Journalism professor helps build resilience through unique student experiences

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Standing 11,000 feet above sea level admiring a nearby glacier and running on adrenaline, Mila Sanina was ecstatic. The hike to this elevation was the most physically demanding thing she had done as a teacher. After seeing her student interview a local scientist, she knew the whole trek was worth it.

Sanina is an assistant teaching professor of journalism in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. In 2022, after an award-winning 15-year career at major news publications and local news start-ups, she returned to where her passion for journalism began — a classroom.

Born in the Soviet Union and raised in Kazakhstan, Sanina spent a year of high school living on a farm in Chetek, Wisconsin. The stay was part of a competitive exchange program designed to bring students from communist countries to the United States. The experience was a “triple shock,” Sanina said.

“I grew up in a city of 1.3 million people … I had never lived on a dairy farm,” she said. “I had never been to the United States and English was not my primary language.”

Sanina said she developed a great appreciation for the generosity of Americans. She said the welcoming atmosphere living with her host family and the surrounding community left an impression.

Her most transformative moment, however, happened in a classroom. During a literature class, Sanina said, she was stunned when her teacher asked the class to share personal interpretations of Shakespeare's “Hamlet.” Individual inquiry and critical thinking were new concepts for Sanina. It was a sharp contrast, she explained, from her Soviet-style education where instructors dictated literary meanings and evaluated students on how well they knew what the literary critics wrote.

“I had just learned the phrase ‘mind blowing’ and I actually felt it,” Sanina said. “I remember it so vividly. I was fascinated with this idea of how you can have your opinion and your analysis touching an eternal piece of work. It was the first time I saw what the magic of education can produce.”

Back in the classroom

The high school literature class set the stage for a life of curiosity, creativity and a distaste for corruption, Sanina said. She imparts those qualities onto her students as an instructor of several classes in the Bellisario College, including news writing, entrepreneurial journalism and advanced multimedia. She also encourages students to be “comfortable with discomfort.”

“The more you expose yourself to things that may be scary, the better you become at being a good learner and the better you develop human-first capabilities,” she said. “I always emphasize how it is important to develop human qualities of curiosity, of asking good questions, of connecting with people … It's very important to connect beyond words.”

Sanina sets high expectations for students. By doing so, she said, she believes it’ll build courageous and ethical communicators ready to face old and new challenges alike.

Challenges like climbing an 11,000-foot mountain.

Sanina co-teaches an international reporting course with several other faculty members from the Bellisario College. This past spring break, they took a group of students and faculty members to Sanina’s native city of Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Starting earlier in the semester, students developed stories about the country’s geopolitical issues, local sports, a community of Uyghurs and the importance of nearby glaciers to the water supply.

One of those students, the student who climbed the glacier, was Brian Eife, a junior double-majoring in international politics and digital and print journalism.

“It was definitely one of my best experiences working with a professor — and also the craziest thing I’ve ever done with a teacher,” Eife said about hiking to see the glacier. “Once you're up that high going on an uphill incline, it's hard to catch your breath."

Despite running cross-country in high school, Eife admitted it was a struggle. He and Sanina visited the Central Asian Glaciological Research Centre in Almaty. There, Eife interviewed a local glaciologist for a segment that aired on the “Centre County Report,” an award-winning newscast produced by Bellisario College students. Eife’s in-depth feature on the glacier is available on the Penn State Student Media website.

“The glaciologist stood there and showed us the glacier melting, and how it feeds the waters of Almaty, a town of more than 2 million people,” Sanina said. “This person was in his job for 20 years, and our student from the Bellisario College is asking him questions … and every question is a good question.”

Eife has his eyes set on law school to study international law. He said the reporting trip to Kazakhstan was an important addition to his goal of becoming a world traveler. He was grateful for Sanina’s help, he said. She played the role of team leader, instructor and translator.

“On that trip, there's so much going on in the week, so many changes and so many adjustments you need to make on the fly,” Eife said. “Mila is super professional and was able to help us navigate through all of that.”

The Bellisario College’s international reporting class visits a different country each spring semester. Past locations have included Estonia, Scotland, Turkey and others.

Awards season

In April, Sanina was recognized at the annual Bellisario College faculty/staff awards; she received the Deans’ Excellence Award for Teaching. In 2023, nominated by her students, Sanina received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the College’s Alumni Society Board — in just her second year teaching.

Sanina has a long history of winning awards and earning leadership positions dating back to her time as a journalist. While she was the executive director of PublicSource.org, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit news organization, the publication earned an Edward R. Murrow Award and a news excellence award from the Online News Association twice. It also increased its readership and tripled in size.

Before that, Sanina quickly rose in the ranks at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In just five years she went from online editor to becoming one of the newspaper’s youngest managing editors.

Sanina said she credits her resilience and adaptability for her success. She said those qualities are part of the high expectations she expects from students. When students are given “freedom and trust” to be creative, she said, they rarely disappoint.

“I want to do something meaningful and also contribute to journalism at large, and that is something that I am doing here,” she said. “I do think that the survival of journalism depends on what kind of people we bring into the profession, and that they see a reason to stay and hold the line.”

When it’s time for young journalists to enter the industry, Sanina said, she hopes they are equipped with curiosity, kindness and maybe a good pair of hiking boots.