Alumni Notes
2003
Yea Yun Cheng, San Bruno, Calif., is an account executive with Time Advertising in Millbrae, Calif.
Melissa Danko, St. Louis, Mo., works at Kupper Parker Communications Inc., as a post-graduate public relations intern. Kupper Parker services its clients through advertising, marketing, public relations and sales promotion and media.
Shelley Hardesty, Dallas, is working as an assistant account executive for Tracy Locke Partnership. Her client is Hasbro toys. She will be working for all three TLP offices: New York, Rhode Island and Dallas.
Serena Hoffman, Bloomsburg, Pa., is an assistant professor at Bloomsburg University.
Allison Marks, Atlanta, Ga., is a sales assistant at Katz Media in Atlanta.
Whitney Sahling, Dallas, is a sales rep for Cbeyond in Dallas, selling Internet and phone services to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Melanie Mensch Sidwell is a features reporter for the Marco Eagle/Naples Daily News at Marco Island, Fla.
2002
Robb Buzzini, Burbank, Calif., works for two executives in the "current series" department at ABC. He was previously an assistant to the executive producer for "Boomtown" at NBC.
Jayme Kalmbrunn, Lincoln, is an account executive for Kidwell Communications, Lincoln.
Erica Ramaekers, Omaha, is advertising assistant for recruitment advertising at the Resource Communications Group, Omaha.
2001
Mindy Dubry-Burbach, Lincoln, is creative services supervisor for KOLN/KGIN-TV in Lincoln.
Katie Juhl earned the master of science degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and is now a desk assistant for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in Washington, D.C. Before she began her graduate program at Syracuse, she was a reporter at KLKN-TV in Lincoln and was an assistant producer/production assistant at Nebraska ETV.
Josh Nichols, Grand Junction, Colo., is a staff writer for the Grand Junction Free Press. He was previously a reporter in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
Kim Wilson-Hillyer, Omaha, is a senior project coordinator for corporate communications at Ameritrade in Omaha.
2000
LaSharah Bunting started as an editor on the metro desk at The New York Times Feb. 2. She had worked at the Dallas Morning News since January 2001. At Dallas, she was a copy editor on the universal desk.
Joshua Eickmeier graduated from the University of Nebraska Law School in May 2003. He has worked for John Kerry's campaign during the primary season.
Beth Lee became press officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in January. She had been press secretary for U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, having joined his press office in December 2000.
Krista Schwarting, Anchorage, Alaska, is an associate for a law firm in Anchorage, practicing insurance defense and education law. Last spring she briefed a case to the Alaska Supreme Court on free speech and association issues. In her free time, she teaches constitutional law to high school students wishing to become peer attorneys in the Anchorage Youth Court program. She is also active in the arts community, acting in at least five plays a year. She lives with her partner of four years, Carl Johnson, a lawyer and freelance photographer.
1999
Angela Buescher, Omaha, is a territory representative for Hallmark Cards, Inc.
1998
Joshua Gillin is front page designer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. After graduation, he was a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, then went to the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News in 1999 to take over as a copy editor/A1 designer there. He moved to Philadelphia in September 2002.
Jane Gustafson, Lincoln, is assistant director of the information education division at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in Lincoln. She is nearly finished with her master's program at the J school.
Jason Henke, Nashville, Tenn., is the director of marketing /artist relations and the primary writer for Insight Management - Nashville. The company does tour marketing, promotion and support publicity, working with print, television and radio media for artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Pat Metheny, Christian McBride, Vince Gill, The Moody Blues, Dwight Yoakam and others. His broadcast credits include script supervision for Clint Black's A&E "Live By Request" special in 2002. In addition to his responsibilities for Insight, Jason has served as manager for the funk, rock and hip hop band del giovanni clique for the past two years. A singer/songwriter, he is in the studio working on his first full length CD, which will be released independently in 2004.
Andrew Strnad, Milwaukee, Wis., graduated from Marquette University Law School in May 2003.
Christian Bryer Zoucha is public directions director for Lydian Trust Company, Palm Beach, Fla. After working as a producer at KOLN-KGIN TV in Lincoln, she moved to KLKN-TV, also in Lincoln, as a reporter and was later promoted to morning news anchor. Four years later, she made the move to public relations.
1997
Julie Sobczyk Mitchell is a copy editor on the universal desk at The Dallas Morning News, where she has worked since 2000. Before that she was a copy editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the St. Cloud (Minn.) Times. She and her husband, Scott, are the parents of a boy, John Raymond Mitchell, born July 31, 2003. He goes by the nickname Jack.
1997
Anne Hjersman Albracht, Glendale, Calif., is an associate editor at the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. She and her husband have a son, born in June 2002. She worked at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times before moving to Los Angeles in November 1999.
