John Bravakis: BA, 1980
John is a partner in Triage Inc., which he helped establish in 1997. The Los Angeles-based television production company has been involved in a large number of projects for Fox Family Channel, HBO, UPN, ABC, Lifetime Television, USA Network/SciFi Channel, Showtime, History Channel and The Disney Channel. Triage’s television specials include “Miss Universe 2001,” “Miss USA 2001″ and a Christmas special, “Home for the Holidays” (all for CBS).
Read about John Bravakis’ visit to campus >>
Beth A. Clark: BA, 1980; JD, 1984
Beth Clark is a graduate of the Department of Communication (’80) and the UW School of Law (’84). Her practice emphasizes real estate development, land use and environmental law. Her particular expertise is in representing public pension funds and institutional investors in all aspects of real estate development and investors. She has significant experience in real estate acquisitions, transfers, leasing and financing, as well as in obtaining land use and environmental permits and approvals for commercial and residential developments before state and local administrative and municipal agencies and officers.
Named “Super Lawyer” 2003-2005 by Washington Law and Politics, Ms. Clark is a member of the American Bar Association, Washington State Bar Association and the King County Bar Association. She is on the board of directors for Washington Women Lawyers, a member of the Northwest Women’s Law Center and Commercial Real Estate Women and an adjunct professor for Seattle University School of Law.
Lisa Fortini-Campbell: PhD, 1980
Lisa Fortini-Campbell is the president and managing director of the Fortini-Campbell Company, which she founded in 1990. She is also an adjunct professor at the Kellog School of Management at Northwestern University where she teaches the Communications Strategies program, as well as a wide-range of executive education programs. Previously, Fortini was an associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism where she taught courses in communications theory, research methods, consumer insight and account planning. She is also the author of “Hitting the Sweet Spot,” where she offers theory and practical help for creating truly consumer driven marketing and advertising efforts.
Prior to founding the Fortini-Campbell Company, Fortini spent a decade in advertising. Starting as a research analyst at Leo and Burnett, she then moved to Young & Rubicam in Chicago where she served as research director for five years. By the end of her agency career, Fortini managed the Chicago office of the San Francisco-based advertising agency, Hal Riney and Partners.
Reynaldo V. Guioguio: PhD, 1980
Dr. Reynaldo Guioguio is a Professor of Journalism at the College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. His academic activities include Former President, Philippine Communication Society (PCS); Affiliated with Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC) and Former Chairman, Graduate Studies Department, College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines. He holds a post-graduate diploma in Communication Policy and Planning, Institute of Social Studies, the Hague, Netherlands.
Tamar Katriel: MA, 1980; PhD, 1983
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Tamar Katriel is a leading scholar in the Ethnography of Communication and Discourse Studies. She is the author of four books and numerous articles that appeared in Communication, Sociolinguistics, Anthropology, and Education journals. She has held a faculty position at the University of Haifa, Israel, since graduating in 1983. She has been a visiting scholar in a number of American Universities, including The University of Pennsylvania; Northwestern University; The University of Texas, Austin; Rutgers University; and Harvard University. She is author of several books and articles that have appeared in communication, sociolinguistics, anthropology, and education journals. Her published books include: Dialogic moments: From soul talks to talk radio in Israeli culture (2004); Keywords: Patterns of Culture and Communication in Israel (1999); Performing the past: A study of Israeli settlement museums (1997); and Communal webs: Communication and culture in contemporary Israel (1991).
Yvonne Cartwright: BA, 1981
As a senior, Yvonne Cartwright did a short internship for Wells, Rich, Green, a national advertising agency with an office in Seattle. She says “The experience was awesome – and in the course of those weeks I became acquainted with several people working in the advertising industry in Seattle. As luck would have it, I was offered two jobs as a result of making these acquaintances.”
Directly after graduating from the UW, Ms. Cartwright began a full time job with McCann-Erickson, Inc., a worldwide advertising agency. She considered herself fortunate because at that time very few of her classmates were finding work.
Since that time she has worked at other agencies and for private corporations in advertising, marketing, or creative positions. She was a partner in four different advertising agencies. Today she is the sole owner of Cartwright Creative Group LLC in Bellingham, WA. She has developed campaigns for companies and organizations ranging from financial institutions to oil pipelines, Mercedes-Benz dealerships, public accounting firms and the United Way.
“When I look back, I remember my days in the Communications Building as wonderful moments full of excitement at learning about an industry I have always found fascinating. And I am thankful for Professor Bowen’s belief in me as a candidate for a sought-after internship.”
