As fall semester gets underway, a new cohort of UDC students has the opportunity to tell the university’s stories while gaining real-world experience in journalism, digital media and communications through Trilogy Publication (MMED 492 02, CRN 18554), the course dedicated to producing the “Trilogy,” UDC’s historic student news publication. The class, led this semester by Professor Maria Ibañez, will put students in the roles of reporters, editors, photographers and digital content creators as they produce a contemporary digital publication covering stories from across UDC’s campuses and the greater Washington, DC community. The editor and assistant staff positions come with a stipend.
Students will develop story ideas, conduct interviews and research, report and edit articles, take photographs and create video and social media content. Just as importantly, they will learn how an editorial team works: determining which stories matter to their audience, collaborating with colleagues, meeting deadlines and navigating questions of accuracy and journalistic ethics. “The goal is to give students a real-world media experience in which they are not simply completing assignments — they are producing work for an actual audience,” said Olive Vassell, professor and coordinator of UDC’s Digital Media Program.
The course marks another step in the revival of a publication with roots stretching back to the formation of the modern UDC. The “Trilogy” was initially founded in 1976, just as UDC’s predecessor institutions were being brought together to form a unified university system. The student-run publication appeared intermittently before ceasing publication in the early 2000s, and decades later students helped initiate its return. Students from across disciplines developed a proposal to revive the “Trilogy” in a general education course taught by Professor Helene Krauthamer, and in 2024, digital media students Asha Moore-Smith and Karen Woodbury, working with Vassell, used that proposal as the foundation for a successful grant application to the Center for Journalism & Democracy.
Today, bringing production “Trilogy” into the classroom creates an opportunity to build on its revival while giving even more students a role in determining what the publication will become. The media environment is vastly different from the one students encountered when the publication began 50 years ago. As Vassell said, “Students today consume and create stories through websites, video, social media and other digital platforms. So, we have an opportunity to build a new “Trilogy” that reflects the way students communicate and consume information now... The students aren’t simply being asked to recreate something from the past. They have an opportunity to shape it themselves and decide what “Trilogy” should become for a new generation of UDC students.”
While the course provides practical journalism experience, its lessons are designed to extend well beyond the newsroom. Students will strengthen skills in writing, editing, interviewing, research, photography, video production, social media, digital publishing and project management. They will also learn to identify audiences and communicate effectively with them — experience applicable to careers in communications, public relations, marketing, advertising, government, business, nonprofit organizations and many other fields. “In today’s digital environment, being able to tell a compelling story and communicate across multiple platforms is an increasingly important professional skill,” Vassell said.
With stories unfolding across UDC’s campuses and academic programs, “Trilogy” will also help students learn more about one another while documenting the experiences, achievements and issues that shape university life. In bringing those stories together, the goal is that “Trilogy” will be a primary space where the entire UDC community sees itself reflected, advancing the university’s vision of “One UDC.”
Fifty years after students first created “Trilogy” during a transformative period in UDC’s history, students in the Trilogy Publication course will be redefining it for a new era. In doing so, they will be gaining professional skills and creating a valuable record of today’s UDC in their own voices.
For further information about the class, contact Professor Maria Ibañez at [email protected].