WKU News

WKU Student Publications is announcing its student leadership for 2025-26:

• n  Clarissa Dean, a rising senior from Kimper in Pike County, will serve as executive editor of Talisman life and culture magazine and website for 2025-26. Dean is a journalism and photojournalism double major and currently serves as web writing editor for the Talisman.
• n  Jake McMahon, a rising senior from Louisville, will serve as editor-in-chief of the College Heights Herald, WKU’s multiplatform newsroom. McMahon is a journalism major and currently serves as sports editor of the Herald.
• n  Olivia Games, a rising senior from Belleview, and Harrison Rogers, a rising senior from Louisville, will serve as co-managers for Fall 2025 of Student Publications Advertising, the media sales team that works across all areas. Games and Rogers are both marketing majors and currently serve as account executives on the advertising staff.
• n  Sarah Thompson, a senior from Glendale, will serve as director of the Cherry Creative branded content studio. Thompson is a visual arts major and currently serves as design director for Cherry Creative.

The top student leaders for the Talisman and the Herald were selected by the WKU Student Publications Committee, which has 11 voting members representing faculty, staff and students from across the university and a representative of the Kentucky Press Association. The leaders for Advertising and Cherry Creative were selected by the professional staff at WKU Student Publications.

WKU Student Publications is celebrating a century of excellence, with the Talisman founded in 1924 as a yearbook and the College Heights Herald publishing its first edition on Jan. 29, 1925. It is one of the most honored student-run media groups in the country, amassing 50 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker awards, the highest honor in student media, since its first in 1978 for Talisman and in 1981 for the College Heights Herald. Since then, the Herald has won 25 Pacemakers; Talisman, 22; Cherry Creative, 1; and Cherry along with Student Publications Advertising, 2.

The ACP Pacemaker Award, the oldest award for collegiate journalism, has a rich tradition. The association began presenting the prestigious award to collegiate newspapers soon after the organization was founded in 1921. Through the years, yearbooks, magazines, online sites and broadcast were added to the competition, along with honors for innovation and business practices.

WKU Student Publications has won the top honors in every category in which it can compete.