This past Friday, we gathered together to honor the outstanding accomplishments of our seniors, graduate students, faculty, and staff at the 2025 Senior Luncheon and Awards Ceremony.
2025 Student Award Winners
We’re so proud to celebrate these students who exemplified excellence in their fields and made a lasting impact on the TAI community:
Outstanding TAI Senior Award – Sydney Strollo
Outstanding Creative Student Award – Ethan Jones
Outstanding DMS Student Award – Shivani Kosuri
Outstanding SBM Student Award – Boxiong Cao
Outstanding Graduate Student Award – Liby Navarro
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award – Morgan Heinig
TAI Team Player Award – Brady Bagwell
TAI Leadership Award – Emma Clarke
TAI Optimizer Award – Spencer Hogan
TAI Anchor Award – Athena Mamatas
TAI Social Impact Award – Ross Yenerich
TAI Resilience Award – Emma Georghakis
Face of TAI Award – Shivani Kosuri
Faculty & Staff Award Winners
We also honored the faculty and staff who go above and beyond to support and inspire our students every day:
Scholar of the Year – Sidharth Muralidharan
Student Support Super Star – Andrew Elliott
Student Support Super Star – Tami Fowler
Service Exemplar Award – Alice Kendrick
Service Exemplar Award – Carrie La Ferle
Marketing Assistant Award – Isabella Cox
Adjunct Professor Award – Maddy Kulkarni
Professor Inspiring Excellence – Gordon Law
We’re so grateful to everyone who made this event possible and to all who continue to shape the TAI experience into something truly special.
Here’s to the Class of 2025—we can’t wait to see what you do next!
On April 2nd, the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom transformed into a gallery of innovative design and storytelling for SMU’s annual Portfolio Night—an event that spotlights the best creative work produced by Advertising majors in the Creative specialization. From 6 to 9 p.m., students, faculty, alumni, and over 60 advertising professionals from over two dozen companies across the country gathered to celebrate.
Portfolio Night offers students the unique opportunity to exhibit their portfolios to industry leaders and receive invaluable feedback. The event featured work from two cohorts: Concepting students—those in their first semester of creative coursework—and Portfolio students, who are in their second or third year and preparing to graduate this May. The exhibition showcased a range of design, copywriting, video, and campaign work.
View the Companies Who Participated in Judging the Show and Portfolio Reviews
3Headed Monster
Beautiful Beast
Cheil
Commerce House
Eisenberg & Associates
Firehouse
Golin
Hothouse (Houston)
Infinite Agency
Johnson & Sekin
Keurig Dr Pepper
LERMA/
Moroch
PMG
Saatchi & Saatchi
TPN
TRG
Team One
Tracy-Locke
Vitro (San Diego)
From hauntingly gritty metaphors on social media addiction to mouthwatering food copy, the evening highlighted the talent and passion of SMU’s student creatives. Professionals were engaged directly with students during the review sessions—offering critiques, encouragement, and even potential career connections.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of these students and the campaigns they got into Portfolio Night. We’ve built something really special here in the Temerlin creative program. Our students are producing work at the highest level, and they deserve all attention they’re getting for it.”
— Mark Allen, Creative Program Director
To recognize their outstanding work, Stan Richards Professor in Creative Advertising Willie Baronet and Creative Program Director Mark Allen presented awards across several categories:
Click to View Awards
Best of Show
Center for Humane Technology “Made to Be Addictive” by Jordan Naivar
In addition to these, Judges’ Choice Awards were also given, including distinctions such as “Many Votes Across Multiple Categories” and “Best Logo/Packaging.”
These honors not only celebrated individual excellence but also reflected the collaborative spirit and passion within SMU’s creative advertising program. It’s clear that SMU’s creative advertising students are not only ready for the industry—they’re ready to shape it.
“Don’t bet against ANY of our students saving the world. I’m so proud of all of them!”
— Willie Baronet, Stan Richards Professor in Creative Advertising
On February 27th, SMU TAI students once again proved their creative expertise at the 2025 Dallas ADDY Awards, hosted at The Hall on Dragon. The prestigious event, organized by AAF Dallas, was a night of celebration—honoring creativity, dedication, and academic excellence in advertising.
