The Crest
The Crest is the student-run news outlet for the university. It is a national leader in all-digital college journalism and winner of a National Online Pacemaker Award.
Agents for change
Department of Emerging Media
Evolving with Technology
The Department of Emerging Media at the University of St. Thomas prepares students to respond to a rapidly changing media environment. The department places an emphasis on good writing and storytelling, while recognizing that technology continuously impacts how we interact in the workplace and in our daily lives.
Today it is increasingly important that we keep learning as technology evolves. Whether producing an interactive story, developing a social media marketing campaign, or creating audio-visual content, you will learn from instructors who are well-versed in the latest industry trends and techniques. While contemporary storytelling often relies on technology, it is equally important to understand the theoretical and ethical considerations of digital media arts, journalism and strategic communication.
Emerging Media Degrees Prepare You for a Changing Future
Through technique, inspiration, and maker initiative, the Digital Media Arts program offers classes in audio, visual, and interactive media. The Journalism program emphasizes responsible story-telling in a wide range of media. The Strategic Communication program is designed for professional training in advertising, public relations and digital communication under an integrated approach.
Related Programs
Our majors and minors pair well with a number of others at the university.
Department Highlights
Visit The Crest website
Pulitzer Prize Winners
We have two alumni who have won the Pulitzer Prize in the last five years: Jeremy Olson ’94 and Art Cullen ’79.
Scholarships
We award scholarships for incoming first-year students, as well as current students with a declared major in either journalism, digital media arts or strategic communication.
Application deadline for incoming students: March 6, 2025
ThreeSixty Journalism
ThreeSixty Journalism uses the principles of writing and reporting to empower diverse high school students to share and amplify their stories, to help create a more inclusive worldview for all.
A Loudspeaker for Underheard Voices
ThreeSixty Journalism is leading the way in developing multicultural storytellers in the media arts industry. Our program is a loudspeaker for underheard voices, where highly motivated students discovered the power of voice and develop their own within ThreeSixty's immersive college success programming. Each year, ThreeSixty Journalism awards one of its students a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to study emerging media at St. Thomas.
Ayo Olagbaju, ThreeSixty Alumna
"I will never forget the way the ThreeSixty Journalism program helped me find and refine my voice as a young Black woman and a developing writer."
Zekriah Chaudhry, 2018 ThreeSixty Scholar
Zekriah Chaudhry spent a full semester studying abroad in the Rome Empower Program and traveling in Europe. He has interned at Pioneer Press and Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and reported for TommieMedia.
Lujain Al-Khawi, ThreeSixty Alumna
"ThreeSixty was a big part of why I obtained my past and current jobs. My ThreeSixty experience continues to open so many doors for me."
Faculty
Our faculty are active scholars that are eager to engage with you inside and outside of the classroom. Here is what a few have been up to lately.
Dr. Peter Gregg
Dr. Gregg is an award-winning researcher and media producer. His scholarship focuses on the formation of attitudes and beliefs via media consumption, including prejudice and stereotyping, media literacy and appeals to tradition in baseball.
Dr. Peter Gregg
Dr. April Eichmeier
Dr. Eichmeier blends practical communication experience, earned while working in marketing communications for more than a decade, with theoretical perspectives from science communication, political communication and quantitative methods.
Dr. April Eichmeier
Greg Vandegrift
Greg Vandegrift loves teaching journalism. He joined St. Thomas in 2008, bringing 25 years of award-winning reporting to the classroom, and he still freelances to keep curriculum current. Greg teaches the multimedia reporting classes and is an adviser for the student-run media organization, The Crest.