Charles Isom became the communications director for Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry in October 2003. He had previously worked in the press offices of Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel and Nebraska Rep. Bill Barrett. For the last three years, he was an analyst and legislative liaison in the Washington, D.C., office of the Parents Television Council.
1996
Kevin McMahon has been a camera operator and director of photography on various television shows for the past 18 months. He is a freelancer who works through a production company called Briggs Video. He also directed a pilot for vh-1 called "Gawkers," a reality/hidden camera game show. It is likely to be picked up for production with an 8- or 13-episode order. He also directed a reenactment for "America's Most Wanted," telling the story of slain boxing manager Howie Steindler. McMahon was also cast in a Japanese commercial where he performed a dive for the camera. At UNL he was a member of the diving team and was a seven-time member of the U.S. National Diving Team. In 2003 he dived for Getty Images and IZOD in addition to the Japanese production. He has been training in synchronized diving in hopes of making the 2004 Olympic Team.
Jennifer Schein, Atlanta, Ga., recently founded a company called Adventure Cell Corp. The company provides worldwide cell and satellite phone rentals, mainly to people traveling overseas who don't have coverage with their own cell phones.
Rebecca Oltmans Svec, Lincoln, has been director of media relations for Doane College since September 2003. She was previously on the staff at the Lincoln Journal Star.
1995
Anna M. Ewald, Washington, D.C., is an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department.
1993
James Burke, Lincoln, is director of unclaimed property in the Nebraska State Treasurer's office.
Dianna Lopez Fisher, became the senior director of alumni relations and associate executive director of the University of California Irvine Alumni Association. She is responsible for planning programming for the UCI Alumni Association and overseeing volunteer placement and alumni participation in campus life. She also oversees the alumni association's scholarship and fellowship programs and serves as the alumni relations/alumni association liaison to Student Affairs. She has a master's degree in public administration from Drake University and previously served as director of campus relations and senior project manager for the UCLA Alumni Association. Lopez Fisher and her husband, Robert, live in Fullerton with their children, Philip and Abigail.
Karey Koehn, Lincoln, is the editor of Hobby Outlook Magazine, now the largest hobby publication in the United States. She has been on the board of directors of the Lincoln chapter of IABC and was president in 2001. She is married to Mike Koehn, also an advertising graduate, who is director of marketing for HobbyTown USA. They have two children.
Tina Lyles-Lackey, Cheyenne, Wyo., is a public information officer for Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources in Cheyenne where she does graphic design and broadcast production and works with the media. She is married to Curtis Lackey, morning radio announcer on KOLT-FM. The couple have two daughters, Taryn and Paige.
1991
Walter Gholson, Philadelphia, Pa., is a high school English and history teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. He planned to complete his dissertation in August 2003 for a doctorate in educational administration from Temple University and is completing research on the history of student support systems at Norfolk State University between 1954 and 1974. Previously, he worked for the UNL Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs and then at Chicago State University as an admissions officer and coordinator of a college preparation and mentoring program for middle school males.
Kathryn Tellis, Phoenix, is a customer account manager for United Blood Services in Phoenix.
1990
Ben Hall, Nashville, Tenn., is a political reporter for WTVF-TV, the Nashville CBS affiliate. He previously worked in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He has won six regional Emmy Awards and has traveled to Africa twice to cover Tennesseans fighting the AIDS crisis there. He also covered Al Gore and Lamar Alexander on the campaign trail.
1989
Kelly Anders, Sacramento, is a reference librarian at the McGeorge Law School library in Sacramento. She earned a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1996 and received one of the "Forty Under 40" awards from the Denver Business Journal in 2001. She is a former board member of Colorado Lawyers for the Arts and Opera Colorado.
London Bridge Nelson, Woodbury, Minn., is a catalog designer for Target Corporation in Minneapolis. She is the art director for the Marshall Field's home catalog.
1986
Ad Hudler, Fort Myers, Fla., is the author of "Southern Living," a novel released in August by the Random House Publishing Group. His first novel, "Househusband," has been printed in four languages and was nominated for book of the year in several metropolitan libraries. His wife, Carol, is president and publisher of the Fort Myers News-Press. She was named Gannett's publisher of the year for 2002. The Hudlers have a daughter, Hayley Joy, 12.
Tammy Traudt, La Jolla, Calif., is an events manager for UCSD in La Jolla.
Kathryn Witte, Lincoln, is director of communications and editor of the Nebraska Messenger of the Nebraska Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. She previously worked nine years for Bailey Lauerman as a senior account executive. She also spent seven years at Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, home of Nebraska ETV and the Nebraska Public Radio Network. She holds both a B.J. and an M.A. from the J school.