Stuart Chernis: BA, 1981
Chernis is publisher of the Marysville Globe and Arlington Times in Snohomish County, as well as business journals in Wenatchee and Bellingham. He was recently recognized by the Washington Newspaper Publisher’s Association as a 2008 General Excellence Winner, earning a first place for the Marysville Globe and a tie for second place for the Arlington Times.
Tim Egan: BA, 1981
2006 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Tim Egan has worked as a writer for the New York Times for more than 15 years. In 2001, he won the Pulitzer as part of a team of reporters who did a series on how race is lived in America. He has done special projects on the West, on the decline of rural America, and he has followed the entire length of the Lewis and Clark Trail for a series in the New York Times. Egan is the author of five books. His book on the Northwest, The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest was rated in a poll by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as one of ten essential books ever written about the region. His book on the West, Lasso the Wind, Away to the New West, won the 1999 Governors Writing Award from Washington State, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Sunday Book Review. The Worst Hard Time: the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, earned him the National Book award for nonfiction in 2006. His latest book, published in 2009, is The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America.
Brian Knutsen: BA, 1981
In March 2005, Brian Knutsen was appointed General Manager of the Space & Intelligence Systems Mission Systems organization for The Boeing Company. Brian was editor of the University of Washington student newspaper, The Daily, in the fall of 1980 and graduated from the University in 1981.
S&IS Mission Systems, with headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area, has major business operations in Maryland, Colorado, California, Maine and Kent, WA. Mission Systems is the designated customer-facing organization for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and it provides support for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Mission Systems is also a technology capability center for Global Situational Awareness for Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems unit.
Brian has over 20 years of service with Boeing, and most recently was as the director of S&IS Government Operations. He and his wife, Martha, and their two sons reside in Arlington, VA.
Geoffrey S. Wells: 1981, BA
Geoffrey Wells graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law and is a partner at Greene Broillett and Wheeler, LLP. Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine/Los Angeles Magazine named him Super Lawyer 2004, 2005 & 2006.
Read more about Geoffrey Wells >>
Robb Zerr: BA, 1981
Robb Zerr began a career in public relations at Associated Grocers in 1985. He moved to Pacific First Bank in 1990 then Egghead Software in 1993, all in Corporate Communications/Employee Communications. He started CommuniCreations, Inc. in 1993 and continues to run the company, which specializes in Web and traditional communications design and consulting as well as writing.
In his response to the Communication Alumni Newsletter, spring, 2006 edition, he reports that he “lives in Altamonte Springs, FL, and plays in a band, performs as a pirate around the country and the world, does a lot of community service and gets to work from home with clients all over the U.S. and abroad. Great commute!!!! And here Desktop Publishing was still theory when I graduated in 1981.”
Michael Deis: MA, 1982
Michael Deis founded PRiMeR Ltd., now Primer Research Inc., in 1994, after five years with the audience research group of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (1989 to 1994) and a stint at USIA’s Office of Research in 1988. He recently started a podcast exploring issues in international public opinion and social research. The Global Opinion Primer interviews leading professionals and academics participating in survey research projects around the globe.
The third episode explored the use of global opinion research in the private sector with Doug Miller, chairman of GlobeScan Incorporated. The first two episodes explored the Latinobarometro, a survey of 18 Latin American countries, and the Eurobarometer.
I hope that the podcast will be of some interest to my School of Communication brethren, especially those with students.
Mitchell D. Stocks: BA, 1982
Mitchell Stocks has taken a non-traditional approach to his career. After graduating from the University of Washington, he received his MA from the University of Southern California in 1985, worked in the computer and telecommunications industry for five years and then enrolled at the Northwestern University Law School at the age of thirty. Interestingly, Stocks says, “he suspects that he will eventually do something much different than what he is doing now.
Read more about Mitchell Stocks >>
Ted Davis: BA, 1982
Ted is living in Munich, Germany while on leave from television advertising in Seattle. He worked for 20 years at both KIRO-TV and Seattle’s WB network. He is enjoying soaking in the European culture along with his young son. Ted has this to say about his time at the UW: “While I got to study under many legendary Professors including Don Pember, Bill Ames and Pat Cranston. I would have to cite you, Jerry (Baldasty) as the one that had the greatest impression on me. Your passion for the subject and the way you could relate it to us using current events and trends along with injecting a little humor in your lectures always made your classes something to look forward to.”
