Hurricane disrupts Katrina film premiere

Hurricane Gustav forced Hanson Hosein to cancel a planned New Orleans premiere of the documentary "Independent America: Rising From Ruins," but he still hosted two impromptu showings before the city began to evacuate. Hosein is director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media program. The film documents the risks small-business owners took in resurrecting their Katrina-ravaged neighborhoods. It is a sequel to the 2005 film "Independent America." Hosein plans to return to New Orleans to follow up on the the people in his film. Hosein wrote about his Gustav experience in the MCDM blog. Read more here.

SPJ chapter awards highest honor to alum

The Western Washington chapter of Society of Professional Journalists recognized UW alumnus and Communication Hall of Fame inductee Frank Garred (1958) for his lifetime of journalistic achievement on May 31.

Garred, former publisher of the Port Townsend and Jefferson County Leader, was awarded the June Anderson Almquist Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism. The award, named for longtime Seattle Times journalist June Anderson Almquist, is the highest award given by the Western Washington chapter. The honor is listed in the August 2008 issue of SPJ's Quill magazine. Garred was inducted into the University of Washington Department of Communication Hall of Fame in 2007.

Two students receive AWC scholarships

Communication students Judy Vue and Nina Huang were each awarded a $1,500 scholarship from the Seattle Professional Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. The awards were presented at a June 18 dinner at the Seattle Yacht Club.

Foreign intrigue interns blogging

Follow along with journalism foreign intrigue scholarship recipients Keith Vance, Meg Peters and Yu Nakayama as they blog about their experiences. Vance is working at the Cambodian Daily, Peters is working at Beijing's China Daily, and Nakayama is working at the AWOKO newspaper in Sierra Leone. Peters also maintains a blog at The Huffington Post.

Gill talks about campaign finance on KING 5

Senior Lecturer Kathy Gill appeared in a KING 5 Up Front report on Aug. 9 that looked at how political campaigns are financed. Gill spoke about the how candidates use Political Action Committees in their campaigns. (Gill's segment starts at 6:30 on the time indicator.)

Journalism students attend UNITY

Three UW journalism students attended the 2008 UNITY convention July 23-27 in Chicago. UNITY is a coalition of the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association. Read reflections on the conference from Anusha Ghosh Roy, Erica Metzler and William Kim.

Students study in Switzerland

Crispin Thurlow and graduate student Kris Mroczek traveled to Switzerland with 16 undergraduate students for the exploration seminar, "Making Place: Tourism, Culture and Global Communication." Students spent four weeks living in Swiss homestays in and around Interlaken. Read more and see photos here.

Alumni magazine lists "Wondrous 100"

In celebration of its 100th anniversary, the UW alumni publication Columns Magazine recognized 100 notable alums, including several communication graduates. The selection committee chose famous, fascinating or influential living graduates. Learn more about these wondrous alums.