Instructors
Adjunct Lecturer Nicole Munchel teaches JOUR504, an introduction to Multimedia Skills for Graduate Certificate Programs, at Merrill College. She is a freelance photo journalist at The Baltimore Sun Media Group who also teaches at the University of Baltimore.
Lecturer Alexander Pyles, director of the college’s audience engagement bureau for Capital News Service, has taught JOUR625, Interactive Design and Development, in this program. An award-willing journalist and teacher, Plyes joined Merrill College’s full-time faculty in 2019 after previously teaching part-time. Before joining the faculty, he was an editor at The Baltimore Sun, and for AOL’s Patch.com; and a sportswriter The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal, CBS Sports, Inside Lacrosse and other publications.
Adjunct Lecturer Eric Ulken teaches JOUR455, Media Entrepreneurship. He is product director for content capabilities at Gannett, where he leads a team of product managers focused on growing the business impact of the company’s journalism. A veteran digital editor and product leader, he has helped local news organizations across the United States find and serve audiences on digital platforms and develop new products as a coach in the Table Stakes program. He previously worked in editorial and product leadership roles at The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times and The Los Angeles Times.
Ron Yaros, an associate professor at Merrill College, teaches JOUR657: Social Media Content Creation, Audience Engagement and Analytics. Yaros researches how news consumers seek, select and share information online and on mobile devices. He has 20 years of experience as a radio/TV reporter/anchor and 20 years as a researcher. In 2017, he was named an Apple Distinguished Educator and inducted into the first cohort of the Tow-Knight Disruptive Educators Network for Journalism Innovation and Entrepreneurship.