The SMI Team

Harrison Hove is the Director of SMI and also serves as Senior Lecturer and Associate Chair in Journalism at the University of Florida. He also currently serves as Interim Director of UF’s Innovation News Center, the student-powered converged newsroom at the College of Journalism and Communications. Harrison was named the 2021 University of Florida Teacher of the Year. His courses focus on broadcast journalism. He also produces special projects with student journalists for WUFT-TV. Before arriving at UF, Harrison spent more than a decade in local television news serving in roles as news anchor, reporter, and meteorologist.  He has earned 7 regional Emmys and 21 nominations for his work.

Jess Osegueda, SMI Coordinator, has more than 10 years of experience in event planning and has been the Event Manager for the College of Journalism and Communications since 2021. She coordinates a wide variety of events for the college that include but are not limited to Spring Graduation, Senior Showcase, our annual Awards Banquet, Becoming a Woman of Influence Symposium, Sports Collective Symposium, Public Interest Communications Summer Institute, and speaker engagements.

Natalie Asorey, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Public Relations Lecturer and Associate Director for Student Engagement at The Agency, is faculty member in-residence in New York City and CJCxNYC program lead.

Dania Alexandrino is a former news producer and reporter for the Univision Network and its East Coast affiliates in San Juan, Puerto Rico and a former CNN en Español reporter and producer. She joined the UF CJC Innovation News Center in 2017 as a news manager assigned to help expand College of Journalism and Communications’ Spanish-language news offerings across media and digital platforms. She oversees production of the weekly “Noticias” radio broadcast and its news team as well as manages its website and social media channels and all other associated multi-platform content. She is also developing and teaching a Spanish-language news curriculum and working with UF’s Center for Latin American Studies to develop an undergraduate joint certificate program in Spanish-language journalism.

Dennis Black is Assistant Athletic Director of Creative Services for the Florida Gators. Dennis has worked in athletics at the University of Florida for 20 years. He previously served as senior producer for GatorVision. In addition to his work for UF, Dennis is also a freelance cinematographer for NFL Films and producer, director and camera operator for ESPN’s SEC Network.

Daron Dean has been a working photojournalist since graduating from UF with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism in 2004. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography at SCAD in 2020. Born in Florida, Daron interned for The Gainesville Sun, the Anchorage Daily News and The Dallas Morning News before joining the staff at The St. Augustine Record where he worked as a staff photographer and director of photography for 10 years. He continues to work as a correspondent for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters, The Associated Press and Visit Florida. Daron’s photographs have appeared in every major newspaper in the U.S. and others in more than 30 countries. His magazine credits include The Atlantic, Audubon, Men’s Health, Popular Photography, Ranger Rick, Sports Illustrated and Time. His work has been included in shows at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. and Florida State Museum of Fine Arts in Tallahassee. Daron has been an Adjunct Professor at UF since 2011, teaching JOU4604 Advanced Photojournalism I and advising students in JOU4930 Fresh Take Florida.

Jennifer Ford is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. She is also the founding president of AIGA Gainesville, the local chapter of the country’s largest professional association for design, and now serves on the AIGA national Chapter Advisory Council and Design for Democracy committee.

Ryan Hunt, Sports Lecturer in the Department of Journalism, came to UFCJC from Sports Illustrated where he served for more than 20 years, most recently as co-editor-in-chief. In this role, he managed editorial staff and digital strategy, including daily content planning, major-event coverage, and franchise development.

Ethan Magoc, MAMC 2013, is the Managing Editor in the Innovation News Center, home to WUFT News. He worked for two years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a social media editor, and before that spent a summer at Arizona State University as a News21 fellow reporting on the voting rights battle during the lead-up to the 2012 election. He also reported for the Erie Times-News while in college and worked as online editor at WUFT after receiving his master’s degree from UF. Ethan is the creator of WUFT’s The Point, a daily morning newsletter covering local and state news of interest to public media supporters in Florida.

Brandon Shenk has a wide range of experience in development, pre-production, production, and post-production. He enjoys developing and being a part of making cinematic stories that challenge audience members to explore tough multi-layered dilemmas and questions. He received his Masters in Film Production from Florida State University, and his Bachelors from University of Florida, graduating summa cum laude (with a creative writing thesis) in English and Mass Communications.

Kalisha Whitman serves as the Senior TV News Manager at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Innovation News Center. She has been an EMMY® award-winning TV anchor and multimedia reporter for more than a decade, including stints at WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, WVTM in Birmingham, Alabama, and WCTV in Tallahassee.