Top JMC Student of 2012

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communications recognized seven students as the tops in their academic programs at the spring banquet and at Honors Day.

They are Jinru Zhang, graduate student; Elizabeth Files and Sarah Wang, advertising; Nicole Hopson, graphic communications management; Elizabeth Johnson, journalism; Elizabeth Fillback, public relations; and Craig Taylor, television production.

Zhang, who received the Master of Arts in mass communication in May, is currently working in the China branch of Voice of America as an online news reporter.

Her other media experience includes working as a photographer for Washington Life Magazine in Washington, D. C., as a TV news editing assistant for DCTV in Chengdu, China, and as a movie assistant director for the Chengdu Shi Jing Tang Culture Media Company.

She made a presentation on “Voice of America History in China” at the PCAACA Radio/Audio Media conference in Boston in April.

Files and Wang, both active in advertising activities, tied for the Outstanding Senior in Advertising.

Files served as vice president, president and publicity chair for the MSU Ads Club.

She was an officer in Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity and a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and the Wesley FoundationShe had internships with K-Squared in Murray and with the JCPenney Corporation.

She received the Vance and Betty Lee Stickell Award for her academic record and her advertising activities.

Wang also served a year as president of the Ads Club and was an officer in Women’s Equality and in Students Promoting Activism, Rights and Knowledge. She received the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Minority Student Scholarship.

Hopson was president of GET and chairman of the Gravure Day 2012 committee.

She served as vice president, secretary and historian of the Hart College Honor Society.

A member of Alpha Lambda Delta, the May graduate is now working as a graphic designer for Intermatic, Inc.

Johnson served as a staff writer, sports editor and editor in chief of The Murray State News. She had internships at the Nashville Tennessean and the Todd County Standard.

She was a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, Students of Sociology and Alpha Lambda Delta. She won five awards in the Kentucky Press Association newspaper competition and four awards in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association competition.

Fillback did public relations for the MSU Center for Telecommunications Management, for the MSU Athletic Department and for Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority.

She was a member of Gamma Sigma Alpha, Student Ambassadors, Panhellenic Council, Alpha Chi and Public Relations Student Society of America.

Taylor worked in production for TV 11 and as a camera operator for video coverage of MSU basketball.  He was a member of the Clark College Council and the Wesley Foundation.

The top students are selected each spring by the faculty/staff of the JMC Department.