffron’s, Cuantos Tacos and Roppolo’s Pizza!

Three words to sum up his UT experience so far? Hectic but worthwhile! 

Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!

11/11/2025

This week, we’re introducing you to student, Elijah Carll from Austin, TX!

His parents always encouraged him to stay curious about the world. He chose journalism as a way to combine his natural knack for explaining news with the skills he had in writing and videography from high school. 

Since transferring to UT and joining the journalism program, he’s grown tremendously as both a reporter and a person. Professor Kate West’s Reporting Television class was a turning point for him as it made him realize how exciting and engaging multimedia journalism can be! He says that being a journalism student was “exactly the choice he needed to make!”

Three words to describe his UT experience so far? Fail, learn, improve! 

His first semester, he joined the news department of and spent a semester in the video department. Since last semester, he’s been a general reporter at Texas Student Television, where he’s loved producing his own packages and anchoring/working as a correspondent. 

When it comes to internships, Elijah has previously worked at Texas Standard and KXAN (Investigates). He’s currently at Austin PBS! 

Around campus, his favorite places to eat are Sip Pho, P-Terry’s and Roppolo’s! In terms of underrated study spots, he says the Student Union has some great spots to get some work done! 

We can’t wait to see what else you do, Elijah! 🤘

10/30/2025

We challenged students and professors to fill out a Halloween-themed Mad Libs story, then mashed their answers into one spooky masterpiece! What do you think?? 👻🎃

10/28/2025

Our next faculty feature is Kevin Robbins from Kansas City, Missouri! He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Central Missouri, majoring in psychology and journalism, and earned his master’s degree at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. 

Robbins’ expertise lies in sports journalism and narrative writing. His niche? Golf reporting, as he has written five non-fiction golf books and has been published in Golf Journal, The Golfer’s Journal, Golf magazine, and Golf Digest. He also covers the Texas tournaments on-site for the PGA Tour website, PGATour.com (so be sure to read his work there!)

Robbins got his start at The Hawk Eye, the daily newspaper in Burlington, Iowa. Fun fact? It’s the oldest newspaper in the state! 

A project he is proud of is his second book, “The Last Stand of Payne Stewart.” This work chronicled the 1999 season of the PGA Tour and the last, redemptive year of the life of three-time major championship winner Payne Stewart, who died in October of that year aboard a private jet that depressurized during flight. 

While it’s hard to pick just one favorite UT memory, he treasures the time he took four journalism students to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Whether they covered swimming, track and field, wrestling or sailing (and that’s just naming a few), they did freelance work for more than 20 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Providence Journal and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

He’ll never forget the night they were in their high-rise apartment when Brazil beat Germany in soccer, recalling that “the entire city shook.” 

Favorite spot to grab a bite to eat near campus? Of course, it’s the Pizza Press as you “gotta love a journalism-themed pie joint!”

His advice for current students: Head up, eyes wide open. Be ethical. Be fair. Be thoughtful. Be smart. Be absolutely unstoppable.

10/23/2025

Our newest professor, Shengchun Huang, moved to Austin from Philadelphia. Originally from China, she studied journalism in her home country and has also served as a scholarly visitor in Columbus, Ohio.

Huang’s research focuses on news production, dissemination, and consumption in the algorithmically curated media environment, continually exploring how emerging media technologies, such as recommendation systems and Gen AI, are shaping people’s access to and perceptions of news and political information. Open to various approaches, she has adopted novel computational methods, quantitative methods such as surveys, and qualitative methods, including digital ethnography. 

With a background in journalism, she worked across press, television, and digital media, which gave her insight into the news ecosystem. In 2016, while helping train an algorithmic classification model at one of China’s largest online news portals, she realized how such technology could fundamentally challenge news in civil society. Since then, her research has focused on algorithmic curation.

A project she’s particularly proud of is when she examined how algorithms shape news ecosystems by comparing X’s ‘Recommended for you’ content with chronological feeds. She and her team found that, contrary to the common belief in filter bubbles, the algorithm often delivered higher-quality content that was less like-minded, less extreme and slightly more reliable. This finding adds to the understanding of the role algorithms play in today’s media environment.

When looking for a bite to eat close to campus, she loves going to CAVA! 

Shengchun’s advice for current students? “Today’s job market is very competitive, whether in academia or in industry. But the skills you cultivate through deep learning and critical thinking will still build a resilient and competitive foundation for you in the long run.” 

We’re lucky to have you here at , Shengchun! Welcome! 🤘

10/17/2025

Is it unfortunate though?? Comment below with why you love being a student? 🤘🧡📝

06/27/2025

Remembering Bill Moyers (B.J. ’56), whose legendary career in journalism continues to inspire generations of students.

"I have that still-fresh sense of really coming alive here," the journalist said of his alma mater.

05/14/2025

What Starts Here Changes The World

05/14/2025