CU Boulder Media Relations Team

Candace Smith serves as the assistant vice chancellor of Strategic Media Relations. She has more than 25 years of experience in communications—specifically in higher education, public transportation and journalism. Candace handles all issues pertaining to the chancellor, crisis communications, media partnerships and major campus announcements.

Spokesperson Andrew Sorensen is a #ForeverBuff, having graduated with a degree in journalism. He worked in TV news prior to joining CU Boulder in November 2017 as media relations manager. He now serves as a spokesperson for the university.

Christine Mahoney is a CU Boulder alumna and worked as an anchor/reporter in various TV markets, including Denver. She also taught broadcast journalism at CU Boulder for nearly a decade, while freelancing as a producer. She leverages her years of media industry experience by serving the CU Police Department, helping share the stories of a progressive department that is focused on community policing.

Julie Poppen oversees CU Boulder Today, outbound social media, and the proactive media team at CU Boulder. She is a longtime Colorado daily newspaper journalist turned higher ed communicator who thrives on sharing high impact stories and leveraging top-notch faculty expertise. Her beat areas are advancement, alumni, Research & Innovation, Outreach & Engagement, and major events.

Nicole Mueksch joined CU Boulder as the media relations manager in April 2021. She oversees media distribution and monitoring for the campus in addition to serving as the main media contact on stories pertaining to law, business and economics. A Colorado native, she worked in Nebraska as a TV news anchor and in communications for a hospital system before returning to her home state.

Ally Dever assists in media creation, distribution and monitoring for CU Boulder. Having graduated from CU with a degree in strategic relations, she is a #ForeverBuff and worked as a student-intern at Strategic Relations and Communications prior to joining the news team. She can be contacted about stories related to the arts, history, culture, CU Presents and the College of Music.

Lisa Marshall has been writing about health, medical science and the social sciences for more than two decades for newspapers, magazines and university publications. She can be contacted about stories related to health, biomedical research, neuroscience and psychology and political science.

Kelsey Simpkins is a science writer who has written about everything from the chemistry of sour beer to arctic sea ice modeling and the environmental impacts of cannabis. She completed her master's in environmental journalism at CU Boulder in 2018, during which she reported on the intersection of the Arctic, art and climate change. She can be reached about stories in ecology, biology, climate and environmental science, chemistry, engineering, environmental...

Daniel Strain is a science writer who has covered everything from collapsing Arctic coastlines to the physics of wine swirling. He can be reached about stories in space science, physics, engineering, geology, anthropology, political science and education.