Dear ComArtSci Community,
I’m just back from Chicago, where I reconnected with alumni during the latest stop on our CAS Momentum Tour. More than a year into the tour, we’ve visited cities across the country, bringing ComArtSci Spartans together and sharing what’s happening at the college.
That visit was one of several highlights of the past few weeks. From welcoming alumni back for Homecoming last week to hosting university leaders, researchers and media professionals on campus, we’ve found plenty of ways to bring together members and friends of our community.
Welcoming our community home
Homecoming was particularly special for our college this year, with alumni and students representing our college in prominent roles throughout the festivities.
Alumna Susan Packard served as MSU's 2026 Homecoming grand marshal, while seniors Natalie Chaplin and Katherine Goble represented our college on the Homecoming Court. Natalie, a creative advertising major with a minor in business, has focused her MSU experience on storytelling, creative leadership and hands-on learning. Katherine, a communication leadership and strategy major with a minor in public relations, has made helping students access and navigate higher education an important part of her MSU experience.
We had some fun with this year’s Homecoming parade, too! ComArtSci and WKAR teamed up to create a “Welcome Home, Spartans” themed float, and we were thrilled to take home the award for Best Campus Department. Professor Ross Chowles from Advertising and Public Relations joined the festivities as a member of the parade awards committee.
My cornhole teammate, communication senior Taitlyn Beegle, and I enjoyed representing the college.
I even got in on the Homecoming competition myself. Before the football game, I teamed up with communication senior Taitlyn Beegle for a cornhole tournament against deans from across the university. MSU Athletic Director Dan Bartholomae stepped in as our coach, and we had a great time representing the college!
Homecoming also brought new and returning members of our Alumni Advisory Board back to campus for their annual two-day retreat. We had the chance to share some of the great activities happening across the college, hear their perspectives and select our 2027 Alumni Award recipients. We look forward to announcing this outstanding group of alumni later this year and celebrating them at The Celebration in the spring. Stay tuned!
Coming together at ComArtSci
It was wonderful to have our faculty and staff together for our Fall All-College Meeting earlier this month. With so much happening across our units and programs, I always appreciate the chance to gather as one college, celebrate what we've accomplished and talk about where we're headed. I'm grateful for the work our faculty and staff do every day to make our college a place where our students can thrive.
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz poses with ComArtSci faculty and staff during his visit to the college as part of his One Team campus engagement tour.
We had another chance to share some of that great work when MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz visited our college as part of his One Team campus engagement tour. He met with our Academic and Student Affairs team, stopped by the Alienware Esports Lounge and heard from faculty about their research, including Media and Information Assistant Professor Hee Rin Lee's scholarly work on human-robot interactions and Advertising and Public Relations Associate Professor Chuqing Dong's research on the opportunities and ethical challenges presented by AI for communications practitioners. He also toured the newly renovated Studio E and met with college leadership to discuss what's ahead across our academic units and WKAR.
I appreciated the opportunity to welcome President Guskiewicz back to ComArtSci and share the progress we’ve made since his first visit in 2024, shortly after he arrived at MSU.
ComArtSci's growing reach and recognition
Our students are also applying their skills beyond the classroom. Public relations major Jade Almon and journalism major Ra’Moni Caldwell were among a select group of MSU students chosen to participate in the inaugural NBA Foundation and Detroit Pistons Detroit Tech Challenge, where students from area colleges and universities developed solutions to real-world business challenges. The MSU team proposed refurbishing basketball courts throughout Detroit and creating a companion Detroit Pistons app, bringing together community investment, technology and creative problem-solving.
ComArtSci students Ra’Moni Caldwell, second from left, and Jade Almon, second from right, present with fellow participants at the inaugural NBA Foundation and Detroit Pistons Detroit Tech Challenge.
Back on campus, we welcomed leaders from across the Big Ten to ComArtSci. Our college was asked to host chief financial officers from Big Ten Conference institutions as part of their visit to MSU. The group learned about MSU Esports and its four-part mission of competition, community, academic excellence and experiential learning, including how the university-wide program supports student success and career readiness.
It’s gratifying to see the initiatives of our faculty continue to earn recognition around the world. For the 10th consecutive year, MSU’s Communication program has ranked among the top five globally in ShanghaiRanking’s academic subject rankings, coming in at No. 5 in 2026. Communication remains the highest-ranked academic subject at MSU.
Coming together around ideas
Our legacy of excellence is built in part through the research our faculty lead and the conversations they help bring to the field. Recently, the Department of Communication hosted scholars from around the country for its second Communication Science Futures conference, where participants explored artificial intelligence, emerging research methods and the role of theory in communication. The conversations sparked ideas for new studies, ways to share data and potential research collaborations. There’s no other conference like this in the country, and it’s a pride point that the Communication Department is the go-to convening place to shape the future of this field.
The School of Journalism also welcomed Jamila Robinson, editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, for the 2026 Neal Shine Ethics Lecture. The lecture served as the finale of the LIFT Project's Nutrition, Opportunities and Media (NOM) Food Forum, a daylong event exploring the intersections of food, media and society. In conversation with Lyndsay Green of the Detroit Free Press, Jamila discussed how food and drink shape society and how journalists can use food to better understand and represent the human experience. We remain grateful to the Shine family for their continued support of this lecture and our students.
Sheri Jones, assistant instructor in the School of Journalism, moderates a discussion with A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, for MSU journalism students.
One of the most meaningful moments of the past month was welcoming A.G. Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, to campus as part of MSU’s Presidential Speaker Series. As The Times considered where to celebrate its 175th anniversary, MSU rose to the top of the list because of the strength and legacy of our School of Journalism. That’s something our entire community can be proud of!
Our journalism story began in 1910 with MSU’s first journalism course. More than a century later, we’re still preparing students to tell important stories, help people understand the world around them and uphold the public’s right to know. At a time when journalism faces significant challenges, having someone like A.G. spend time with our students and talk about the future of the profession was especially meaningful.
Our students had the chance to hear directly from A.G. and connect with members of The Times team about journalism and the industry. The visit also included “Bearing Witness,” an outdoor exhibition of New York Times photojournalism.
I’m grateful to A.G. and his team for choosing MSU and to the generations of faculty, staff, students and alumni who helped build the reputation that brought them here. I hope our students walked away feeling even more confident in the important role they’ll play in shaping the future of journalism.
Onward,
Heidi Hennink-Kaminski