Dean Valenzano’s 2025 CCOM Top 10

Dean Valenzano’s 2025 CCOM Top 10

The academic year can be intense for faculty, staff and students, and so it’s reasonable that there is a lot of pent up energy and emotion this time of year.  Honestly, its what makes things like commencement, our annual Senior Dinner, and the start of summer so hopeful. But an event that has become something people look forward to in a way that surpasses even commencement is……my annual CCOM Top Ten List! 

Without further ado, let’s get started on what is a difficult-to-determine tip of the excellence iceberg from this year in CCOM!


#10 – THE FIRST-EVER CCOM CARNIVAL: From the Elixir de Beans to a “Kiss(ing)” Booth, this year’s Day of Giving celebration in Fairbanks had something fun for everyone. It also continued CCOM’s recent record of leading the way in giving totals and giving by faculty and staff among all of Butler’s colleges.


#9 – MORE AND MORE STUDENT AWARDS: Our students continue to bring home the hardware. The Butler Collegian received Division II Newspaper of the Year for the second straight year from the Collegiate Press Association, as well as numerous other awards for stories and photos. Not to be outdone, our Speech and Debate Team also continued to win tournaments and once again placed at least one student at Nationals.


#8 – BLUE ROLL(ING): The student film production team, BlueRoll Media, took the campus by storm this year under the leadership of Dr. Eric Hahn, doing projects for the College of Liberal Arts, Indiana Sports Corps and more!


#7 – JUST TREKKING ALONG: In addition to another year of successful CCOM treks to Chicago and New York this spring, we also sent 17 students to the Music City, Nashville, TN, in the Fall under the watchful eye of Cutler Armstrong. This new trek served students from Strategic Communication and Music Industry Studies, among other majors.


#6 – A SWIFT EXPERIENCE: 70 students helped bring the North American leg of the historic Taylor Swift Eras Tour to a close here in Indianapolis back in November. This pop-up immersive industry experience saw our students helping thousands of visitors experience some Hoosier Hospitality through a class experience led by Professor Bob Schultz, whom the students affectionately call P.B.S. It was also great to see Butler with 70 students against……13 for a much larger institutional neighbor of ours. 😊


#5 – CCOM GOES CRUISIN’ WITH PBS: Professor Bob Schultz was back at it again in the Spring semester with CCOM’s very first Study Abroad Cruise. 23 students accompanied him on an MSC cruise of the Western Mediterranean, with stops in France, Italy, and Tunisia where students not only learned about hospitality in a variety of different settings, but organized tourism itineraries for each port they visited.


#4 – A NEW MASTER’S DEGREE: This Spring we announced the launch of a new graduate program, in collaboration with the Lacy School of Business and the Department of Athletics—an MS in Sports Management. This unique program builds on the strengths of Indianapolis (aka Sports Town, USA) and our faculty.  It also is the first program at Butler where alumni receive a 20% discount on tuition—talk about a commitment to lifelong learning!


Image from MA in Deaf Education page for Fontbonne University.

#3 – MASTER’S DEGREE PART DEUX:  CCOM also received initial approval to build another new Master’s degree, an MA in Deaf Education, modeled after the founding program at Fontbonne University which is closing this summer.  More details are coming on this program as it is built, but it will be a graduate offering in our amazing SLHS Department when all is said and done.  The best part? Fontbonne alumni, the deaf education community, and Butler friends and alumni all contributed to make this happen in just a seven week period.


#2 – FAIRBANK’S FANTASTIC FACULTY:  Recently, I wrote about four faculty who received promotions this year, but that’s just a small sampling of the amazing work our faculty accomplished this academic year.  In fact, to call out individual faculty, or list all the achievements, would not be possible without much more space than we have.  It’s important to note, though, that in addition to their research, teaching, committee work, and curricular innovations, they also are responsible for being dedicated advisors to our roughly 500 students.


Family and friends of Bill Ney joined students, faculty, and staff in April to share stories about Mr. Ney and celebrate this anonymous gift.

