Mixing Ambition and Dedication with a Nod to Improvisation

Published February 24, 2025

Award-winning broadcast journalist Caitrin Assaf recently added Johns Hopkins’ master’s degree graduate to her list of accomplishments. Assaf identifies as everything from a former improv artist and a political enthusiast to a native Floridian and fraternal twin who hails from a proud Irish-Italian-Lebanese family. Pursuing her MA in Government degree was the latest pivot in her storied life, and it has brought with it tremendous satisfaction and future options.

Assaf knows a lot about the power of a pivot. In fact, she attributes much of her professional success and personal drive to the four years that she spent in a highly competitive and popular improv troupe at her Boston College alma mater, from where she earned a communications degree.

“I never, ever thought that the skills I developed through improv would be anything but fun,” said Assaf, an anchor and reporter for NBC affiliate KARK4 in Little Rock, Arkansas, who has been honored with a 2022 Regional Emmy for Weekend Newscast and a 2023 Regional Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing. “Having the ability to improvise and to very quickly turn and change directions when stuff hits the fan has turned out to be a very valuable resource with what I am currently doing. Hanging around with friends and just goofing off has proven to be weirdly helpful.”

Assaf began her broadcast career as a multi-media journalist with KREX5 News in Grand Junction, Colorado, where she was first introduced to political reporting when her assignments increasingly focused on state government. Having never taken a political science class as an undergrad, she knew that the time was right to expand her education and sought out that opportunity at Johns Hopkins.

“I was led to the JHU AAP online MA in Government with a concentration in political communication program because it felt like the perfect intersection of my interest and the type of subject matter that I wanted to become more educated in for my current career,” she said. “I completed my thesis on broadcast media and political polarization, focusing on the different ways that politicians, pundits, and news agencies could be, inadvertently or purposefully, leading to a further political divide. It wasn’t easy, and it took a lot of research and time management, but I was proud of the end product, and I learned so much. I found such joy in learning. Writing my thesis was more of a hobby and less of a burden because I was so genuinely excited about completing it.”

Assaf pins a lot of her success on the quality of the faculty and the course offerings that she encountered at Johns Hopkins, including classes on state government, the language of legislation and bill writing, speechwriting, and general history of American politics.

“The faculty were amazing, especially since they were experts in their fields and were doing the work,” Assaf said. “They were lecturing about public policy, but then they were also working on public policy for these massive companies. They were teaching you to run a political campaign because they have experience running campaigns. I had a whole course on communicating public policy where we were writing opposition and decision memos, blog posts, and opinion pieces. It was such a gift to be able to learn from faculty who were giving you a first-hand account of what the work entails.”

Most especially, now Assaf feels equipped to consider another pivot, perhaps even as a political correspondent for a national network.

“In addition to fitting in with my personal interests, this Johns Hopkins degree gives me so many opportunities, and it will open the door if I decide to leave local news or venture into another career,” she said. “I am well prepared to be more involved with government affairs or with a government department doing policy research. There are options in front of me because of this degree.”

All Assaf will have to do is consider her next move – and improvise.