Top students recognized at annual honors banquet

by Bob McGaughey
The top students in their respective programs in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications were honored at the annual departmental banquet April 29.

Six students were recognized at the spring honors banquet for being the top student in their field. Those receiving the recognition were (from left) Brian Truskey, graduate program; Allison Crawford, television production; Blake McReynolds, public relations; Janie Stenberg, advertising, Ryan Richardson, journalism; and Allan Simpson, graphic communications media.


They were Janie Stenberg, advertising; Allan Simpson, graphic communications media; Ryan Richardson, journalism; Blake McReynolds, public relations; Allison Crawford, television production; and Brian Truskey, graduate program.

Stenberg worked as a sales rep and then as advertising sales manager for The Murray State News. She was vice president of both the Ads Club and the Marketing/Management Club.

She was a member of Gamma Beta Phi, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Omicron Delta Kappa. This summer she interned with BBDO in New York City.

An honors student with a 3.81 grade-point average, she was named the Kappa Tau Alpha Top Scholar.

Simpson, a graphic communications media major from Mayfield, was a transfer from WKCTC.

His internship with United Systems and Software in Benton became a fulltime job this year. He works with web development.

Richardson worked as a copy editor, photographer, online editor and sports editor for The Murray State News. He also had internships with The McKenzie (Tenn.) Banner and the Dresden (Tenn.) Enterprise in both design and in news/sports.

He was a member of the MSU Honors Program, serving as vice president. He was president of Omicron Delta Kappa.

In the summer of 2013 he participated in the Study Abroad program at Kings College-Hampstead Campus in London.

An honors student, McReynolds had internships with the Murray Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Point Incorporated and interned with an Omnicom company this summer in Dallas.

She held several offices with her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, including recruitment coordinator, public relations and marketing and vice president of education.

McReynolds served as freshman senator of the Student Government Association and as the Public Relations Chairman.

She is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Order of Omega, Public Relations Student Society of America and the MSU Student Ambassadors.

Crawford had a double major in television production and liberal arts with a minor in Spanish. She had Study Abroad summer in Chile, teaching Spanish at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso.

Her senior thesis in the MSU Honors Program was “In Pursuit of an Informed Public: Good Environmental Video Media.”

For the past two years she was a student producer for “Roundabout U.” She was president of the Murray Environmental Student Society and member of the MSU TV Club and the President’s Commission on Campus Sustainability.

Truskey served as a graduate assistant in the department, working mainly with Bob Valentine’s intro to mass communications and beginning advertising classes. He also provided academic support to two other professors who taught the beginning mass media class.

As an undergraduate, he graduated with honors with a major in advertising and a minor in psychology.

He was active with the Ads Club, serving as secretary and on two of the teams for the AAF Student Advertising Competition. He also sold ads for the Summer Orientation Guide.

He was selected for Kappa Tau Alpha, Alpha Delta Sigma, Phi Theta Kappa and Alpha Chi honor societies.

Truskey was a writer/editor for Murray Life Magazine and an editor for the Wake Up . . . Live the Life You Love book series.

The students were also recognized at the University’s Honors Day program in May.

Featured Students

Murray State News editors herald changes to student media organization

Change is inevitable in the news business. The students at The Murray State News have embraced changes with the beginning of a new academic year.  The Murray State News is now a digital-first publication with monthly thematic printed editions. The first tabloid-sized print edition hit newsstands on Thursday, Aug. 17, the first Thursday of the […]

Read More
Featured JMC Dept. Students

Public relations students learn skills through working with McGaughey Lecture

By Eli Pitcock JMC student Students in the Murray State University public relations capstone class (JMC 491) got a first-hand education in creating public relations materials during the first McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom and Responsibility recently. The Murray State Department of Journalism and Mass Communications held the first McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom and […]

Read More
JMC Dept. News & Notes Students

JMC classes participate in Scholars Week

Two classes in the JMC department participated in Scholars Week in November 2022 under the guidance of Dr. Melony Shemberger, associate professor of mass communication. Scholars Week, organized by the Office of Research and Creative Activity (ORCA) on campus, is a weeklong celebration of scholarship held each semester. The event in the fall was held […]

Read More