#1 – AN HONOR LIKE NO OTHER:  This year saw the largest gift in CCOM’s history, in honor of a faculty member—William “Bill” Ney—who had such a monumental impact on Butler and CCOM as the founder of what is now the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department. This gift will establish the William Ney Endowed Professorship in SLHS, while also creating an endowed scholarship for students in that field. This is also the very first endowed professorship in CCOM’s 15 years at Butler. Bill Ney’s legacy will never be forgotten, and will always be cherished by faculty and students alike.


There is much more we could celebrate, like the 80 for 80 campaign, our redesign of Butler Bound into a Game Show, or student scholarship on display throughout both semesters, which made this list so hard to create. But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to four of our students—including two May graduates—share their thoughts about CCOM and their Bulldog experience (listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify).

It’s yet another year where CCOM has shown why it is the best college of communication around! I am so proud and humbled to be a part of this community and cannot wait to see what 2025-2026 brings—in the meantime, let’s celebrate our seniors on their graduation. It’s well earned.

Ascending CCOM Faculty

Ascending CCOM Faculty

Dr. Abbey Levenshus at the 2025 “Welcome Back” CCOM faculty and staff meeting.

The journey to associate professor and professor for higher education faculty can be an arduous one. In most cases it starts with earning a bachelor’s degree, then a master’s degree, and followed by the demanding commitment to a PhD. Then the national search for an assistant professor position to get a foot in the door and begin life as a tenure-track college or university educator. The work is just beginning—and we appreciate the sacrifice and dedication so many of our colleagues have made to pursue these dreams.

The work brings the satisfaction of contributing to something bigger than oneself, especially when helping guide students to find their passion or light bulb moment(s) as they work to understand who they are and what they want to contribute with their future. 

The future for tenure-track faculty members typically boils down to two potential promotions.  After six years as an assistant professor, if you have met expectations in teaching, scholarly production and service, you apply for promotion to associate professor. This stage also is accompanied by tenure. The remaining promotion typically available is that to professor, or as it is sometimes referred to, “full professor.” There is no timeline for this application, and some people choose not to even apply for it. But when an individual achieves this rank, it is an enormous moment in their career, and this spring, CCOM has four faculty members celebrating promotions.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Dr. Xiaowen Xu presenting research on campus in 2024.

Dr. Xiaowen Xu of the newly renamed Department of Communication and Leadership was awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, effective with the next academic year.  

An excellent instructor in our Strategic Communication major, Dr. Xu calls her approach to teaching “user-friendly” and thrives on providing students both real world examples and opportunities for hands-on learning. She is also a prolific researcher, winning a Scholarship Star this year for her impactful work in strategic communication.

PROFESSOR (“FULL PROFESSOR”)

Dr. Lee Farquhar watching his students present to FOX Sports University.

Dr. Lee Farquhar, the Director of the Pulliam School of Journalism and Creative Media, and expert in the burgeoning field of esports and digital culture, is a tremendous classroom instructor and mentor for our students. He also has served important roles and initiated several cutting edge efforts in the college, including a current team of faculty working on the impact of AI on teaching.  

Dr. Abbey Levenshus, a one-time chair in Strategic Communication and faculty member who exhibits tremendous care for her students, also earned promotion to professor.  Her work on social media management and risk management communication represent important contributions to where communication is today, and her service includes dedication to managing curriculum issues across the university while chairing the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.  

Dr. Tonya Bergeson after presenting an SLHS student award at the 2024 Senior Dinner.

Dr. Tonya Bergeson, the current chair of the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department, and Fairbanks Chair, earned promotion to professor. In addition to being known as a phenomenal mentor to students, she also is passionate about research initiatives with her students, including travel to conferences to present their work. Her research focuses on early auditory and linguistic development of infants with and without hearing loss, music perception and production, and audiovisual speech perception and language skills.  

