Erica Irish

When COVID-19 changed life as we know it, Franklin College Chaplain and Director of Religious Life Hannah Adams Ingram decided to find a safer way to hold sacred space for campus. That idea resulted in the Chapel Chats podcast, in which Chaplain Hannah hosts topical conversations with guests and periodic devotionals to enhance spiritual life on campus. As a producer, I gathered crucial sound, planned and executed interviews, and edited episodes each week using Adobe Audition. I also standardized the production process for future podcast staff.

Find all Chapel Chats episodes here, or look for the series on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

In spring 2020, The Franklin - Franklin College’s student-led campus news magazine - had a big problem. It’s website had crashed repeatedly due to a DDoS attack, restricting critical online coverage when the campus had been sent home because of COVID-19. As the publication’s incoming web editor, I researched, strategized, and made key decisions about how to redesign the website from scratch and beef up its security. That search led The Franklin to partner with TownNews, whose consultants led us through a months-long website relaunch.

Visit thefranklinnews.com to see the website we dreamed up.

I designed the cover for the Nov. 22 issue of The Franklin, Franklin College’s student-led news magazine. The story, which I also co-wrote and reported, addressed recent challenges to the college’s secondary education program when it changed from a full degree program to an “education studies minor.” This caused some students at the college to rethink their involvement and switch to other majors. In designing the cover, I sought to emphasize the color red, which earned political significance during a “Red for Ed” teachers union rally that same month. The cover also prioritizes bold, readable type and white space.

I captured this award-winning photo while covering senior Taylor Condre’s final semester at Franklin College, who aspired to a career in ministry. In this picture, she is preaching to a small crowd of students and staff at Franklin College’s Richardson Chapel. The photo emphasizes color, contrast, and Condre’s philosophy of “struggling through faith.”

I designed this spread to showcase a news article on Franklin College’s finances for the March 2020 issue of The Franklin. The feature investigated challenges the college faced in its finances, including debt and several cost-saving buyouts it had recently offered to faculty and staff. In this design, I challenged myself to use iconography rather than photos to illustrate important data points.

As my first assignment for TheStatehouseFile.com, I attended a Good Jobs Nation labor rally in Indianapolis to capture the movement’s support for then-presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont. I captured this photo while following Sanders supporters on Monument Circle during the rally.

For The Franklin’s Nov. 22 issue, I produced this cover for a spread featuring a news article on a Franklin College student who used racist language in a social media post. I staged and captured the photo featured in the cover.

I designed this cover for the March 2020 issue of The Franklin. The cover complements a lead story I wrote about the campus reaction to the recent arrest and firing of the college’s former president and features my growth in typography and photo selection, color coordination, and headline writing.

I assisted in the production of this documentary about the personal and political life of former Indianapolis Mayor and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar as an archival researcher, transcriptionist, and camera operator. The documentary was nominated for “Best Nostalgia Documentary” in the 2019 Lower Great Lakes Regional Emmy Awards.

Watch the documentary now on the WFYI website.