Alumni notes
Jim Danielson, adjunct faculty in the broadcasting department, poses with Jim Ballard, 1987, and Barbara (Jeffers) Ballard, 1985, owners/managers of the James Arthur Vineyard in Raymond. Jim Ballard was one of Danielson's students when Danielson owned the first Nebraska vineyard, at Plattsmouth, and talked about it in class. Danielson and Barbara Rixstine, a communications specialist at the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, were married at the James Arthur Vineyard on Aug. 24.
2002
Andrew Bein is working in Champaign, Ill., at WCIA as a news producer. He does the noon show three days a week and is associate producer for the 5 and 6 p.m. shows. On weekends he produces the 5:30 p.m. news on Saturdays and 6 p.m. Sundays. WCIA is number one in the market in central Illinois. He is engaged to be married to Jennifer Dadura. Bein said he was grateful to the COJMC faculty for the education he received at UNL.
Brooke L. Humpal, Omaha, is an advertising/marketing assistant for daVinci's Italian Sidewalk Cafe and Champions Fun Center in Lincoln.
Emily Hurd is a business intern at J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in Chicago.
Chris Jacobs is a copy editor at the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Mo. He graduated with degrees in economics, French and news-editorial and is in the interview process with the U.S. Department of State to be a Foreign Service Officer. He is also in the running for the Marshall Scholarship, which provisions study for a master's degree in any British university.
Jami Larson works at Premiere Radio Networks in Sherman Oaks, Calif., in the entertainment marketing and relations department. Premiere is owned by Clear Channel and owns, operates and sells programming and prep services for stations. Some programs of note are Jim Rome, Dr. Laura, Carson Daly, Casey Kasem and Fox Sports.
Wendy Polson, Overland Park, Kan., is an account executive for KRBZ, part of Entercom Broadcasting, in Westwood, Kan.
2001
Tom Butler, Davis, Calif., is an associate account executive for Glass McClure Advertising team in Sacramento, Calif. He handles day-to-day operation of accounts
2000
Amanda Taylor, Littleton, Colo., is the communications coordinator for EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH Network) in Littleton. Before joining EchoStar, she worked at Exempla Healthcare in Denver as their interim communications specialist and Thomas & Perkins in Denver (now The Power Plant), one of Denver's largest agencies for many years, as a public relations account coordinator.
1999
Kendra Lynn Liedle, Los Angeles, is a freelance location scout and manager for film and television production. She moved to the Los Angeles area in the fall of 2001 after working as a location scout for Alexander Payne's film, "About Schmidt," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. In L.A., she has worked as a production designer on a film short, art department coordinator for a Dreamworks SKG TV pilot, directed by Allison Anders, and as location manager for the feature film, "Deadly Web", directed by Andrew Van Slee.
1998
John Fulwider is district press aide for Lee Terry, Republican Member of Congress from Nebraska's second district. Fulwider works in Terry's Omaha office.
Kara Harrington, Concord, N.C., is public relations manager for Design Associates in Charlotte.
Sarah Willnerd, Des Moines, Iowa, is an administrative analyst for the City of Des Moines.
1997
Vince D'Adamo works for GetLocalNews.com as a sports writer covering local events. It's an online news service that covers Benicia and Vallejo, Calif. He also writes for Silver & Black Illustrated, a magazine of the Oakland Raiders. However, in addition, he writes for the magazine's Web site: Silverandblack.com
Kimo Hood, Kansas City, Mo., is a news photographer with KCTV-TV in Kansas City.
Staci Stopak Vacek, Omaha, is multimedia coordinator at Imaging Services Corporation in Omaha. She and her husband, Neil Vacek, are parents of a daughter, Savanna, born in September 2001.
1996
Christina Redinger Elliott, Overland Park, Kan., is communications specialist for global marketing communications for GE Employers Reinsurance Corporation, a division of General Electric. She worked at Graphic Technologies Inc., Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing and NKH&W Advertising before joining GE ERC, a global company with approximately 3,000 employees worldwide, two years ago. She is responsible for helping develop marketing communications plans and executing them for traditional printed materials. She has been married for four years to Mike Elliott and has a daughter, Anna, born Jan. 3, 2002.
Stephanie Vanderholm, West Hollywood, Calif., is an associate in technology practice with Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm in Los Angeles. She earned an M.A. from Pepperdine University in 1999.
