Image: Charles Dew is a fourth-year history and advertising honors student at the University of Georgia who is exploring sports media careers. He is involved with the university’s Talking Dog advertising agency as a production specialist and covers sports for the Gwinnett Daily Post as a freelancer. He is interested in working in sports writing, production, art direction and graphic design. In addition to his two majors, Charles is completing two certificate programs, Museum Studies, and Sports Media. Seems like a lot? We asked him about that: Going into college, I made the active choice that if I were to go in-state, I would double major to take the best advantage of Hope/Zell. Coming to Georgia, I knew I wanted to major in history in addition to something else, and after taking my time, I decided I was going to pursue a degree in Grady with advertising. Even though I had an idea of what majors I wanted to pursue pretty early on, my two certificates came about in different ways. First, during my first semester, I took Dr. Reason’s FYOS. This course took students around campus to see various collections. Over the course of the semester, I realized that my love for museums and libraries could be further explored in history coursework. After the FYOS, I joined the certificate program and continued to take courses within my major that fulfilled the Museum Studies Certificate. Charles also explains how the concept of storytelling is the positive result of the integration of his majors and minors, and may very well lead to a career. My future career is still up for decision, but what I tell people I study is storytelling. Whether it is a brand campaign in advertising, curating an exhibit in museum studies, writing an article on a local sports team, or being able to write a paper in history, I have to be able to tell a story and engage an audience throughout my areas of study. Charles was quoted on writing for the Gwinnett Daily Post: On Friday nights during the fall semester for the past two years I have covered high school football for the Gwinnett Daily Post. This includes researching teams before hand, taking stats during the game, interviewing players and coaches, and finally writing a game recap. This opportunity has helped me become a better writer. With all of his degree and certificate program academic work, you’d think he would have little time to do anything apart from homework, but from study away to student organizations, Charles pairs his social and work activities with his program of study. Currently, he is working in the Special Collections Library with the Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection. Over the course of the semester, he has worked in cataloging, newsreel description, among other things. He is an active member of film club, where he loves discussing movies with other movie lovers. He has also been a member of the Talking Dog Agency, and he told us a little more about these interests. Talking Dog, Chris explained, is an ad agency through Grady, where you are assigned to a team that works with a brand over the course of a school year. This year, my client team is a history-focused organization, so it has been very exciting to bridge both my degrees together for a project. Favorite Event? A film screening of Memories of Underdevelopment presented by the history film series, with an introduction by Dr. Reinaldo Román. I took Professor Román’s history of Cuba course [HIST 4211/4211H], and it was very informative, and I felt like my writing improved throughout the semester. One of the films in the history film series was introduced by Román, Memories of Underdevelopment, and it is my favorite film I have seen this year. As a movie lover, Professor Román opened my eyes to influential and great Cuban cinema that I was previously unfamiliar with, for which I am very grateful! Summer 2025 was a busy one, featuring two study away trips. Charles was accepted into the Cannes Lions study abroad program, a three-week program is located in Cannes, France, where students have access to cutting-edge advertising professionals, designers, digital innovators, and marketers while attending the Cannes Lions Festival. He was also able to attend the Museum Studies program in Washington, D.C. last summer during May session, led by one of his favorite instructors, Dr. Akela Reason. Dr. Reason is the professor I have taken the most classes with at UGA. I have taken her FYOS, Picturing America [HIST 4022/6022], D.C. Maymester (Museum Studies in Wash. D.C. HIST 4026/6026], and she is the advisor to my museum studies internship. Over the course of a month in Washington D.C., our class went to museums, libraries, and other collections to learn about careers in the field, practices, and general history of the area. Without taking a mandatory FYOS course, I would not be pursuing one of my certificate programs, and I would not have done a study away in D.C. The specific avenue of knowledge and areas of expertise align with some of my exact niche interests, which has been amazing, allowing me to delve deeper into the history I love while also learning from someone who has the ability to broaden my area of interest and knowledge. It is important to know history. I think everything in life is better with context. History is the context that brings to life the world we currently live in. It’s also just fun to see how things connect by knowing historical facts, events, or results. Being able to understand context, have knowledge, and state fun facts will always be something useful no matter what you do!
