Featured Alum
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Ray Ring ('79), senior editor for High Country News, was recently awarded the Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Award for Magazine Writing for his article "Death in the Energy Fields." The article also won honorable mention for the Heywood Broun Award and a finalist for the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for Investigative Reporting. |
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Missoulian Photo
Jodi Rave ('96) was awarded first place in the Pacific Northwest Society of Professional Journalist's "General Column" category for her columns on Native issues. Rave is a national correspondent for Lee Enterprises and covers Native issues for the Missoulian and other newspapers.
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June 2008
Bylines Briefly
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Taking Tea to China
The SJMC took tea to China during an intensive, three-week Advertising a2b course at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) last month.
Senior Instructor Mindy Kiger Cheval and Associate Professor David Slayden gave 50 students and 10 advertising professionals a crash-course on American advertising. By the end of the course, the students had developed a campaign to pitch Celestial Seasonings in China.
"Professor Slayden and I thought it would be interesting to give the students of SISU a project that would challenge cultural norms as well as build on their advertising skills. The students' first response was, 'You can't sell American tea to the Chinese, this will not work,'" Kiger Cheval said.
David Slayden, far left, and Mindy Cheval, far right, at SISU.
But, their students rose to the challenge. "Some chose to launch Celestial Seasonings using some non-tea aspects of the brand and positioned it as a diet drink or a wellness drink. Several groups decided to take their tea culture head-on and positioned Celestial Seasonings as a tea for the 'new China.' In all cases, the students provided us with unique insights into their culture and the rapid changes occurring in China," she said.
The SJMC plans to continue its relationship with SISU through student exchanges and other learning opportunities.
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Sorority Sister Star Search
Heather Hach ('93) is one of three judges on the new MTV reality show "Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods."
The show features 10 bubbly young hopefuls who compete to be cast as Elle Woods, the star of the stage version of the movie "Legally Blonde." Hach is a co-producer for the Broadway show, for which she wrote the "book," or the spoken words of the musical. She also wrote the screenplay for Disney's recent remake of "Freaky Friday" after doing a Disney Screenwriting Fellowship in 1999.
"The Search for Elle Woods" airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, and 9 p.m. Central.
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Producing Reality
Steve Van Dis ('02) works six days a week, 14 to 16 hours a day, and has to take the occasional "homecation" to recover. Van Dis produces reality-TV shows.
"I've been to amazing places, staying in honeymoon suites for months," he said of working with "Survivor" in Palau. Then again, he's also worked 27-hour shifts in 115-degree heat in Guatemala, where he couldn't walk through standing water for fear of being nabbed by a crocodile.
Van Dis has just finished being a field producer for ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," most of which is aired live. He said shooting the segments on-location without the benefit of a large crew made him feel like he was back in J-school producing packages as a one-man-band.
As advertising dollars shift from television to the Internet, knowing how to do it all will become more important, Van Dis said. He recently worked with Mark Burnett, the creator of "Survivor," and Microsoft to do entertainment spots and ads for MSN. |
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Alumni Updates
Luan Akin Returns to Earth
Helicopter reporter Luan Akin ('72) retired from Denver's Channel 4 in May. Akin has been a fixture in Denver media. She even met and married her husband on company time. But, ever the journalist, Akin did a live shot of a funnel cloud as she flew back to Stapleton Airport before leaving for her honeymoon.
SJMC Supporter Passes On
Connie White, a generous friend to the School, died June 3 at the age of 95. White was a foreign correspondent and co-owner of a public relations firm with her husband, William W. White. She gave annual gifts to outstanding SJMC graduates in honor of her late husband, class of 1933. Recently she gave the school a gift that provides two $5,000 faculty awards each year. Read obituary.
File Photo/Denver Post
Emmy Envy
Brent Cannon ('84) was part of two Emmy-winning teams this year at NBC11 in San Jose, Calif. The Northern California Chapter of the National Television Academy recognized the teams for best daytime newscast and specialty assignment reporting. Cannon co-anchors the weekday morning news with his wife, Laura Garcia-Cannon.
Innovating for the Future of Media
Dan Pacheco ('94) won a $837,000 Knight Grant for a proposal to develop "printcasting," which will allow individuals to easily create ad-supported, customized publications with a mix of local news and information. The software will aggregate feeds from news organizations, so that would-be publishers can pick and choose among them to create a niche publication. The 2008 Knight News Challenge has awarded as much as $5 million for innovative ideas using digital experiments to transform community news.
Making Burros Fly
Julie Hoffman Marshall (MA '95) is working with the film company Film-it Productions to turn her book, "Making Burros Fly: Cleveland Amory, Animal Rescue Pioneer," into a documentary film. Darla Rae will be directing the film and actor James Cromwell will be narrating.
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News & Events
J-School Visits Chicago
The CU School of Journalism and Mass Communication invites you to join us for the J-school's first visit to the Second City. Meet Dean Paul S. Voakes, Alumni Coordinator Beth Gaeddert and Diversity Coordinator Dave Martinez, and join other Chicago-area SJMC alumni and friends for an informal get-together. Stop by the South Water Kitchen, 225 N. Wabash, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 22. Hors d'oeuvres and soft drinks are on us. RSVP: Elizabeth.Gaeddert@Colorado.edu.
Cruisin' for a Byline
Road & Track editors chose and published junior Cameron Naish's essay about the new Volkswagen Tiguan test drive. Students helped VW of America as PR assistants, test drove the cars and wrote reviews during the national launch of the car in Boulder in May.
Photo by William Drumm
Media on Mongolian Soil
Doctoral student Doug Crigler has been granted a Boren Fellowship by the National Security Education Program. Crigler will spend the 2008-09 academic year at Bridge International College in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he will learn to speak, write and read Mongolian, and research Mongolian media systems.
Considering Disasters
Susan Feeney, a senior editor at NPR's "All Things Considered," and James O'Byrne, features editor of The Times-Picayune, will talk about covering Hurricane Katrina--finding sources and interviewing survivors. O'Byrne was among those at the epicenter of the newspaper's coverage of Katrina, evacuating the newsroom on one of the last trucks out, then overseeing the construction of a satellite newsroom in Baton Rouge. Feeney began her career in New Orleans, and has spoken on several campuses around the country about media coverage of Katrina. The event is Tuesday, July 15, at 9 a.m. in Continuing Education 140.
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Pay it Forward
Connect with other alumni by joining the Career Network.
- Join the Career Network.You'll become a contact for other SJMC graduates looking for jobs in your area of the country or field of work. Our Career Network has hundreds of alumni contacts. Adding your name is an easy way to give back to the School by sharing your expertise with other SJMC alums.
- Tell us what's new!
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Beth Gaeddert
Director of Career Services and External Affairs
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Felicia Russell
Newsletter Editor
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