SMU students dominated the competition, bringing home an impressive 25 awards, including 9 Silver, 15 Gold, and the coveted Mosaic Award—a true testament to the continued excellence and innovation fostered by the Temerlin Advertising Institute.
Ross Yenerich with his Mosaic Award on the Special Olympics, a distinction that recognizes an understanding of and sensitivity to diverse audiences.
“Our students work so hard in this program. I only have 3 words to say: SO DAMN PROUD!” – Professor Willie Baronet
The winning work showcased a diverse and cutting-edge range of advertising projects, spanning multiple media formats and real-world campaigns for existing brands. Since all the submissions earned Silver or higher, they now advance to the highly competitive District 10 competition, where SMU students will go head-to-head with some of the best young creative minds in the country.
“After being in the creative trenches with the students on these campaigns all last year, you get to a point where you’re so close to the work that you can’t be objective about it anymore. And you start to wonder if you’re just a ‘proud parent’ who’s biased about how good everything is. But the Dallas ADDYs are always special because, as the first award show of the year, it’s when we finally get confirmation that all the hard work we’ve put in over the past year really was worth it, and the work is verifiably good based on an independent jury of creative professionals. I couldn’t be prouder of these students and the work they’ve produced.” – Dr. Mark Allen
You will be able to see all of this award-winning work at Portfolio Night next month on April 2nd , RSVP here.
With each year, SMU’s presence at the ADDYs grows stronger, solidifying its reputation as a powerhouse for emerging talent in advertising. Congratulations to all the winners—your hard work and creativity continue to set the standard for the industry’s future!
DALLAS ADDYS WINNERS
SILVER
Mr. Appliance / Lucy Kieffer / Integrated Campaign
SVA Perspective Poster / Ethan Jones / Out-of-Home Poster
Birkenstock / Spencer Hogan + Ross Yenerich / Integrated
Etsy / Kailyn Sawhny / Television Advertising
Perfumania / Bella Mac + Tyler Chapman / Integrated
Check Your Smoke Detector / Emma Georghakis / Television
Mr. Appliance / Lucy Kieffer / Art Direction
Narcan / Tyler Chapman + Ross Yenerich / Out-of-Home
Amazon Prime / Gustavo Lucrecio / Outdoor & Transit
GOLD
Social Media, Made to Be Addictive / Jordan Naivar / Art Direction
NatGeo Expeditions / Emma Clarke and Linh Vu / Television
Screamfest / Spencer Hogan + Emma Clarke / Out-of-Home
Polaroid / Ross Yenerich + Kailyn Sawhny / Copywriting
Pinterest / Linh Vu + Allie Weinstein / Television Advertising
National Videogame Museum / Bernadette Cruz / Integrated
Special Olympics / Ross Yenerich / Television Advertising
Raid Wasp Spray / Knox Miller / Out-of-Home
Social Media, Made to Be Addictive / Jordan Naivar / Integrated
Polaroid / Ross Yenerich + Kailyn Sawhny / TV Advertising
Grin Tongue Cleaners / Kaya Lee / Out-of-Home
Miracle-Gro for Christmas Trees / Lilly James / Copywriting
The ANA Educational Foundation hosts a case competition with the goal creating awareness among marketing and communications students of the role and effectiveness of direct marketing within omnichannel marketing campaigns. The challenge for students is to create a marketing plan and campaign idea to drive Gen Z to sign up for USPS’s “Informed Delivery” service.
SMU Temerlin Advertising Institute was extended an invite through Dr. Carrie LaFerle’s direct involvement with the ANA Education Foundation (AEF). The campaign was lead by Professor Andrew Elliot for the ADV 2333 Internet and Mobile Advertising class.
“A sharp insight and a rock-solid plan turned a class assignment into a defining moment—one where our students proved they’re capable of more than they imagined. Watching them rise to this challenge has been nothing short of inspiring.” – Professor Andrew Elliott
On November 21, 2024 Athenas Mamatas, Jaime Maybery, Samantha Hernandez, and Shivani Kosuri were recognized as the 2024 Semifinalist for the USPS Innovation Challenge placing for the semifinals to travel to Washington DC. On December 6 the students and Professor Elliott arrived to USPS Headquarters in DC to present their campaign.