Ted is married to UW Communication alumna Teresa Davis: BA, 1993
John Dresel: BA, 1982
John Dresel is owner and of Nailgun Content Solutions, an e-commerce service provider specializing in on-line merchandising and product descriptions for several of the largest on-line retailers, service providers and referral sites. A Seattle-based company, Nailgun creates, among other content, product description for hundreds of hotels located around the globe and also college descriptions and course descriptions for large college referral sites.
Dresel is the former president of Tully’s Coffeeand a veteran in the service, broadcast and entertainment industry. Prior to moving to Tully’s, he was president of the Ackerley Television Group, Inc. — whose parent company, The Ackerley Group, is a media and entertainment company with diversified groups of professional sports teams, outdoor advertising, broadcast and interactive media.
Mr. Dresel ran broadcast operations, sales and financial duties for 18 television stations, including ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. His resume also includes president of Full House Sports and Entertainment and the vice president and general manager of KJR AM Radio 950 and KLTX FM Radio 95.7.
Lorraine Howell: BA, 1982
lorraine@mediaskillstraining.com
After 12 years as a television news and talk producer, Lorraine Howell started her own business doing media training and presentation skills training: mediaskillstraining.com. She is the author of Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift!
The Association for Women in Communications named Howell the AWC Headliner Award winner in 2009.
Helene Starks, (’82, ’04)
Helene Starks is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical History and Ethics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She earned her BA in Communications from the UW Department of Communications, an MPH in Health Policy and Administration from the University of California at Berkeley and a PhD in Health Services Research from the UW.
Dr. Starks’ research interests include issues related to the end-of-life for patients, their family members, clinicians, and health systems. Her research also includes qualitative and mixed methods research, surrogate decision-maker and family caregiver issues, utility assessment, medical decision-making, and clinician-patient communication. Special interests include feminist and narrative approaches to bioethics, and research ethics, especially involving vulnerable human subjects in research.
For more information, visit her faculty bio page…
Craig Tomashoff : BA, 1982
Craig Tomashoff is currently working as the West Coast Bureau Chief for TV Guide, based in Los Angeles. He has worked there since 2003. Prior to that, he was a television writer/producer for five years, working for shows such as “Behind the Music” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” and with people such as Jesse Ventura and Martin Short. And going back still further, he was associate bureau chief for People Magazine for 10 years. He also received a master’s degree in magazine journalism from Northwestern University in 1985.
Marc Watts: BA, 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.
David Boardman: MA, 1983
2007 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
David Boardman started at The Seattle Times in 1983 as a copy editor and reporter, and has served in numerous roles. He now serves as the paper’s executive editor. As an editor at the paper, he directed two Pulitzer Prize-winning team projects: a 1997 Pulitzer for an investigation of abuses in the federal tribal-housing program and a 1990 Pulitzer for coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and its aftermath. Boardman also edited four other stories that were Pulitzer finalists. He is the recipient of numerous other major national awards, including the Goldsmith Prize in Investigative Reporting from Harvard University, the Worth Bingham Prize in Investigative Reporting, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and the Associated Press Managing Editors Public Service Award. He is vice president of the Board of Directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors, and a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Board. Boardman has been a reporter and editor at several papers in the Northwest. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Tom Douthitt: BA, 1983
Since graduation from the UW, Tom Douthitt has worked in marketing and new product development positions for several large medical device manufacturers. Most recently he was General Manager of Abbott Labs Coronary Technologies group. He returned to the Seattle area to work with a small start-up organization called Cardiac Dimensions Inc. They are developing a new non-surgical treatment for patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Douthitt heads up the Marketing, Business Development, and European Clinical Trial activities.
H. Stuart Elway: BA, 1970; MA, 1975; PhD, 1983
2009 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
As president of Elway Research, Inc., H. Stuart Elway has directed research projects for large and small businesses, associations, not-for-profits, public agencies at all levels, candidates, ballot measures and media outlets, including The Seattle Times, Knight Ridder and NBC News. In addition to being regularly and widely quoted in Washington state media, Elway is looked to from outside the region as an expert on Northwest politics; he has been quoted in Time magazine, The Economist, and nearly every major daily newspaper in the country. He has also appeared or been quoted on all six television networks and has appeared as a guest on local and network news programs, including NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” and “To the Point,” CNN’s “Inside Politics,” and abc.com’s “Political Points.” He pioneered the use of random-sample interactive polls on live television. Elway has taught at both the UW and The Evergreen State College. He is a member of The National Council of State Polls and the American Association of Public Opinion Research. He is the publisher of The Elway Poll, the only on-going non-partisan, independent analysis of public opinion in the Northwest. He has directed The Seattle Times Washington Poll since 1984, and directed The Seattle Times/NorthWest Cable News Poll. He was also the research partner in the Front Porch Forum, a civic journalism effort of The Seattle Times, The Evans School, KCTS/9, KUOW and KPLU.