These four faculty members illustrate what is so amazing about our instructors at Butler and in CCOM: they are exemplary teachers, producing high-quality scholarship, while also contributing to the culture of the college and university. 

We are lucky to have them, and cannot wait to see what they do next. Join me in congratulating Dr. Xu, Dr. Farquhar, Dr. Levenshus, and Dr. Bergeson on achieving these career milestones!

The S.S. PBS

The S.S. PBS

Design by “Cruiser” Gwen Hayes ’25

Creativity and nimbleness are hallmarks at Butler and especially within the College of Communication. Utilizing his skills at activating ideas, Professor Bob Schultz, known affectionately as PBS by many of his students, is a leader in many of the recent unique experiential opportunities of note (including NBA All-Star Weekend and Taylor Swift Street Teams with Visit Indy). But Spring Break 2025, and his STR 426 course: Tourism and Hospitality Communication and Cultural Immersion, elevated Bob to “Captain” for 12 days during a Mediterranean Cruise with 23 students.

One of these students was Madison Masek ’25 who will be graduating with a degree in strategic communication in May. Similar to when I’m hosting a tour with perspective students and their parents/guardians, there are times I’m thrilled to let the authenticity of a current student’s voice and experience sweep the audience off their feet—and here I’m doing that with part of Madison’s LinkedIn post about our excursion (please read her entire post too).

“Dress up” night on the cruise for dinner.

“I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible opportunity I had studying abroad with the Butler University College of Communication!” wrote Madison. “Over ten days, 22 Butler students and I traveled the Mediterranean coasts of Barcelona, Marseille, Genoa, Naples (Pompeii), Palermo, and Tunisia. We explored the tourism and hospitality industries while immersing ourselves in six different cultures.

One of the most eye-opening aspects of the course was analyzing modes of transportation in tourism. From international flights to public transit and a cruise ship, we explored how each method shapes the traveler experience and plays a role in destination marketing. Beyond transportation, we examined tourism industries through the lens of public relations, advertising, destination promotion, sustainability, and consumer relations.”

Class in the streets of Palermo.

There was analyzing and navigating—be it weather, transportation, remembering what floor on the MSC Fantasia cruise ship everyone was meeting on for our evening pre-dinner class discussion, or if WhatsApp or texting was the most efficient way to communicate with the group at any given moment.

The students learned. Bob, his wife Diane, and I learned. All from each other, constantly. The entire group bonded as we overcame obstacles, lifted one another, and port-by-port, celebrated a once in a lifetime journey together. This was something of a going away present for the seniors, while at the same time providing the highest of bars for the first-year students. But it’s safe to say everyone had fun.

Bulldogs at the playground in Barcelona – per my request.

I have the pleasure of working with Butler students in some capacity almost every single day, and consider myself fortunate for that. But this trip was so much more. As an extended family unit over multiple days I saw even more examples of why these young adults are the leaders, dreamers, doers, and critical thinkers of today and the future.

I owe a “thank you” to Captain PBS, CCOM Dean Joe Valenzano, the Study Abroad office at Butler for allowing me to be part of this trip. More importantly, I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to each of the amazing 23 students who let me be a small part of their experience and who shared their enthusiasm for life, travel, and meaningful friendship.

Ross Hollebon – Marketing & Recruitment Manager, CCOM

Casa Batlló by Gaudi in Barcelona—just because. 😉

Butler Bound(less Opportunity)

Butler Bound(less Opportunity)

Proud parents utilizing a photo booth area in Fairbanks during the Butler Bound open house.

Butler and CCOM just wrapped of another successful Day of Giving—thanks to many of you who are reading this. In Fairbanks Center we made an event within the event as engaged members of our college put in some extra effort, and wonderful creativity, to celebrate our students and inspire a generous mood. I’ll likely touch on the CCOM Carnival at Day of Giving in a coming post, but the future is now for younger students readying for their jump to higher ed.