“Under the guidance of Professor Andrew Elliott, I had an incredible time participating in the USPS Direct Effect Innovation Challenge! This challenge provided me with a real-world experience which allowed me to remember why I fell in love with advertising in the first place. Being able to work on something that impacts and contributes to a larger part of our society was an incredibly fulfilling experience and I can’t wait to be apart of more work like this in the future!” – Shivani Kosuri
The strategy was to support Gen Z by delivering certainty in a world full of uncertainty with the big idea of “life’s unpredictable.” Athenas, Jaime, Samantha, and Shivani leveraged Gen Z’s unpredictable moments to effectively showcase the service’s relevance in their lives.
TAI Professor Alice Kendrick and Mallorie Rodak (M.A. ’11) are helping visualize career pathways for multicultural advertising professionals in the U.S.
In collaboration with the ADCOLOR organization and Cardinal Change Consulting, Kendrick and Rodak gathered workplace trends and fielded a survey in which 181 members of the ADCOLOR community described their career journeys with both words and images.
ADCOLOR is an organization that celebrates and advocates diversity in the creative and technology industries. Results of the survey and related research were presented at the ADCOLOR conference Nov. 15 in Los Angeles.
A primary focus of the research was among women of color in the advertising workforce, and results reflected instances of fulfillment and success among respondents, as well as burnout and uncertainty. “Forty percent of respondents said they had changed jobs in the past two years, and a common theme was that they felt it necessary to change employers to get a promotion,” said Kendrick. More than six in ten said they had experienced a sense of lack of belonging at work during their careers.
“Career pathway models are shaped by complexity, mystery, and hidden navigational challenges, like icebergs, labyrinths, spirals, and Bermuda triangles,” concluded Rodak, who is Director of Brand Strategy at TRG.
She and Kendrick have collaborated on research among the ADCOLOR community for the past three years.
Dr. Quan Xie has conducted new research on “Prosocial Campaigns With Virtual Influencers: Stories, Messages, and Beyond” alongside Eunjin Kim, Joo-Wha Hong, and Hye Min Kim.
How can virtual influencers be used to promote prosocial messages? In the digital age, virtual influencers (VIs) hold great potential to enhance prosocial campaigns. This research aims to identify effective strategies for using VIs to create a greater impact, build deeper connections with consumers, and drive meaningful social change. Specifically, it examines how VIs can promote socially responsible behaviors, such as raising awareness about cyberbullying. The study explores whether storytelling (narrative messaging) can make VIs more effective in delivering prosocial messages.
The study concentrates on the ways in which social media platforms have revolutionized the curation and diffusion of material. Influencers are leading the way in these changes, with Virtual Influencers (VIs) occupying a unique space in digital interaction. The use of virtual influencers (VIs) to encourage socially conscious behavior is examined in this research. By contrasting human-like (HVIs) and anime-like (AVIs) influencers, as well as narrative vs. non-narrative messaging approaches, it looks at how VIs can successfully transmit prosocial messages.
The research tested two types of VIs: one that looks human-like (human-like virtual influencers, HVIs) and another with an anime-style appearance (anime-like virtual influencers, AVIs), across two messaging styles—narrative (storytelling) and non-narrative (informational). Focusing on Gen Z and younger Millennials, the results showed that HVIs were more effective than AVIs in increasing support for the social cause and enhancing message credibility, especially when the message was non-narrative. However, when using a narrative style, this advantage of HVIs disappeared, with no significant difference in effectiveness between HVIs and AVIs in terms of message credibility and intent to support the cause. This study offers valuable insights for marketers and non- profit organizations on the effective use of VIs in disseminating prosocial messages.
In addition, the study highlights how look and narrative influence viewers understanding and reaction to prosocial messages from VIs, providing useful information for companies and marketers.
This research was presented in the annual 2024 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in August.
The American Advertising Federation (AAF) hosts the annual ADDY Awards, which are the biggest and most prestigious competition in the advertising business. The competition is divided into three levels: local, district, and national. The District 10 competition took place in Dallas, Texas, back in March. Acorns campaign by Maddie Otero and Morgan Martinez won SILVER; Fender had Helena Hargraves and Kailyn Sawhny win SILVER; Skout’s Honor Pet Odor Eliminator campaign earned Helena Hargraves win GOLD; and Truth Initiative’s campaign led by Spencer Hogan, Bella Mac and Allie Weinstein win GOLD. Every student who placed Gold or Silver in the district level advances to the national competition.
