MOODY CENTERS AND INSTITUTES MAKE THEIR MARK

The Future of Media

Immersive media uses today’s technologies to provide intimate, interactive and sensorial experiences that transport people to new and different worlds. In advertising and media, it has the power to engage and sway audiences, which is why Moody College has prioritized education in this field by establishing its new Texas Immersive Institute. This past year, the institute graduated its first cohorts, both graduate and undergraduate students representing 13 majors across UT. They used immersive technologies like extended reality, or XR, which includes virtual reality and mixed reality, to create user experiences to help solve real-world problems related to voter engagement, gender equity and health and for clients including Artifact Technologies, PBS Austin, Texas Innovation Center, the City of Austin and UT’s School of Nursing. Today, the Texas Immersive Institute’s Lab is bustling with faculty, students and researchers, with as many as 30 people visiting a day to demo XR technology. In May, the institute hosted its first-ever Immersive Showcase, where graduating students presented their capstone immersive experience, combining live theater, escape room puzzles and immersive technology. Nearly 300 people attended.

Better Health Communication

Research shows that better communication leads to better health outcomes and patient satisfaction. That’s why the Center for Health Communication believes it’s important for public health professionals, clinicians and pre-med students to take communication courses before for starting their careers. This past year, with grant money from Hearst Foundations, the CHC rolled out four new online, self-paced courses on topics including mental health and stigma, audience-centered health messages, emotions in health communication and patientprovider communication. Two more will be available later this year about pain and opioids and communicating about health disparities and equity. The lessons, which include video and audio components, are ideal for clinicians seeking communication training. So far, more than 500 people have taken the mental health course, which is available for free.

Imagining a More Sustainable Future

Today, more and more businesses are making sustainability pledges, promising to take care of the planet, rather than exploit it. Because of this, both communication and business students need grounding in sustainability principles. In 2021-22, Moody College of Communication and the McCombs School of Business partnered to found the Global Sustainability Leadership Institute, with the generous support of Chris and Cynthia Bake, which gives students leadership skills and expertise in sustainability issues through experiential learning, classes, events, research and career support. This fall, the institute is launching a minor that students can add to their academic program. Moody will offer two classes, Communicating Sustainability, which looks at the ways mass media can foster, challenge and change attitudes as they relate to sustainability; and Covering Sustainability, which explores the role of journalism in covering sustainability issues.

“It is vital that our students leave campus being able to communicate effectively about issues related to sustainability — whether through advertising and strategic communication or informative communication, such as newspaper reporting and blog posts. The challenges and opportunities raised by environmental issues cannot be met without a solid grounding in communication.”

— Lucy Atkinson, Global Sustainability
Leadership Institute Associate Director

Addressing the Challenges of a Changing Media Landscape

As the media landscape is confronted by numerous challenges, the Center for Media Engagement is focused on tackling some of the most important issues from misinformation to echo chambers. Through groundbreaking research alongside newsrooms and social media platforms, the center produces tools, practices and strategies. Its work has been used by more than 600 newsrooms in the U.S. and abroad and several social platforms.

In the past year, the Center for Media Engagement partnered with more than 30 newsrooms and platforms such as Meta to produce research reports in the fields of journalism, propaganda and science communication. The center’s Media Ethics Initiative published free case studies which have been used by more than 150 educational institutions and learning platforms. The center also provided expert guidance through solidarity journalism workshops, a digital data conference and an election misinformation symposium that brought together newsrooms from battleground states to learn strategies for combatting mis- and disinformation.