1994
Natalie (Kuijvenhoven) Tysdal was recently named anchor of KWGN's three-hour morning show in Denver. Before moving back to the Midwest, she spent a year reporting for KTVT-TV in Dallas and anchoring for the NBC affiliate in Mobile, Ala., and the CBS affiliate in Twin Falls, Idaho. She specializes in feature/investigative reporting. Natalie is married to Tyler Tysdal, a North Platte native. They have one daughter, Addy, born in January 2001.
1993
John Bacon has founded Next Level Marketing Inc., a strategic communication consulting business. Based in Blair, Next Level provides full-service consulting in brand management, integrated marketing communications and employee communications. Bacon has more than nine years of experience in marketing and communications. He received the accreditation in public relations in 1999. He was invited to present a paper at the graduate student conference at the University of Texas at Austin in early November.
Rebecca Kruse Gjendem, Tampa, Fla., and her husband, Trond Gjendem, are the parents of a baby boy. Anders Michael Gjendem was born Oct. 15 at 4:33 am.
Angie Bowers Slosiarek, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is deputy editing chief at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.
Kathy Steinauer Smith, Lincoln, has worked for UNL's University Communications office since June 2001. She is editor of the Scarlet, the UNL newspaper for faculty and staff. Previously, she was an editor at newspapers in Iowa City, Iowa; Visalia, Calif.; San Bernardino, Calif.; and Reno, Nev.
Jon Vanderford and Tarn Gilster Vanderford are living in Knoxville, Tenn. Jon is an anchor/reporter for WATE-TV 6 and FOX 43 television stations in Knoxville. Taryn is a segment producer for Scripps Productions in Knoxville. She produces stories for the show "Country Style" on HGTV (Home and Garden Television). Jon and Taryn welcomed their first child on July 2, 2002. His name is Jacob Sterling Vanderford.
1991
Lorissa Bankey Ballinger, Bellevue, is employed by Edward Jones Investments in Bellevue. She also freelances for newsletters of all types and is involved in community activities. She was involved with the 2001 and 2002 Veterans' Day parades, the 9/11 Memorial Event committee and the Bellevue Community Plan among other things. She received the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Pacesetter Award in 2001 and was selected for the Kappa Delta National Leadership Symposium in 2002.
Ann Morrison Eads, Omaha, is associate media director at Envoy Inc. in Omaha.
Julie Naughton, Hoboken, N.J., is the prestige market beauty editor at Women's Wear Daily in New York. In addition to coordinating the lineup of the publication's beauty pages, she writes two to five articles a week for WWD and several a month for its spin-off monthly magazine, Beauty Biz. She is a member of the New York Junior League, through which she volunteers at Bellevue Hospital in the pediatric psychiatric ward.
1988
Greg Love, Kansas City, Mo., is senior communications consultant with J.P. Morgan/American Century in Kansas City.
Dara Troutman, Lincoln, will be a German Marshall Fellow next October and will travel in Europe for a month, meeting and discussing issues with people involved in foreign policy. She is assistant general manager for communications at Nebraska Educational Television.
1987
Richard Wright, Lincoln, is a photographer for the UNL public relations department and is an adjunct professor in the journalism college, teaching photojournalism. A picture he took at a one-room schoolhouse in Horse Creek, Wyo., was chosen as a winner in American Photo magazine's Picture Contest. More than 50,000 photos were entered in the contest. Wright was working for the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle when he took the 1996 photograph.
1986
Billie Olsen Blaine, Macon, Ga., is an associate law librarian for public services at Mercer Law Library in Macon.
Tom Gabrukiewicz, Redding, Calif., is an outdoor editor/writer for the Record Searchlight in Redding. He is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of California and is managing editor of the OWAC News. The Record Searchlight's outdoor section has been judged second-best in the nation by Outdoor Writer's Association of America for 2000 and 2001. Gabrukiewicz has won numerous writing awards from OWAA, OWAC and The Associated Press. He was married in March 2002.
1984
David Frye, Lincoln, is director of communications at Martin Luther Homes. He earned graduate degrees in 1989 and 2000.
1980
Mary Jo Pitzl, Phoenix, is a reporter on environmental issues at the Arizona Republic.
James Alexander (Alex) Strautman has been re-elected to the board of directors of Aid for AIDS, a Southern California AIDS service organization providing housing and financial assistance to individuals and families impacted by HIV and AIDS. Alex is the immediate past president of Aid for AIDS, having served as president for three years. Now in his 12th year on the board of directors, Alex is the longest continuous-service board member in the history of the 19-year-old non-profit organization. He has been working in the Los Angeles area since 1986.