James F. (Jay) Hamilton: BA 1983; MA 1986
Hamilton, an Associate Professor at Grady College, University of Georgia, has published a second book in 2008, in the wake of Democratic Communications; Formations, Projects, Possibilities, that was published by Lexington Books in February. His new book Alternative Journalism, co-authored with Chris Atton (Napier University, Scotland), is coming out with Sage Publications in December. It conducts a cultural, historical, political-economic, and sociological analysis of alternative journalism, and is the first book-length study of the topic.
Katie King: BA, 1983
Katie King is an online publishing specialist with wide-ranging journalism background and international strategic planning and business development experience. A writer, editor and experienced news and content operations manager, Katie works with clients to define and achieve content publishing goals. She formerly served as Senior Vice President for Global General News at Reuters, where she coordinated the launch of Reuters’ global multimedia, multi-lingual online news reports which were the pioneering Internet news products in the United States and around the world. Prior to that she was responsible for creating and producing “What On Earth,” a groundbreaking daily multimedia publication for kids that was distributed by cable giant TCI to schools across the country. Katie was a Fellow in Harvard’s prestigious Nieman Foundation for leading U.S. and international journalists. For Reuters, she covered major news events in Latin America including the U.S. invasion of Panama and was chief correspondent in both Mexico and Brazil. She has lived and worked across Latin America and Europe and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.
Ken Baldwin: BA, 1984
Ken Baldwin lives in Los Angeles, CA and works as a salsa instructor and actor.
From Ken’s Web site:
Ken Baldwin has instructed and worked with some of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars… Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Celia Cruz, Emilio Estevez, Mario Lopez, Ali Landry, Sofia Milos, Eriq La Salle, Pilar Montenegro and Paulina Rubio to name a few. He has danced or choreographed in film, television, music video, commercials and live concerts. He is the in-house salsa instructor at the world-famous Conga Room in Los Angeles and Mama Juana’s in Studio City, CA.
Donal Carbaugh: Ph.D. 1984
2005 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
2011 Department of Communication Distinguished Alumnus
Donal Carbaugh is Professor of Communication, chair of the International Studies Council, and past co-chair of the Five College Committee on Native American Indian Studies. In 2007-2008, he was Distinguished Fulbright Professor and Bicentennial Chair of American Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has been chair of both the International Communication Association’s Language and Social Interaction Division, and the National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division. In 1992, he was elected Visiting Senior Member at Linacre College, Oxford University, England, which is a lifetime appointment. He has held academic appointments at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Helsinki, the Turku School of Economics in Finland, and at other universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His general interests focus upon cultural philosophies of communication, and more specifically, the ways culturally distinctive practices get woven into international and intercultural interactions. He currently serves on more than twenty editorial boards of national and international journals. His published research has appeared in many major academic journals, in several countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, and Russia, in several languages.
William Douthitt: BA, Communications, 1984
Douthitt is Managing Editor/Special Editions, for National Geographic Magazine.
Margaret Winch: BA, 1984
Margaret is the owner of Communication Resources Northwest. Her primary clients are architects, engineers, and contractors and her main areas of focus are organizational development and research programs in employee satisfaction.
Fred Zandpour: PhD, 1984
Dr. Fred Zandpour holds a Ph.D. in Communication from University of Washington in Seattle and has taught marketing communication courses at Penn State University and Cal State Fullerton where he has been a professor since 1988. He has authored more than 30 convention papers and his work has appeared in top research journals in the United States and the United Kingdom, including Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising and Mass Comm Review. His research in international advertising has been widely cited in the United Stares and abroad, and was recognized as Top-Ranked by International Communication Association in 1994 in Sydney Australia.
Read more about Fred Zandpour >>
Betsy Wackernagel Bach: PhD, 1985
2010 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Since completing her Ph.D., Dr. Bach has been employed at the University of Montana in the Department of Communication Studies. She has served as chair of the department, just completing six-years in administration (4 years as assistant provost and 2 years as interim dean of the Davidson Honors College), and is now back in the classroom and, she reports, “loving it!”
Dr. Bach was recently selected as one of two candidates for second vice president of the National Communication Association, and is very honored to receive this accolade. If she wins the election, she will assume the role of president in 2009.