Early in May, the national competition winners were revealed, and later that month, in Salt Lake City, Utah, during the AAF ADMERICA Conference, awards were presented.
At the National ADDY Awards, Truth Initiative campaign by Spencer Hogan, Bella Mac and Allie Weinstein was recognized with a SILVER ADDY. Acorns by Maddie Otero and Morgan Martinez earned a SILVER National ADDY. Helena’s campaign for Skout’s Honor Pet Odor Eliminator took home the SILVER , while Helena’s and Kailyn’s campaign for Fender took home the GOLD National ADDY Award.
We are beyond thrilled that Spencer, Bella, Allie, Morgan, Maddie, Helena and Kailyn’s campaigns received national recognition and brought four National ADDY Awards to SMU!
This Thursday, the Dallas Business Journal (DBJ) will host the Women in Business Awards. For 17 years, these awards have recognized women from diverse backgrounds for their exceptional leadership and impactful contributions to their industries and communities.
With over 250 nominees each year, the selection process is highly competitive. A panel of judges consisting of past women in business honorees helps make the selection alongside DBJ leaders. This year, Dr. Carrie La Ferle has been selected as one of the 27 esteemed women honored.
“I am honored to be selected as a recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s (DBJ) Women in Business Awards. I love sharing the importance of culture for effective communication in advertising and marketing with the next generation, local & global organizations, and within the non-profit sphere. As a 2024 inductee to the Society of Culturally Intelligent (CQ) Fellows, I have had the opportunity to expand my knowledge in best practices in leadership across a broader range of cultures. Culture includes everyone, from national culture, to race and ethnicity, to gender and lifestyle, and even the homeless. Through my work with S.O.U.L. Church (soulchurch.org), a mobile church serving the Dallas homeless since 1995, we see the importance of learning about a culture to build trust and true understanding of needs, resulting in more heartfelt and effective outcomes. This award is an honor to receive as all the women receiving the DBJ’s Women in Business Award are absolute powerhouses in their respective disciplines and yet make time for giving back to the community. I look forward to seeing what each will continue to achieve in the future for themselves and for the betterment of Dallas and beyond.”
We are so proud of Dr. Carrie La Ferle for her accomplishment. As the award celebrates women who are leaders in the fields across various industries — with Dr. La Ferle in Advertising. This prestigious award is given to influential women who go above and beyond in their business and community and who will continue to impact our business landscape for years to come.
From April 25 to May 1, several of our students had the opportunity to tour and network with some of the world’s leading advertising companies during this year’s TAI creative NYC trip which serves as a discovery class. Dr. Mark Allen and Professor Willie Baronet planned and led graduate and undergraduate students in this unique immersive advertising experience.
“As always it was an inspiring and productive time in New York where we took our students to some of the best agencies in the world. Watching them meet our alums and seeing the amazing work they are producing is always a magical experience for me. This year we visited Anomaly, Ogilvy, Momentum, Walrus, NBC Universal, Kenneth Cole Studios, Translation and more!” – Willie Baronet
The first stop on the tour was Johannes Leonardo, a creative firm that encourages customer involvement on behalf of companies. TAI alum Tessa Conti gave us a tour of the distinctive JL church-style facility and updated us about her work with clients including Adidas, Amazon, and Kraft. Later on in the day, we went to Translation with Kaleb Mulugeta, a TAI graduate, and had breathtaking views of the Brooklyn Bridge. AdAge has named Translation the 2022 Agency of the Year and included it on their Agency A-List.
We began our Friday morning at Kenneth Cole Studios, where Maria Cuomo gave us a tour of the facility and shared some of Kenneth Cole’s advice. Despite being a fashion business, we learned about in-house advertising and the brand’s deliberate adherence to its identity. Amol Rana gave us a fascinating tour of Google and displayed some of his YouTube commercials. We had the opportunity to speak with several alumni for a Q&A session at the end of the week, during which we asked them questions regarding their post-college and professional lives and received some incredible advice.
The plan for the weekend was to visit Central Park, see shows on Broadway, and visit museums like the Whitney and MOMA in order to thoroughly immerse oneself in NYC life.
