Philip Garland Jr. visits with graduate students about changes in research methodology during his visit to campus in March. Garland is vice president of methodology at SurveyMonkey.

CLASS NOTES

1962

Tony Angell's new book, Puget Sound through an Artist's Eye was published by University of Washington Press in October 2009. Angell (who has illustrated such books as In the Company of Crows and Ravens) brings together his naturalist's eye for the world with his award-winning sculpture and line drawing. He describes his art process in great detail, as well as the living systems within the Sound and shares his observations and encounters with the species that make up the complex communities of the Sound's rivers, tidal flats, islands, and beaches. Angell has won the Washington State Writers Award some four times, most recently for In the Company of Crows and Ravens (Yale University Press, 2005).  He also won the Victoria Albert Museum Illustration Award (an international competition), as well as the Master Artist Award from the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.

1968

Robert W. Merry has been named publisher of Stratfor, the world's leading publisher of global intelligence. Merry will help Stratfor expand its presence in the marketplace for global news, information and analysis. Merry was president and editor-in-chief of Congressional Quarterly (CQ) for 12 years. Under Merry, CQ became a pioneer in Internet publishing and more than tripled its revenue before the company was sold, in two transactions, to Sage Publications of Thousand Oaks, California, and Roll Call, a Washington-based subsidiary of the Economist Group of London. Merry is an author of several critically-acclaimed books, including the recently released A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent.

1977

Edmund Joyce picked up 13 awards at the San Diego Press Club's 36th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards held in October. He swept two categories. Joyce is an environment reporter and news anchor at KPBS-FM-TV in San Diego, Calif. Read more about his 13 awards >>

1979

Joanne Harrell was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to the University of Washington Board of Regents in October 2009. Harrell is the chief of staff for the Original Equipment Manufacturing division at Microsoft, where she has worked for the past eight years.

1980

Lisa Cohen is the director of the Washington Global Health Alliance, a coalition of the state’s leading global health organizations. Cohen’s career includes 25 years in journalism as a newsroom manager for Seattle television affiliates KOMO, KING, KIRO and KCPQ, and as a documentary and special projects producer for CBS. She is an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Washington.

1981

Tim Egan was named the 2010 Libraries Literary Voices keynote speaker. The event takes place Saturday, April 24, 2010, 6 p.m. at the UW Club. It is a benefit for the Libraries and is hosted by the Friends of the Libraries.

1982

Marc Watts joined the executive team at Comment Communications (formerly Elevation Sports & Entertainment). Watts will lead the company’s new broadcast training division, offering a complete line of services to groom athletes who seek on-air positions in their post-athletic careers. Watts will visit campus in April as the Keynote Speaker at the Department’s spring fundraiser: Transforming Communities: One Communication Student at a Time.

Nate Miles was elected to the University of Washington Foundation Board and named to King County Executive-elect Dow Constantine’s transition team. Miles has been a major force in Washington State’s business and nonprofit communities for more than 25 years.

1987

Veteran newsroom leader and media commentator Bryan Monroe joined the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University as a visiting professor. Monroe, the former Vice President and Editorial Director of Ebony & Jet magazines, Assistant Vice President/News at Knight Ridder and Deputy Managing Editor of the San Jose Mercury News, has been a contributor for CNN and provided live commentary during the recent coverage of Michael Jackson’s funeral in Los Angeles. He conducted the last major interview of Jackson for Ebony magazine and also landed the first interview of President Barack Obama just after he was elected in 2008.

1989

Robert McChesney and John Nichols, co-founders of Free Press, discussed their latest book, The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again in January at Kane Hall on the UW campus. The Department of Communication sponsored the event produced by TVW's Author's Hour, which is hosted by Communication alumnus Terry Tazioli ('70). McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

1992

Heather Brooke is a freelance journalist and an advocate for open public records in London. She was back on campus in 2010 for a talk at the Department-sponsored conference put on by The Washington Coalition for Open Government.  Brooke made headlines last year when her 2004 request for expense-account information from British parliamentarians who abused expense accounts to garner massive personal profits led to possible criminal prosecution last year. During her visit, Brooke also met with Communication students one-on-one and at a career lunch session.

1996

Lori Matsukawa was named the 2009 Communicator of the Year by the Seattle professional chapter of the Association for Women in Communications (AWC). Matsukawa received the award at the AWC’s National Conference in Seattle. KING 5 co-anchor Matsukawa earned her master's degree from the Department and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University. She was inducted into the Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame in 2005.

2001

Kaci Aitchison is a features reporter on Q13 FOX News This Morning. She is also active with Jet City Improv and runs marathons in her spare time.

Philip Garland Jr. is vice president of methodology at SurveyMonkey, where he oversees quality and new directions. Before joining SurveyMonkey, Garland was Director of Global Knowledge/Chief Methodologist at Survey Sampling International. He has published papers in academic journals and book chapters in the areas of public opinion, internet marketing, media coverage of political affairs, and intergroup relations. Garland holds a PhD in Communication and an MA in Political Science from Stanford University, and an MA in Communication and a BA in Political Science/Communication from the UW.

David Winterstein has a newly published book: Media and Power on the Margins of Europe: Public Negotiation of the Breton Language and Cultural Identity. Hampton Press. (2010, Hampton Press). The book is based on his dissertation and explores the links between the expression of local language and tradition in a globally connected world. Dr. Winterstein received his MA in 1997 and his PhD in 2001 from the Department of Communication.

2004

NWJobs.com recognized 4th Avenue Media, founded by Lucas Mack, as a 2009 finalist for Favorite Startup - Small Companies in the Northwest.

2006

Rachelle Robinett recently announced the publication of BENJAMIN AND ISABELLA Go Gallantly. She reports that, although she has written nearly every day of the past 20 years, Go Gallantly is her public debut as a fictionist. This is a soft release. Visit Robinett’s website for special features, footnotes and materials from the making of the novel.

My Tam Nguyen's article "Asian Comfort Foods" appeared in the Dec. 2-15, 2009, issue of the International Examiner and a review of Fourth Street Grill in the Feb. 17-March 2, 2010, issue of the IE. Nguyen recently launched an ethnic food and community-oriented blog. Read more at www.foodofthepeople.tumblr.com or twitter.com/foodofthepeople.

2007

Tema Milstein received the National Communication Association’s (NCA) Christine Oravec Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Environmental Communication for an article based on her UW dissertation: “Communication as environmental resource: an ethnographic exploration of endangered whale watching and human-nature relations.” Milstein received her award at the NCA annual convention held in November 2009 in Chicago.

2008

Kate Dunsmore’s 2008 dissertation "Mediating alliance: The role of the press in sustaining reciprocity in the US-Canada relationship" was awarded the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2009. Dunsmore is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University In New Jersey.

2009

Candace Soohoo recently accepted a permanent position at Barokas Public Relations, a technology boutique PR firm, where she has been interning since graduating from the UW.

Rachel Peter recently accepted a position with the Dean’s office of the College of Arts & Sciences, where she interned as a student.

2010

Chris Wells has accepted a tenure track position in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of Wisconsin. Wells is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication and a graduate advisor in the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement. His research is focused on relationships between media use and civic engagement, and the characteristics of the emerging digitally networked public sphere.

IN MEMORIAM

Barbara Cloud (PhD, 1979), a longtime journalism professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, died Dec. 24, 2009. She was 71. Read her obituary in the Las Vegas Review Journal >>