by Olivia Ding Conversations between students and industry practitioners ran late into the evening, in classrooms last winter. By spring, students had polished their work and unveiled it to wowed audiences at Screen Summit. Summer brought the payoff: confident graduates landing at TikTok, Amazon, KUOW and beyond. Come fall, the orientation room at Mary Gates … Read more
by Olivia Ding Today’s storytellers need to be masters of multiple tools – and know when to use them. Ekin Yasin, PhD, introduces the Matt Chan Storytelling Award at Communication Leadership’s Screen Summit, recognizing outstanding student projects When we think of the greatest storytellers, they’re usually defined by their medium: Steven Spielberg as a film … Read more
by Olivia Ding When you scroll through LinkedIn, a pattern emerges among leading communication professionals. Content designers at Microsoft, product managers at Amazon, UX writers at emerging startups, data scientists at Fred Hutch — many share a common thread: they’ve built careers in a city where they can learn directly from the people creating tomorrow’s … Read more
by Olivia Ding Picture this: you’re scrolling through social media when you stumble across what looks like Coca-Cola’s heartwarming Christmas ad — complete with nostalgic red trucks rolling through snowy streets. But something feels off. The magic that made you pause for those holiday commercials as a kid? Gone. The AI-generated remake of their iconic … Read more
by Olivia Ding Jessica Partnow records an episode of Leading the Way with Associate Director Gretchen Ludwig and Assistant Director for Academic Services Heather Werckle In a world where attention spans are shrinking and schedules are packed tighter than ever, how can your message break through? The answer might be simpler than you think: meet … Read more
by Olivia Ding As trust in mainstream media erodes, a new breed of community-focused journalism jobs is emerging. Trust in media is at an all-time low. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that only 52% of people around the world trust the media to “do what is right.” Even worse, 67% believe news organizations care … Read more
The seduction and addiction of consuming Netflix content at 1.5x. Language preservation and identity. Political messaging and parasocial relationships. The joy of raising one’s voice in song with others. These topics and more are included in this collection of long-form essays produced in the Winter 2025 course Professional Long-form Writing & Platforms. These original pieces … Read more
A Consultancy project by Kevin Laird and Lori Cai helped the Museum of Flight design a groundbreaking exhibit with UX Research
by Richa Nevatia The academic year at the Communication Leadership program ended on an exceptional note with our annual Screen Summit, a showcase highlighting our students’ exceptional work. Every year, this celebration invites students to share projects they’ve done across three categories: Storytelling, Design and Strategy. This year’s theme was Impact, and our students did … Read more
by Hongli Wang Whether you are a current Comm Lead student or someone interested in the program, you’re probably curious about where graduates from the program eventually land. You’re in luck! I’ve organized valuable insights based on data collected from 227 out of 272 Comm Lead graduates in the years 2021 and 2022 As you … Read more
Students meet with alumni and current Consultancy client Zac Murphy, who now works with Washington state’s office of education. Communication Leadership’s core value of “Service to Community” is probably best exemplified in our student-led Consulting Program. This program delivers affordable communication expertise to mission-driven organizations like nonprofits and small businesses –- powered by the dedication … Read more
Arathi Sethumadhavan of Google and Microsoft talked about development of Artificial Intelligence that puts people first. UW Communication Leadership students weigh in on whether that’s possible.
Earlier this month the Department of Communication held its annual Alumni of Distinction dinner, and the spotlight shone bright on the Comm Lead community. Ekin Yasin, our director, introduced two recent alumni, who were recognized for their achievements. The first was Tongtong Qu, a Masters in Digital Media (MCDM) graduate from 2020, who landed the … Read more
For 44 years, the Telly Awards have honored excellence in video and television across screens. This year a record 18 awards went to students, faculty and alumni from UW Communication Leadership program, including videos produced as part of storytelling classes. Check out the full list of winners below! For his video “Mak Fai Insider” recent … Read more
Each year our program receives hundreds of applications from all over the world. A prospective student on the other side of the globe might have a burning question at 2 AM Seattle time. In the past, the fact that we were all asleep (or that our inboxes were overflowing) would have been a barrier. But … Read more
The secret of a good marketing pitch is great storytelling. If you have a story that touches the heart of your audience, it will work wonders. The Communication Leadership Program at the University of Washington has been instilling this power of storytelling skills in its students for over two decades now, and we’ve seen our … Read more
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