After a long stretch working and attending classes remotely, we were thrilled to welcome faculty, staff, and a record-breaking incoming class of students back to campus this fall. Throughout the year, our community worked together to explore the challenges of communicating during an increasingly politicized time, experiment with a variety of remote learning approaches, and launch new programs and initiatives. Along the way, we said goodbye to our graduating seniors and hired one of strategic communication’s keenest minds.
We’re so proud to have all of you in our SOJC community. Go Ducks!
Lisa Peyton built her career on leveraging technology to help businesses educate, inform, and connect with their audiences. As the SOJC’s new immersive and strategic communications instructor in the public relations program, she’s applying over 20 years of professional experience to help students use the principles of psychology, immersive storytelling, and cutting-edge digital techniques in their work. You’ll most likely find the self-described “bleeding-edge technologist” breaking new ground in the Immersive Media Lab or Oregon Reality Lab.
Many collegiate advising teams focus on academic success. Sally Garner ’98, director of student services at the SOJC, believes that when academic advising and career coaching are integrated, they create a holistic experience that surrounds each student with proactive support tailored to their individual needs. With this hybrid approach, Garner and her award-winning advising team help drive student success through their entire education journey.
The University of Oregon’s entering class for fall 2021 was not only the largest ever, it was also the most academically prepared, the most diverse, and the first to be recruited virtually.
Congrats to Our Class of 2021
Although campus was a little emptier than usual, the SOJC class of 2021 still stayed connected and shared powerful stories. Watch our student-produced commencement video and celebrate their ability to persevere during a time of intense change and great uncertainty.
Donors Change Lives
Donations allow students to focus on their studies, build their portfolios, and gain experience outside the classroom. They give our faculty the means to advance the field with groundbreaking research and creative projects. And they help the school attract top talent while keeping up with a rapidly evolving media landscape. See how Ducks like you make a lasting impact.
Events at the SOJC
From New York Times reporters to science communication experts to investigative journalists, the SOJC brought in top industry experts to share their insights into some of the most important issues of our time.
What Is Communication? Series
Each spring, the SOJC’s What Is…? Conference tackles a different topic related to media. In 2021, over 450 attendees watched a virtual What Is Communication? event that included keynotes from Elihu Katz and Yonatan Fialkoff discussing networks and flows, the SOJC’s Professor H. Leslie Steeves and alum Janet Kwami presenting on digital inequalities in the global South, Oscar Gandy speaking about algorithmic manipulation, and Kathryn Montgomery and Jeff Chester discussing politics and economics related to commercial surveillance.