1979
Joel Fowler is retired and doing volunteer work in Reno, Nev. With a master's degree in 1979, he left a broadcasting/public affairs career in commercial and educational television and taught at the University of Texas at Austin from 1979 to 1989. He taught at Fresno State from 1989 until he retired in 1995.
1976
Nancy Stohs, Wauwatosa, Wis., has been food editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel since 1994, when The Journal and Sentinel were merged. She previously had worked at The Journal as a features copy editor, lifestyle reporter and health columnist. Her food column won an award last year in the association's annual contest.
1975
Michael T. Martinez, Fort Worth, Texas, is senior channel manager at the Star-Telegram Online.
1974
Dianne Barry Kuppig, Lincoln, teaches journalism and English in the Lincoln Public Schools.
1972
Cella Quinn has her own investment and financial planning firm, Cella Quinn Investment Services, in Omaha. She worked as a reporter in the 1960s while she was in college, then covered the Legislature for the Associated Press, then for the Lincoln Evening Journal. She started as a financial adviser with Merrill Lynch in 1972 in New York City, then moved to Omaha where she worked at Merrill Lynch for 10 years and Smith Barney for another 10 years. She started her own investment firm in 1992 and specializes in low stress, high success financial planning. She manages $160 million and has more than 1,200 clients, both in the United States and internationally. She and her husband Mac McCallum, live in Omaha. She says her journalism background has been important to her success in financial services. She frequently publishes articles and is working on her first book with the working title of Low Stress, High Success Financial Planning.
1971
Kathy Hall, Seattle, Wash., is employed at the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Washington. She is working toward a Ph.D. from the Washington Department of Communications and hopes to finish about 2006.
Gail Martin Herstead, Carson City, Nev., is president of Northern Nevadans for Nebraska. She is an adjutant in the Silver State Marine Corps League and volunteers at the Brewery Arts Center.
Linda Baldwin O'Hern, Madison, Wis., is an associate publisher at Isthmus Publishing Company.
1970
Kent Cockson, Foley, Ala., is executive news editor of the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal. He and his wife, Sylvia, are the parents of four sons, all of whom are members of the U.S. military. Zak is a private and Aaron a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army. Jonas and Jon are both lance corporals in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Susan Jenkins, Seattle, Wash., is a private practice psychologist in Seattle.
1966
Connie Sharpe Ruohomaki, Riva, Md., is a Farmers Market Nutrition Programs director for the Maryland Department of Agriculture in Annapolis. USDA funds two such programs: the Maryland's WIC (Women, Infant and Children) program and the Senior Program. She is also an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Maryland University College's Business College and at the Johns Hopkins Graduate School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. She earned a master's degree in public affairs and journalism with a major in media studies from American University 30 years after earning the bachelor's degree. She received several national PR and marketing awards as director of PR and marketing for H&R Block's southeast Florida regional offices. This year she is co-hosting the National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs' annual conference in Washington, D.C.
1953
Don Pieper, Shell Beach, Calif., won second place in the "columns, commentary and criticism" category of the California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspaper Contest for a column he writes for the Five Cities Times-Press-Recorder, published in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
1952
Ladd Duryea, is retired and lives in Signal Mountain, Tenn. After graduation, he worked at the Lincoln Star, then did military service. He earned an M.S. degree in industrial psychology from Kansas State in 1958 and did industrial personnel work until retiring in 1995 as vice president of human resources for CONSTAR International, headquartered in Atlanta. He moved to the Chattanooga area and has been active in community theater as an actor and in professional voice-over work.
*****
Ron Gibson, who taught journalism at UNL in the late 1960s and early 1970s, died Sept. 24 of pneumonia and complications. He had been the newspaper adviser at the University of Texas at Austin for 13 years, retiring four years ago because of ill health. When he retired, he received the Nowatny Medal, considered UT's highest award for dedication and service to students. He was honored in 1998 with lifetime membership in the College Media Association.
Gerald E. Griffin, a 1929 Nebraska journalism graduate who spent 40 years with The Baltimore Sun, died Aug. 14 of heart failure. He was 94. Griffin's career with The Sun included stints as chief of the newspaper's Washington bureau and as chief editorial page editor. After graduation, he worked briefly as a reporter at the Union News in Towson, Md., before joining The Sun. His work at the Washington bureau allowed him to report on presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Richard M. Nixon. He retired in 1972.