High school seniors across the country are entering the peak of college decision season—likely somewhere between the most stressful and simultaneously exciting moments in their lives. They’ll work with their parents, guardians, guidance counselors, and others to choose where to spend the next four years immersed in the investment of their future and their evolution as friends, citizens, and leaders. Their burgeoning horizon offers positivity and life lessons during the formative years of college—evolving or learning about the passions and interests that will help define who they are. 

As the room was filling, shortly before the official Butler Bound program kicked-off.

In February the College of Communication hosted nearly 70 high school seniors who have been accepted to Butler University this fall with intent to major in one of our excellent programs. This event, more commonly referred to as “Butler Bound,” provides high school students a chance to learn more about us, meet potential future classmates, and imagine themselves in Midtown Indy as Bulldogs. Our CCOM specific program typically includes an informative session on our majors, internship program, and study abroad opportunities. Authentic stories are shared through a variety of voices as a panel of current students and another with alumni from our majors define how “The Butler Way,” set them up for success, fulfillment, and happiness. These tried and true elements remain terrific, but we are always thinking about how to innovate and improve, so this year we made a few tweaks.

The information sessions and the panels planted their foundational roots in our narrative, but we also wanted to have some fun—it’s in the CCOM DNA. One of our very own interns, junior Blake Richmond ’26, spearheaded a unique twist on the recruitment event by designing an interactive game show to perk everyone up after lunch. Corey McPherrin ‘77, alumnus and former nightly news anchor in Chicago, played the role of host—and boy did he have a good time with that task!

Scenes from the trivia segment (left) and cup stacking challenge (right).

Visiting students were offered the opportunity to opt-in to being a contestant (remember, as noted above, this could already be a stressful time, and we recognize that) that put their names into a random drawing—think The Price is Right, and McPherrin indeed told each of the 10 to “come on down, you’re the next contestant on the inaugural CCOM-petition!”

Both teams were anchored by a faculty captain, Prof. Mary Gospel of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences orProf. Amanda Stevenson-Holmes. Their competitive spirit brought energy and fun as they welcomed their new teammates to the stage.

Segment one was a trivia competition (think Family Feud one-to-one, head-to-head) produced from information they learned throughout the day’s programming. Segment two offered a two-part physical challenge. Team Mary vs. Team Amanda, with five brave prospective students on each side, in the cup-stacking AND the Marshmallow Challenge, simultaneously.  

Team Amanda working feverishly on their Marshmallow Challenge structure.

If you’re not familiar with the Marshmallow Challenge, participants work together in a timed-situation to see who can get one full-sized marshmallow to a higher structural point using only marshmallows and dry spaghetti. Suffice it to say, folks had a lot of fun, numerous laughs, and truly got a feel for what we are about in CCOM and at Butler. It was teamwork, creativity, focus, support from faculty, “infotainment,” and a memorable visit. The best part was this all happened thanks to the ingenuity of one of our own students!

Bringing the day to a close—or at least some parting words before faculty and current students shone during a low-pressure open house in our beloved Fairbanks Center—I shared with the prospective students my thoughts on how to navigate the difficult task of choosing a college. I told them whenever they visit a school they are considering to elevate their future, take 10 minutes at the end of the day, before they leave campus, find a quiet place away from their parents, and briefly shut their eyes. If they can see themselves at that school, thriving, smiling, and enjoying it, then that’s where they should go.

From left: Ross Hollebon, marketing and recruitment manager for CCOM, Blake Richmond ’26, and Corey McPherrin ’77.

On the front of Dugan Hall there is a banner that reads “We are changing what it means to be a university.” In CCOM, we are changing what it means to consider what university you want to attend, too.

Connectivity Via Strategic Communication

Connectivity Via Strategic Communication

Prof. Bob Schultz
Prof. Bob Schultz, host of the strategic communication agencies gathering.

January 2025 is almost in the books and the College of Communication has sprinted out of the gates with a new semester of inspiration, education, and growth through classes and experiences for our students. But even before the first faculty member stood in front of a new collection of learners, CCOM was connecting with another important audience of partners.

