The mantra of “paying it forward” can mean a lot of things for a lot of people. For Dr. Chandra Clark, it means being a mentor and sharing her expertise and experience with students across the UA campus, not just in her classroom.
Clark is an associate professor in the department of journalism and creative media, where her instruction focuses on putting learning into action. It’s that idea that shapes how her students are preparing for multimedia journalism careers.
Know Your Role
One way Clark shares her expertise is by instilling in her students the important role that broadcasting plays. It’s more than news reporting. It’s also being a good neighbor and good citizen, she said.
“I try to show students that local matters,” said Clark. “I’m teaching my students how to immerse themselves wherever they live so they can tell those stories.”
Telling a community’s story isn’t just about the disasters or crises. But as a former broadcast journalist herself, Clark knows a thing or two about the importance of covering those events. She’s produced award-winning broadcast stories about both the April 27, 2011, tornado that hit Tuscaloosa and other parts of central Alabama and the Joplin, Missouri, tornado that happened on May 22, 2011.
“Journalists play a role during the warnings, during the disaster and especially after,” she said. “I try to show students that what they say matters. And when all the national media leave, it’s the local journalists who stay and tell the stories of impact and recovery.”
The Skills to Make a Difference
Clark likes for her students to learn how to be credible storytellers from start to finish. She teaches them to pitch their story ideas about topics they care about. One way she does that is through her community journalism graduate classes.
“We have such creative students, but they may not know how to put those ideas into feasible actions,” she said.
“In the fall, we set the foundation for how to create a package, and learning multimedia production tools,” Clark added. “In the spring, the students pitch issue projects and they work on detailed plans on how to tell the story. They apply everything they’ve learned to tell stories about things they care about.”
The classes serve as a simulator for how students will create broadcast packages and digital media for multiple platforms in the real world.
Another real-world concept Clark hopes her students learn is how to build a positive reputation.
“Credibility is huge! Everything they shoot or write affects their credibility and how people think about journalists overall,” she said. “Their work has to be as accurate as possible because their viewers will know. But mistakes happen, and they learn how to handle those, too.”
A Sounding Board
Students and faculty outside of the College of Communication and Information Sciences often reach out to Clark when they need help. She loves to collaborate any time she can.
“One of my favorite projects I helped a student with was Beyond Barriers. Sydney Blackhurst, an accounting student, formed the nonprofit swimming program. She pitched (to me) where to begin creating a video and multimedia for her idea,” explained Clark.
Clark then guided Marilu Lopez, a master’s student in her JCM 502 class, on how to coordinate with Blackhurst. “She already had her subjects for the video because they were individuals with varying disabilities, and we knew we would need to be mindful of that and then have to shoot in the pool since the concept was a swimming program. That alone posed its own challenges,” she said.
Clark helped Lopez think through how to produce and shoot it. She shot around water using a fish tank for underwater shots with the camera, 360-footage and widescreen cameras attached to a 10-foot pole to hold over the swimmers in the pool to get unique shots. Lopez presented her final project at C&IS’s Creative Activity Conference and the universitywide Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference.
Another of Clark’s most rewarding experiences has been helping honors kinesiology student Ava Brashear plan a series of videos to encourage physical activity among individuals with Down syndrome and secure a SCOPE grant through Community-Based Partnerships.
The project brings together Brashear, a senior creative media student who is directing the videos, and the families and young adults who will participate in the program. Clark thrives on building teams to move projects like this forward.
“When someone reaches out, I always say, ‘If you think you need me, let’s talk it through and see what I can do to help — or connect you to a solution.’”
That spirit of collaborative learning isn’t just evident to her UA peers and students. Clark was recently selected for the 2026 class of Faculty Champions at the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont. The program honors faculty around the U.S. who are championing hands-on, community-engaged student learning and success. That’s something Clark has been practicing her entire career.
Bringing in More Mentors
But Clark isn’t only sharing her wisdom with current students. She shares her advice and knowledge with alumni and industry friends, too. These visits also help students form relationships that go beyond graduation.
“New hires need mentoring. Graduating doesn’t mean you have it all figured out. You still need guidance,” said Clark. “I’ve never met an alum who didn’t want to give back to our students. They show up for our students.”
Clark enjoys keeping those alumni relationships strong, not just because she loves the industry. She loves what it does for her students.
“I stay in touch with a lot of our alumni and I like to bring them in to talk with our students,” Clark said. “Students get to hear from someone who’s out there doing what they want to do and doing it successfully. The reward to me in that is seeing the students come full circle.”