Illinois Journalism Alumni

08/29/2025

UI Journalism alumnus Ash-har Quraishi of CBS News is among the reporters covering the shooting at a Minneapolis church. Ash-har is a 1997 graduate who previously worked at CNN, KCTV, Al-Jazeera, WTTW and WMAQ NBC 5 Chicago.

08/29/2025

08/29/2025

08/29/2025

Big city newspaper to cease print edition, go entirely digital

The AJC will continue to publish distinctive journalism every day and with urgency on its website, mobile app, as well as through video, podcasts and other digital platforms.

08/28/2025

UI Journalism alumna Ana’ja Smith is marking three years as a social media editor at The Hollywood Reporter in LA. The 2018 graduate earned a MA from USC. In college, Ana’ja was a web intern at WLS ABC 7 Chicago.

“I’ve grown so much in my role as Social Media Editor—expanding my skills and duties to moderating live events, interviewing talent at red carpet premieres and award shows, conceptualizing and producing social-first concepts including my fashion and beauty series ‘THR Looks’ and organic content to feed my inner bookworm, managing Tik Tok (and helping grow our followers from 200K to 1.4 Million!!!), leading THR’s Social x Ecommerce coverage across platforms, writing timely articles that live on web, and curating videos from on-set shoots for our Next-Gen and Beauty magazine issues—in which I’m proud to say my beauty content made me an award winner, earning first place at the 2024 SoCal Journalism Awards for “Best Use of Social Media to Enhance a Cover Story by a Journalist Tied to an Organization.”

08/28/2025

Congratulations to Journalism alumna Jesse Goddard and her husband Spencer on their recent wedding in Puglia, Italy. Jesse is a 2015 graduate who worked in college at Impulse magazine. She is a freelance creative director and actress who has also done extensive modeling. She previously worked at the LA Times.

08/28/2025

https://media.illinois.edu/college-of-media-offers-new-online-degree-completion-program-ba-in-media/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAMcjiBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmkL9ckevE4aUqD89KeAszN7P1V15Gd72l8uCxm9vtAm8kMlGFsk14YRt9Xo_aem_OVRTy3Xyt6MeCGul9E6lbA

College of Media offers new online degree completion program: BA in Media Posted on 08/20/202508/19/2025 by [email protected] August 20, 2025 | Holly Rushakoff To expand access to a University of Illinois education, the College of Media now offers an online Bachelor of Arts in Media program for adu...

08/28/2025

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/people/former-ui-chancellor-passes/article_0d161018-4f90-4766-a283-22aa30f3b8a7.html

Chancellor Charles Isbell Jr., on Michael Aiken: “Above all, he understood the importance of a vibrant and supportive student experience to help every Illini achieve their goals."

08/28/2025

Shared from Daily Illini Photo page: Sad to report that (former DI photog) Lloyd Young was killed in a bicycle accident near Bloomington Saturday.

Lloyd (Ag Communications ’91) was a Daily Illini staffer then photographer at The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illl.) and Morning Journal (Lorain, Ohio). He received a master’s degree in picture editing and newsroom management from Ohio University. He was photo editor at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers (Stuart/Port Saint Lucie, Fla.) before becoming a picture editor at The Boston Globe. He rocked the world of images and editing.

Lloyd was an endurance athlete who ran marathons and pushed through long bike rides. He was taking part in a triathlon amongst friends called TRI-ME, to remember Carl McGhee who died when being thrown from his bike after colliding with a dog. In this year’s 16th running Lloyd was leading the pack on his bicycle when he was struck by a car at a rural intersection obscured by tall corn near Carlock.

He leaves his wife Britt and sons Ben and Luke. I’m collecting information to help write an obituary for the family. More to follow. Photo circa 1994 with Lloyd at far right.

[https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/lloyd-young/](https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/lloyd-young/)

08/26/2025

Alumna Gabby Hajduk is starting her third season as a staff writer for the Chicago Bears. The 2022 graduate had a similar role writing for the Fighting Illini football team. She was also sports editor at The Daily Illini.