On Monday, we had a great start to the week by going to Momentum Worldwide, here they served us NY way. We learned everything there is to know about experimental advertising, which is the practice of leveraging technology to improve the human experience while creating memories for brands. Former TAI alumni Jordan Chlapecka and Allie Hartman talked about their experiences working with companies like Verizon, Nike, Coke, and AMEX. Next, we visited Ogilvy, where we met up with Helen Rieger and Morgan Hoff, two former SMU students. They were able to demonstrate several projects they had completed for Verizon, Nationwide, and Coca-Cola, but they also gave us advice on how to approach uncertain circumstances proactively when things could change unexpectedly. Deacon Webster’s Walrus was the final agency visit of the day, during which he explained his strategy of being calculating but yet humorous. We concluded Monday night with the senior dinner, where Willie and Mark gave inspirational speeches and many of us shed tears as our seniors begin a new chapter in their life.
On our last day, we began with a visit of the SNL and Jimmy Fallon sets at NBCUniversal. Michael Reidy, an SMU alum, welcomed us with breakfast before the panel discussion began. The panelists stressed that while our creativity will make us stand out, we must also enter this phase of our life with passion and resiliency. Eric Damassa led the final agency visit of the trip, which was Anomoly. Anomoly strives to cooperate with companies like eos, Ranch Water, and Obie that align with its mission. We concluded the trip with the Alumni Networking Event, where we had the chance to socialize with other alumni who live in the city and sing a few karaoke songs to round off our time together.
Overall, there are not enough words to describe our trip, so be sure to watch our reel on Instagram at @smu.advertising!
In the field of marketing and communications, integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is extremely important. Recognizing this, TAI alumna, Kayla Griffis, a senior strategist at Saatchi & Saatchi, and Dr. Alice Kendrick, Professor of Advertising at Temerlin, worked together to publish a new content creation model that emphasizes the importance of inclusivity. Dr. Kendrick was honored to present the URICA! Model in Oxford, England last summer at the Oxford Roundtable Symposium.
Left: Dr. Alice Kendrick, Right: Kayla Griffis
Published in the Forum on Public Policy, this study titled, Integrating DE&I into content creation: The URICA! Model, stands out as a versatile tool for embedding DE&I principles into the fabric of academic and corporate environments. The URICA! Model was originally pioneered by Kayla Griffis as a graduate student project for an advertising class led by Dr. Kendrick. It initially focused on addressing the insensitive spread of digital blackface on social media. This project evolved into a robust model designed to guide content creators through a comprehensive process to help team members determine DE&I objectives and avoid marketing missteps based on a lack of cultural sensitivity.
The core of the URICA! Model involves a series of sequential steps and considerations that assist creators in ensuring their messaging is inclusive and sensitive to diverse audiences. It encourages a thorough understanding of cultural nuances, informs strategic decisions with solid DE&I foundations, and carefully considers the potential impacts of messaging. The model’s flexibility makes it suitable for a wide range of applications, and was concept-tested for use anywhere from classroom discussions to strategic planning in large corporations.
“[The URICA! Model] was an attempt to offer an approach, tool or a series of questions or areas that should be covered to help ensure that messaging of all different sorts, whether it’s advertising, a blog, just a headline, a jingle, or even a visual, (especially a visual in some cases) are as mindful as possible of the societal realities in which they will be released. That is to say, some things are insulting to groups, and they’re not even necessarily intending to be. In fact, I think in most cases they are not. It’s just an oversight and a lack of ability to see a message from another’s point of view.” – Dr. Alice Kendrick
Throughout the study, recommendations from corporate strategists and advertising professors who evaluated the URICA! Model are discussed and implemented, and current DE&I information and resources for students and professionals are included. Dr. Kendrick noted that when reviewing the model in the advertising field, “agencies seemed very much in favor of something like this, that would lend some structure to a discussion about the sensitivity of messaging.”
Dr. Kendrick presented the URICA! Model at the Oxford Roundtable Symposium in Oxford, England, in the Summer of 2023. Her presentation highlighted how the model structures discussions around sensitive messaging and its potential to be applied across various industries and educational settings. Her presentation was well-received by the international audience, which included academics and professionals, underscoring the model’s relevance and applicability.
As the conversation around diversity and inclusion continues to gain momentum, tools like the URICA! Model are essential for fostering meaningful change. They guide content creators through the intricate process of integrating inclusivity into their work, and set new standards for responsible communication in our increasingly digital world.
