Vicki Mayer, professor of communication at the School of Liberal Arts (SLA), was awarded the Professional Freedom & Responsibility Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The award is bestowed annually on a journalist, writer, activist or scholar who the group believes embodies the spirit of cultural studies. Mayer, who is also associate dean for academic initiatives and curriculum at SLA, is an expert in media and communication industries, their political economies, infrastructures and organizational work cultures.

Avery Siegel, a Tulane student majoring in communication with a minor in public health, can add the title “Oscar winner” to her resume. Siegel, a second-year student in the School of Liberal Arts, is a co-executive producer of the documentary Period. End of Sentence, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short on Feb. 24. The film follows girls and women in Hapur, India, telling the story of the stigma of menstruation, and their experience with the installation of a pad machine in their village.