University of Wisconsin–Madison

News

The Room Where it Happens

Not all aspiring screenwriters can go to Hollywood. Luckily for UW–Madison, Communication Arts alum Jason Rothenberg (’89) is bringing the Hollywood TV Writer’s Room to them.

Kathy Brown Joins the CAPS Board and Brings Expertise in Relationship Building to Communication Arts Students

This fall, the Communication Arts Partners (CAPS) were thrilled to welcome Kathy Brown, who brings to our alumni advisory board expertise in communication, persuasion, and relationship building. As a Director of Broker Alliances at Origami Risk, Brown utilizes countless skills she honed while in Communication Arts to manage relationships with clients. Her voice as a …

“The Most Challenging Argument to Make”: Feelings of Safety in Dark Sky Advocacy

This essay presents dark sky advocacy as an ideal subject for communication scholars, and it also extends research on the role of feeling in the practice and study of environmental communication.

Meeting the Demand for More Horror

What is horror, and why do we like it? This is the central question of a newer Communication Arts course, “Horror Films,” led by Ph.D. candidate Sarah Mae Fleming. Whether it’s a classic jump scare, gooey monsters, or the exhilarating satisfaction of “surviving,” people have loved horror films for decades. After record-breaking grosses at the …

Nikki Schiefelbein Joins the CAPS Board and Brings Her Writing Flare and Mentorship to Communication Arts Students

The Communication Arts Partners (CAPS) board was honored to welcome Nikki Schiefelbein this fall. CAPS members are essential assets to Communication Arts as they volunteer their time and contribute  knowledge to department initiatives, teaching, and research. With a seasoned career in writing and producing in Hollywood, Schiefelbein will be a valuable mentor to Communication Arts …

A Successful Film Festival Run for “The Forest of Dreams”

Since the premiere of Kristyn Dallmann’s 2024 narrative short, “The Forest of Dreams,” at the Communication Arts showcase, she has taken her work to several film festivals and has even secured some awards. Not every budding filmmaker gets the chance to experience this part of the creative process, and Dallmann is honored to have had …

Why is she green?

Depictions of the Wicked Witch of the West have evolved over the years. The most notable change: She wasn’t always green.

Darshana Mini Receives Honorable Mention for MLA’s Scaglione Prize for South Asian Studies

Darshana Sreedhar Mini, associate professor of film at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is receiving an honorable mention for Rated A: Soft-Porn Cinema and Mediations of Desire in India, published by the University of California Press.

Strengthening Our Alumni Relations

With over 14,000 living alumni who earned degrees in Communication Arts since our program was founded over 100 years ago, it has become a massive responsibility to maintain connections with our graduates. Our 2025-2029 Strategic Plan committed to strengthening the shared affinities among that ever-growing community. As part of that initiative, Jamie Prey joined our program as our Alumni Relations Officer this spring. In this role, Prey works to reconnect with these 14,000 alumni and learn about their excitement to support Communication Arts.

Social Media as Literature

For a long time, people assumed that reading great literature, like the works of Shakespeare, made people better, strengthened their character, and gave them culture. These days, however, few people find themselves engrossed in the monologues of Hamlet and are instead entrenched in a sub-thread on Reddit or the comments section of a viral TikTok video. Can social media make us better people in the same way it was once thought that reading Shakespeare could? Students in a new Communication Arts and Digital Studies course are working to find out.