The Communicator

Launched last year, Boston University’s Center for Media Innovation and Social Impact (MISI) aims to investigate media’s role in shaping public trust. “My vision was to create a center that could help make sense of our global media cacophony and trust crisis through new approaches to storytelling,” says Professor Eric Gordon, MISI director.

In its inaugural year, MISI partnered with 15 fellows, each pursuing unique projects focused on climate justice. In November, the center also hosted “Communicating Climate,” a day-long summit where more than 100 attendees – from scientists, artists, journalists, and activists – learned about climate change communication. Among the summit activities was the symbolic planting of a new tree sapling on COM’s campus.

While the center has had a successful first year engaging BU faculty and the Greater Boston community — growing its roots both literally and figuratively — Gordon felt there was still room for BU students to get involved beyond research assistantships.  This is how the Media Innovation for Social Impact Practicum (MiSIP) was born. 

The course, CO540 A1, will be offered in Fall 2026 to bridge academic study and real-world engagement, giving students across BU’s colleges the opportunity to work alongside community partners in the MISI fellowship program. The fellowship cohort will comprise 10 Trust and Storytelling fellows, and the project topics will expand to include community violence and migration in addition to the environment. 

“At first, I thought it was just for COM,” says junior Adriana Rivera (CGS ’25 COM ’27). “But I think it being open to all students is good because everyone is craving some sort of professional resume-building experience that they can present to extracurricular internships.”

Similar to the AdLab/PRLab model, students will work in groups on real external projects under student leads. However, instead of advertising and public relations internships with paying clients, MiSIP’s interdisciplinary student teams will be making contributions to the MISI fellows’ project development through their skills in tech, art, language, data, engineering, or media. 

“The XC475 Practicum that Spark hosts brings together different disciplines but oftentimes doesn’t include communications,” says MISI project manager and data science student Baria Mustafa (CDS ‘26). “This is a good bridge that will equip students with needed experience in that field.”

“I hope that MiSIP becomes a place where students interested in doing socially relevant, creative, and impactful work can find their community,” says Gordon. “I hope that students who participate in the practicum learn about the power dynamics of co-creation and are able to show up with humility and generosity. I hope they get the experience of contributing to a project where they get to see the impact in real time.”

Feature image credit to Michelle Delateur

Anna is a creative storyteller pursuing her Bachelor of Science in public relations. Following graduation, she hopes to use her PR skills and passion for environmental justice to pursue a career in science communication.