On the Thursday evening before the first week of Spring ‘24/’25 classes, Prof. Bob Schultz, lecturer within Strategic Communication and CCOM’s internship director, gathered more than a dozen representatives from advertising, public relations, and strategic communication agencies from in and around Indianapolis for an evening of thought leadership and discussion. 

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Happy Holidays (You’re Never “Home Alone” in CCOM)!

Happy Holidays (You’re Never “Home Alone” in CCOM)!

The email showed up in my inbox in mid-November, innocuously beginning with, “We have an idea for a Christmas season video…..” 

The quick follow-up in early December included a unique request: “If you have a black sock hat and an overcoat of sorts to bring on Friday that would be great. Let me know if you don’t have either of those and we will track them down for you to wear.” 

Little did I know how creative the CCOM content interns Ross Hollebon brought together are or how on the nose they would be with the role in which they cast me. 

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Thankful For Experiential Learning Opportunities

Thankful For Experiential Learning Opportunities

The holiday season, complete with some of our favorite foods and most cherished people, is upon us. It is a time of year when we not only create special memories with loved ones and friends, but many of us also provide to others. Whether that is volunteering at a food kitchen, donating warm clothes, or pledging money to a worthy cause, it makes memory-making possible. We are fortunate that many of you do the same to support The Butler Way and our various avenues of reinforcing a valuable education steeped in experiential learning.

All of CCOM, but especially our engaged faculty, are thankful for the generous support of our alumni, friends, and community because you have helped make so much more possible for the student experience with your generosity to a number of activities and funds.

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Butler Sports Live – Beyond the Final Whistle

Butler Sports Live – Beyond the Final Whistle

Fall is the best season, with the colorful array of leaves on the trees, or crunching underfoot during a cool walk across campus. There is energy and excitement and a little urgency due to mid-term exams and knowing it kicks off the final stretch of the semester. And, of course, Halloween, with the creative outlets of costumes, pumpkin carving, and seeing decorated houses. And then there is sports.

For sports fans, there is the return of three major things:  The Fall Classic (World Series, for the non-baseball initiated), the National Football League, and the Saturday favorite, college football. Chances are, you have taken these in once or twice, or been around someone who watches one or all of these sports with a cult-like passion. Most people don’t get to see every game in person, and instead watch them with friends around the television, with nary a notice as to the complexities that go into pulling off a seamless viewing experience.  

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Addition By Subtraction: A Tale of Surgery & Support

Addition By Subtraction: A Tale of Surgery & Support

Mark Twain as an example of—sans pipe—what CCOM Dean Joe Valenzano should have been doing at home after his surgery. (Photo: UniversalImagesGroup/Getty Images)

Mark Twain said, “Tell me about a person’s family, friends, and community, and I will tell you what his opinions are.” In the coming words, I’m sharing a personal story of the last few months that will shed light on my opinions—at least, according to Twain.  

In late May, during a routine scan, doctors found a lump the size of a lemon in my neck. Weeks later, after a follow-up scan, they determined the lump was on my thyroid.  A few more weeks and a biopsy later, they thankfully determined it was likely benign. Whew! Except, did I mention it was big? My doctor said these things typically get larger and that it needed to go. After avoiding any surgeries my entire life the procedure was scheduled—“yay!” for new experiences! 😉

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Welcome, Butler CCOM Class of 2028

Welcome, Butler CCOM Class of 2028

The CCOM Class of 2028 on Academic Day (Monday, Aug. 26, 2024).

New York City in the summer would get HOT. My father said his favorite way to cool down was running through open fire hydrants. The start of a new academic year always reminds me of this as the university welcomes new students to Bulldog Nation. I mean, they are drinking from the proverbial fire hydrant or hose.  

“New-ness” is everywhere in this next stage of their adventures. There are so many opportunities to pursue, and endless choices about joining this activity or that club. But orientation and “Welcome Week” are honestly a joyful time of the academic year for returning students and faculty alike, and especially for the incoming Class of 2028.

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