Read more about Dr. Betsy Wackernagel Bach >>
Fiona Chew: PhD, 1985; MA, 1976
Fiona Chew is an associate professor in television, radio and film at Syracuse University. She teaches courses on electronic media research, theory and writing at the Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Formerly a television and film producer, Chew now researches the media industry in which she once worked. Most notably, Chew’s body of scholarship focuses on message effects and analysis, as well as health communication. Since 2003, Chew has conducted two national surveys of family physicians to assess the use of health technologies, including the internet. Chew has also investigated the impact of television and mass media on audience perceptions, and was involved in a four-country project which looked at the impact of a television series on health.
More information about Fiona Chew >>
Kari Shull Costanza: BA, 1985
Kari Shull Costanza is Global Editor at World Vision International, a humanitarian organization headquartered in London. She developed World Vision’s first Information Resources department. Information Resources reports and requests more than 400 stories and accompanying photos annually for WVUS and partnership purposes. She developed Share system—a story assignment management system to assign stories, accept ideas, track story progress, and document story usage for use by all World Vision offices. During her 5 years in World Vision video department, she edited, wrote, and produced 300 videos about the organization’s work. During 10 years with World Vision magazine, she reported, researched, and wrote 21 cover or secondary feature stories. She has have written at least 100 stories on various topics from sponsorship to microenterprise to child sex tourism. Over the past 16 years she have traveled to around 30 countries to write stories, shoot photographs and video, train communicators, and participate in communications meetings. Since 2004, she has planned and conducted story-gathering trips for World Vision President Rich Stearns as well as other high profile authors and speakers such as Max Lucado. Stories, photos, and videos from these trips have been disseminated worldwide and used in Stearns’ book, The Hole in our Gospel and Lucado’s Outlive Your Life.
Cynthia Flash: BA, 1985 Journalism
cynthia@flashmediaservices.com
Cynthia Flash is a media consultant, editor, writer, public relations specialist and owner of Flash Media Services.
Rebecca Haines: MA, 1985 (Speech Communication)
Rebecca Haines had a rare malignancy in 2004, and after a chemo pill and surgery at the University Hospital, she is now experiencing remission euphoria! She recently purchased a condominium and is speaking about her experience to a few small groups, to spread the word of hope and possibilities. She continues to work as a registered nurse at an assisted living facility part-time and swims 1/2 mile per week, which she says is “both exercise and recreation!” Her inspiring story of diagnosis and recovery is published in the support group newsletter for the type of tumor she had. Please see: www.liferaftgroup.org then click on “Coping,” then “Member’s Stories,” then click on her name. Her story is called: “Fifty-one weeks from diagnosis to remission.”
Kathleen Knutson Riley: BA, 1985 (Communications and Economics)
After graduation, Kathleen Riley worked as a farmwriter in Walla Walla for three years, then at the Tri-City Herald for 14 years as a business writer, editorial writer and editorial page editor;. She joined The Seattle Times editorial page staff in 2002 as editor, writer and columnist. She follows higher ed., energy and immigration. In the summer of 2006, she was on a three-month leave as the 2005 recipient of the Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing. Her project related to controversies surrounding the study of the earliest Americans. In her response to the Communication Alumni Newsletter, spring, 2006 edition, she reports that she is “Interested in discussions about common ground. How do you get diabolically opposed groups to listen to each other?”
Joel VanEtta: BA, 1985
Joel VanEtta joined Gogerty Marriott in 1987. He manages issues for such clients as Group Health Cooperative, International Speedway Corporation, Salishan-Mohegan, Davis Wright Tremaine, Glacier Northwest, Swedish Medical Center, Washington Dental Service, Virginia Mason Medical Center and Whole Foods Markets. His project management experience includes developing strategy and managing the implementation of communications plans for complex public issues with multiple objectives and modes of communication, and statewide campaigns on initiative election issues. He has also provided strategic direction and managed numerous projects involving controversial public issues; complex governmental review and approval processes; crisis communications; government, media and community relations; and grassroots organizing and communications. An award-winning reporter, photographer and editor at the Tri-City Herald for six years, VanEtta is a proficient writer and editor. He is a member of the boards of directors for the Seattle Center Foundation and a past director of the Seattle Police Foundation and Seattle City Club. He is a lifetime member of Trout Unlimited and a member of the Federation of Flyfishers and American Rivers.
Harry F. Higgins: BA 1986 (Broadcasting)
Mr. Higgins is a news photographer at KCPQ-TV, Seattle Fox News affiliate. He has been married to Moyra since 1991 and is a U.S. Navy submarine veteran. He is a member of NRA, NPPA, NGS, The Mountaineers, and the UWAA.