Greg Vandegrift
Emerging Media News
From the Chair’s Desk: Celebrating Growth, Creativity, and Community
Dear alumni, Welcome to our inaugural edition of the alumni newsletter for the Department of Emerging Media — home to majors in Journalism, Digital Media Arts, and Strategic Communication: Advertising and Public Relations. My name is Peter Gregg, and I serve as chair of the department. Members of the Department of Emerging Media had a busy and successful year and are excited to share our news with you. In this edition: Introducing the Whalen Fellowship: Empowering Emerging Media Leaders Applause for Our Students: Awards, Projects, and Impact Honoring Faculty Excellence with Innovation in Teaching and Scholarship Journalism Student Victor Mshihiri Prepares to Report from Overseas Meet Greg Song: New Faculty Member Strengthening the Future of Emerging Media Alumni Reunion Makes Connections Portfolio Show and Coding Exhibition Highlight Student Talent We hope you will join us in our new LinkedIn group where you can see updates and connect with your fellow alumni. And, if you would like to get involved with helping students in our department, please email me. I am happy to talk about how you can give back. Peter Gregg, PhD Associate Professor and Chair pgregg@stthomas.edu
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Introducing the Whalen Fellowship: Empowering Emerging Media Leaders
The Whalen Media Ethics Program is a new initiative launched by The Department of Emerging Media dedicated to creating forums for students to understand new trends and ethical responsibilities in media, connect with industry opportunities, and engage with professionals. Each year, the program will focus on a key theme in media ethics, with varied formats, and will deal with issues in different media industries. This year, we are excited to announce the inaugural Whalen Media Ethics Program: “Solidarity Journalism” Fellowship. This fellowship program teaches students about an approach to storytelling that represents the voices, experiences, and inherent dignity of marginalized communities. Marginalization is when people’s basic needs for survival are at stake due to conditions not of their own making, choosing, or individual control. These basic needs include food, clean air, clean water, and shelter, to name a few. The Fellowship program begins with two days of workshop with Anita Varma, the lead of the “Solidarity Journalism” initiative from University of Texas-Austin, and local journalists who have experience practicing within this reporting paradigm. Accepted students—the inaugural Whalen Fellows cohort—will produce media projects that practice solidarity journalism. Introducing the Inaugural Whalen Fellows:
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Applause for Our Students: Awards, Projects, and Impact
Student excellence is on full display as our department continues to earn recognition in journalism, advertising, and digital media. Take a look at the impressive lineup of recent awards and honors. Eric Sevareid Awards, Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association Soft Feature (First Place) Adam Mueller College Student Production Awards, Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hard News Report (Nominated) Adam Mueller Public Affairs/Community Service (Nominated) Derek Badger, Cheyene Bialke, Casey Eakins Mark of Excellence Awards, Society of Professional Journalists Food/Restaurant Journalism (Winner) Kevin Lynch, Anna Brennan News Videography (Winner) Adam Mueller Feature Writing (Finalist) Kevin Lynch, Elizabeth Dickey In-Depth Reporting (Finalist) Adam Mueller Sports Writing (Finalist) Adam Mueller, Evan Neubauer Best Newspaper Contest, Minnesota Newspaper Association Best Use of Multimedia (First Place) TommieMedia University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Owen Larson Website (First Place) TommieMedia University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Staff Hard News (Second Place) TommieMedia University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Staff Investigative Reporting (Second Place) TommieMedia University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Staff Government/Public Affairs Reporting (Third Place) TommieMedia University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Owen Larson Sports Photo (Third Place) TommieMedia University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Sumaii Gemechu The Show, Minnesota Advertising Federation Bronze […]
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Honoring Faculty Excellence with Innovation in Teaching and Scholarship
Sky Anderson, Associate Professor Dr. Anderson published a book on how video games can help us imagine what our abilities mean and how they engage us physically, behaviorally, and cognitively to envision our agency beyond limitations. Anderson, S. L. (2024). Ability machines: What video games mean for disability. Indiana University Press. April Eichmeier, Assistant Professor Dr. Eichmeier published an article about how satirical news influences public engagement with emerging areas of science. Eichmeier A.A., Xenos M.A. (2024), CRISPR is easy: Exposure to Last Week Tonight enhances knowledge about gene editing. PLoS ONE 19(10): e0306563. Dr. Eichmeier is the recipient of the 2025 Undergraduate Research Award as selected by UST’s Undergraduate Research Board. This honor reflects her commitment to student research and outstanding work as a research mentor to students at St. Thomas. During this academic year, Dr. Eichmeier was quoted in the Financial Times about how Gen Z’s quick, authentic online interactions are changing political campaigns in 2024. She also appeared in The Washington Post and several other media outlets about the impact of social media on the most recent U.S. presidential race. Yayu Feng, Assistant Professor Dr. Feng published a book on the application of Confucian ethics, […]
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Journalism Student Victor Mshihiri Prepares to Report from Overseas
Victor Mshihiri is a second-year Journalism major at the University of St. Thomas. His interest in journalism stems from his love of correspondence news from around the world, especially wartime journalism in the Middle East. His passion for reporting brought him to his current position working for The Crest, and he will continue practicing news writing while studying abroad in Egypt during the 2025-26 academic year. In his spare time, he also enjoys sailing, photography, and studying Arabic. Victor wants to meet you! If you are a working journalist, please reach out to him through email mshi7898@stthomas.edu. Also, see Victor’s photography on Instagram: @victoramphotos
Contact us
Have questions about our programs? We’d love to hear from you.
Tel: (651)-962-5250
Email: emedia@stthomas.edu
Mailing Address
Department of Emerging Media
SCC 209
2115 Summit Ave
St. Paul, MN 55105
Campus Location
The department of Emerging Media is located on the second floor of the Schoenecker Center (SCC), room 209.