Dear Diederich Alumni,
I hope you are all doing well. I just returned from visiting some of our incredible alumni in New York City. These trips are always invigorating because I get to hear about how the lessons they learned as students manifest years later in thriving careers. Conversations like these have been one of the highlights of returning to the dean position!
I’ve thought a lot about the student experience since coming back to the College of Comm. When I talk to some of our most successful graduates, so many of them can pinpoint one thing — a club, a trip, a creative endeavor — that they were involved in at Marquette that made a difference. Our collective job is to create that “one thing” for as many students as possible.
One of the areas where we’ve made a major push is in sports communication, and that effort is paying off in the world of soccer. In just the past year, we’ve had students from our college manage communication efforts for clubs in England and learn the business of soccer from professionals at the top of the industry. We also had an alum coordinating live shows for the biggest soccer media network in the country. These accomplishments are rooted in specific initiatives in our college to support students with an interest in sports. I’m excited for you to learn more about them.
You will also find two other stories in this newsletter. One is about Don Hertz, our manager of technical services and a recent staff award winner. Every single student that has passed through our college in the last decade has benefited from Don’s diligence, kindness and wisdom. The second is alum Astead Herndon, Jour ‘15, who is Vox’s editorial director and a former reporter at both The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Astead has brought a level of clarity and public service to his political reporting that we hope all our students aspire to in their own work.
I’m excited to see what the 2026-27 academic year has in store for us. Thank you for being a part of our success as an institution; we wouldn’t be Marquette without you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sarah Feldner
Dean of the Diederich College of Communication