Jeff Kerssen-Griep: MA, 1986; PhD, 1997
Dr. Kerssen-Griep is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in Communication Studies at the University of Portland. He is also the 2004 recipient of the school’s most prestigious teaching award, the Outstanding Teacher of the Year. Portland, the University of Portland magazine, describes him as “the exuberant ebullient erudite energetic elastic articulate amused educated openhearted Jeff Kerssen-Griep, who teaches all sorts of communication courses and is a scholar of what he calls ‘facework’ as a crucial aspect of learning.”
Read more about Dr. Jeff Kerssen-Griep…
Robert W. McChesney: MA, 1986; PhD, 1989
2010 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Robert McChesney is Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research (ICR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Executive Director of the Illinois Initiative for Media Policy Research, and Director of Graduate Studies at the ICR.
McChesney is the President and co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization. He also hosts the “Media Matters” weekly radio program every Sunday afternoon on WILL-AM radio. From 1988 to 1998 he was on the Journalism and Mass Communication faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Read more about Robert McChesney >>
Sean Means: BA, 1986
In the summer of 2004, Sean Means marks 11 years as movie critic of the Salt Lake Tribune. In addition to reviewing about 250 films a year, Means also covers Utah’s film industry and the annual madness of the Sundance Film Festival. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Leslie, and their two sons.
Todd Meyers: BA, 1986
Todd Meyers is manager of external communications for Allegheny Power, based in Pittsburgh. To get a glimpse of projects Meyers works on see: www.aptrailinfo.com and www.pathtransmission.com.
Neil Neroutsos: BA, 1986 (Broadcast Journalism)
Neil Neroutsos went on to earn a masters in corporate public relations from Northwestern University (1991). Since then, he has worked in numerous marketing and communications positions. He is currently the media and public relations liaison for Snohomish County Public Utility District. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Shoreline.
Ron Pyle: MA, 1986; PhD, 1993
With a Ph.D. in speech communication and two master’s degrees, one in speech communication from the University of Washington and one in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, Ron Pyle now teaches at Whitworth College in the departments of communication studies and theology.
Jane Wells Elliott (graduated as Jane Wells): BA-Communications, 1986; BA Psychology, 1986
Married nearly 20 years to Doug Elliott. Proud mother of Sarah Elliott, who is off to pursue a BFA in Musical Theater in 2009. Longtime resident of Kirkland, WA.
Dana Whitford: BA, 1986
Dana is a Network Specialist for the Communication Technologies department at the University of Washington.
David Blandford: BA, 1987 (Editorial Journalism and Political Science)
David Blandford is Director of Public Relations for Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, where he oversees the public relations department and directs many aspects of organizational communications. He has served in Seattle’s tourism industry for more than 15 years.
Blandford is the 2007 President of the Puget Sound Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). He has served on various committees for several years and joined the chapter’s board of directors in 2003. He has also served on the board of the Society of American Travel Writers.
Prior to his work in Seattle’s tourism industry, Blandford held other marketing and communications positions in Seattle and in Washington, D.C.
Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau is a non-profit economic development agency responsible for competitively marketing Seattle as a destination for meeting and convention groups and leisure travelers. Visitors spend $3.97 billion in Seattle and King County annually, contributing $342 million in state and local tax revenues. Direct visitor spending benefits hotels, retailers, restaurants, attractions, transportation services and other businesses, and supports jobs for nearly 60,000 people in the Seattle region.
Heather Bosch: BA, 1987
Heather Bosch, a radio reporter/anchor for Newsradio 710 KIRO has been awarded another Edward R. Murrow Award, the third such national honor in as many years. Bosch earned this latest journalism award in the Best Use of Sound category for her series “The Sound of Movie Music,” which featured a world-renowned organist performing with silent films at Seattle’s Paramount Theater.
This award follows four regional Murrow wins earlier in 2007.
“What amounts to a ‘three-peat’ of national honors is quite an accomplishment for Heather and also reflects the quality of education she received at the University of Washington.” says Allan Townsend, Bosch’s husband and Web master.
In 2007, Bosch was also named an Alpha XI Delta’s national “Woman of Distinction.” She was nominated by the Greater Seattle Alumnae Association. To quote the press release, “The award recognizes members who exhibit excellence and extraordinary leadership in their professions and philanthropic pursuits.” Bosch was presented the award at the Alpha XI Delta’s national convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
You can hear Bosch on News Radio 710 KIRO, where she reports from just about anywhere. Visit her web site (http://heatherbosch.com) for more on her stores, including a live interview during the Seattle windstorm and stories filed from Sri Lanka on the recovery efforts in tsunami ravaged countries. She is also a frequent contributor to the CBS Radio network. She did a live report for them – from under her desk – DURING the 2001 earthquake that rattled Seattle. After graduating from the UW, she received a post graduate diploma in broadcast journalism from the Centre For Journalism Studies – University College Cardiff, Great Britain and has worked in Great Britain and around the Pacific Northwest in both radio and television.
A list of recent awards (note: You must win the regional award to move onto national judging):
2007 National RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, Individual: Best Use of Sound
2007 Regional RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, Individual: Best Use of Sound, Best Series, Best Investigative Report, Best Serious Feature
2006 National RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, Individual: Best Series
2006 Regional RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, Individual: Best Series
2005 National RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, Individual: Best Use of Sound
2005 Regional RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Awards, Individual: Best Investigative, Best Series, and Best Use of Sound
OTHER:
2007 Alpha Xi Delta National Women of Distinction Award
Photo by Portraits by Eric Alexander
Kathleen Miller: BA, 1987
2004 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Freelance writer and owner of Blue Emu Communications, Kathleen Miller writes for several local publications and websites including Seattle Citysearch and Puget Sound Business Journal. She is active in the Society for Professional Journalists and Association for Women in Communications and stages an annual career workshop for UW Communication students. Miller is also past president of the Communication Alumni Club.
Ken Miller: MA, 1987
Ken Miller is the Public Information Officer and Web Manager for the city of Lansing, Kansas. He oversees the city’s web site, www.lansing.ks.us as well as Lansing’s government access television channel.
Ken married Anne Dennehy in June 2006. Anne is an RN and works for Kansas City Hospice. They live together with Ken’s daughter in Lawrence, Kansas. Grace Miller is 13 years old and participates in the gifted program, an elite volleyball team and a local softball team. Ken can be reached by e-mail at oscarfactor@yahoo.com.
(Photo is Ken and Anne Miller in Colorado, summer 2008.)
Bryan Monroe: BA, 1987
2007 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Bryan Monroe has joined CNN as editor of CNNPolitics.com. In this role, Monroe will lead the editorial planning and content strategy for CNN’s online and mobile political coverage from the network’s D.C. bureau.
Most recently, Monroe was a visiting professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and is a former president of NABJ, the National Association of Black Journalists. Also, while at Knight-Ridder in 2005, he helped lead the team in Biloxi, Miss., that won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
Prior to his professorship at Northwestern, Monroe served as Vice President and Editorial Director at Ebony and Jet magazines in Chicago. At the magazines, he led the coverage of the 2008 presidential elections and conducted the first interview with then President-elect Barack Obama following his November victory; and also had the last major interview with pop star Michael Jackson before his death in 2007.
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Read about Bryan’s awards and visits to our department >>
Tim Pilgrim: MA, PhD; 1987, 1989
Tim Pilgrim is an associate professor of journalism at Western Washington University. He calls on much of his UW learning from professors such as Bill Ames, Don Pember, Roger Simpson, Gerald Baldasty, Tony Giffard, Richard Carter, and Richard Kielbowicz to teach the department’s introduction to mass media course, which is a popular university general education class at Western.
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Lisa Oda: BA, 1987
Lisa is a Loyalty Marketing Manager at eBay.
Maggie Walker: BA, 1974; BA, 1987
2009 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Walker is very active in the nonprofit community. She is 2nd Vice Chair on the Board of Directors of The Seattle Foundation, a leading philanthropic nonprofit organization in creating positive community change. She is past president of the ARCS Foundation Seattle Chapter and board vice president of the Museum of History and Industry. She currently serves as board chair of the Bullitt Foundation an MOHAI, is co-chair of the Prosperity Partnership’s Cultural Task Force, and is president elect of the Seattle Art Museum. A strong advocate of the environment, education and the arts, Walker has led the boards of the Henry Art Gallery, the Woodland Park Zoological Society and the Washington Women’s Foundation. She is a founding member of the Foundation, first Chair of the board and Planning Committee, two time grant committee member, and helped lead the development of the Foundation’s endowment In addition, she is a past board vice president of Washington Audubon and Seattle Children’s Home. Walker chaired Art Fair Seattle for five years and headed up Campaign UW for the College of Arts and Sciences. She is co-founder of Social Venture Partners, a network of engaged donors and nonprofits teamed to leverage their knowledge and experiences for the good of the community.
Tina Christiansen: BA, 1988
Tina Christiansen and Almeera Anwar (BA, ’12) are the 2012-2013 co-VPs of Student Affairs for the Seattle Professional Chapter of AWC.
Marilyn Fancher: MA, 1988
Marilyn Fancher is a senior vice president and creative director of APCO Worldwide in Washington, DC, a global public affairs consultancy. Fancher produces broadcast programs, commercials, film and video for corporate and political clients.
Daena J. Goldsmith: MA, 1988; PhD, 1990
Dr. Goldsmith is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been there since 1993, serving as Associate Head, Director of Graduate Study from 1999 to 2002. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Illinois, she spent three years as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Speech Communication, University of Maryland, College Park. She was also a Visiting Professor Visiting Professor at the Communication Studies Department, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
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Lee Cowan: BA, Communications and Speech Communications, 1988
Lee Cowan is at CBS News as a national correspondent based in Los Angeles. He contributes to CBS News broadcasts and platforms across the division and he will be a substitute anchor for “CBS Sunday Morning.”
Most recently, Cowan has been a correspondent for NBC News since 2007, contributing to various NBC News shows, including “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” and MSNBC broadcasts. While there, he covered major news stories and events, including presidential candidate Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election campaign and the tsunami that devastated Japan in March 2011.
Prior to joining NBC, Cowan was a CBS News correspondent for the “CBS Evening News.” In that role, he reported on a variety of stories of national and international importance, which included coverage from Ground Zero on the September 11 attacks, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2006 conflict in Beirut and the 2006 tsunami in Indonesia.
Read the CBS news release about Cowan >>
Greg Lane: BA, 1988
Greg Lane is the president and chief executive officer of the statewide public affairs cable television network. He took over this position in April, 2008. Lane, a graduate of the University of Washington in Communications, has been deputy chief of staff for Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna since 2006. Before that he was the attorney general’s communications director, after also serving as a communications director in the Washington State Legislature from 1998 to 2005. Lane becomes TVW’s third president, following founding president Denny Heck and Cindy Zehnder, who was hired in October by Governor Chris Gregoire as her chief of staff.
TVW, often called the Washington state version of C-SPAN, provides unedited gavel-to-gavel television coverage of the Washington State Legislature, Supreme Court, executive branch, state boards and commissions, elections, and public policy events of statewide significance.
Deborah Cornell Ranniger: PhD, 1988
Deborah Ranniger is the Foundation Director at Renton Technical College. Deborah is also an elected official for the City of Kent, the current President of the Kent City Council.
Additionally she currently teaches public speaking, introduction to research, interpersonal, intercultural and small group communication at Renton Technical College and University of Phoenix. She was the Public Education Specialist for the Kent Police Department for three years, where she wrote grants, coordinated volunteers and forged community connections for the department. Prior to that Ranniger held the position of Executive Director of the Marketing Commission for Recyclable Materials at King County and Public Involvement Manager for the Surface Water Management Division at King County.
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Christopher Bredeson: BA, 1989 (Speech Communication)
Chris Bredeson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Steck Medical Group with medical offices in Lewis and Thurston counties and has served in that capacity since 2000. Prior to Steck, Chris provided leadership to large, hospital-based physician groups in the Northwest and Florida. He completed his MBA (emphasis in health care administration) from City University in 1993.
Chris and his wife, Darla, live in Olympia with their three children. They have a horse farm where they breed Hungarian horses for the Olympic disciplines of dressage, jumping, and eventing (www.libertysporthorses.com).
Stephanie Doyle: BA, 1989
Stephanie is working at the UW in the office of Development & Alumni Relations in the Regional Gifts Program. She works with alumni and friends of the UW in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and her husband John Scroggs (BA, 1988 UW School of Business) have a two-year-old, Maggie, who keeps them busy.
Margaret Fimia: BA, 1989
2010 Department of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame
Margaret Fimia received an associate degree in nursing from Nassau Community College (’70), a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and a master’s degree in public affairs (’92) from the University of Washington. As a member of the King County Council (1994 to 2001), she served on several committees including: the Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Committee and chaired their first Transportation Pricing Committee. She also served on the State Commute Trip Reduction Task Force; the County Law, Justice and Human Service committee and Regional Water Quality Committee. She successfully lobbied for neighborhood traffic calming, clean diesel buses, significantly more & better bus service, low fares, & bus rapid transit. Following a “No” vote by the public, she worked to minimize public financing of the new baseball stadium. As a Shoreline City Council member (2003-2007), she brought historically opposing groups to increase public participation, reduce overhead, fund basic infrastructure and increase environmental protection. She has been the Co-Chair of CETA, the Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives since 2001. Margaret is married to Don Moe MD. They have two grown daughters.