1983
Mark D. Alexander, Wichita, Kan., is a pastor serving Bethel Life Center in Wichita. He spent 11 years doing mission work while living in South Africa where he and his family developed Southern Africa Media Ministries (SAMM). They built and equipped a media center at a church college in Rustenburg, S.A., and produced audio and video tapes and TV and radio programs in the national languages. They worked in eight different countries in southern Africa.
Sandra George is leaving the Wisconsin Newspaper Association after almost eight years as executive director. She was the first woman to hold that title at WNA and perhaps, the first woman to have been manager at two separate press associations. She previously managed the Nebraska Press Association. She'll be retiring to Hillsdale, Mich., from which she had been commuting to her jobs in Nebraska and Wisconsin. She may use her Michigan law license in media and/or immigration law and may spend her spare time promoting a nonpartisan unicameral legislature. She's observed both kinds of legislatures as a lobbyist and says Nebraska's method is better and cheaper.
Phyllis Hamilton, Dallas, Texas, is a freelance writer and a mediator affiliated with a Dallas law office. She has written two novels, the second of which, "A Lark on the Wing," was released in November by Genesis Press. A portion of the novel is set in Nebraska, with a mention of the East Campus Dairy Store. While attending UNL, Hamilton served as the Black Special Events Chairperson/Student Programming Council for two years and was a member of the Finance Committee/Student Government and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Russ Jankovitz, Springfield, Mo., is production director of the Midwest Family Breakfast Group for four FM radio stations.
Deborah King Ward received a Buffett Award for outstanding teaching in May 2003. She is the newspaper adviser and an English teacher at Burke High School in Omaha.
1977
Gary Kemper began work in November 2003 as epa's (European Pressphoto Agency) director for North America. Epa is a worldwide news pictures service based in Frankfurt, Germany, and owned by a core of national news agencies in Europe. It went international in 2003 and has bureaus throughout the world. Kemper had been a consultant with Getty Images in San Diego since 2001. He worked as a copy editor and reporter at the Lincoln Journal-Star after graduation, then joined United Press International in Brussels in 1979 as a photographer and picture editor covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 1981 he became UPI's picture bureau manager in London. He joined Reuters news agency in 1984 and moved to Hong Kong where he was the picture editor for Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In 1989 he moved to London with Reuters as the picture editor for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He moved to New York in 1992 to earn a master's degree from Columbia University and worked briefly with the Associated Press on the foreign news photo desk. He was the photo chief for the 1996 summer Olympic Games in Atlanta and for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Following that event, he was named to the International Olympic Committee Press Commission, upon which he continues to serve.
Tim Roesler, Minnesota Public Radio's vice president for underwriting, has been promoted to senior vice president for underwriting and sales for Minnesota Public Radio and its parent company, American Public Media Group (APM). Roesler spent eight years at CBS Radio in San Francisco, where he served as national sales manager and then general sales manager. He was general sales manager at Chancellor Media (AM FM/Clear Channel) in Minneapolis and most recently worked as the director of regional sales at Internet Broadcasting Systems, a Minneapolis company that builds and manages Web sites for TV stations. He joined Minnesota Public Radio in August 2001.
His broadcasting experience also includes his work at radio stations in Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz, Calif., Sioux City, Iowa, and Omaha. He was television coordinator and journalism instructor at Creighton University in Omaha. He earned an M.A. in telecommunications (management and policy) from Michigan State University.
1972
David Bradley is publisher and editor of the Associated Press House of the Week, the nation's longest running home plan news feature in North American newspapers. The column is sent weekly to all AP members - about 1,600. He also writes weekly bylined columns for AP on home management and contractor/homeowner relations. After graduation, he was an assistant news director at KOLN/KGIN-TV. He followed that with more than 20 years in public relations at Meredith Corporation in Des Moines.
Deanna Sands, Omaha, is national vice president of Associated Press Managing Editors. She is also a member of the American Press Institute advisory board and a member of the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communication alumni advisory board. She is vice chairman of the Cather Circle strategic planning committee and grants chairman for the Nebraska Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She is PEW Gatekeeper Editor for a study tour to South Africa and is still managing editor at The Omaha World-Herald. In her spare time, she runs the family farm near Nebraska City.
1966
Connie Sharpe Ruohomaki, Riva, Md., is a marketing specialist for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland University College, for which she teaches marketing on military bases in the Washington, D.C., area and online as a distance educator worldwide. She is also an adjunct professor for the Johns Hopkins University Graduate School of Professional Studies in Business and Education Studies. She won 12 national public relations and marketing awards for H&R Block before earning a master's degree in 2001 while working for the Maryland State Legislature. She has season tickets for Husker football games.
1936
Marjorie Barnebey, Santa Rosa, Calif., and her son have written a full-length musical play set in the Midwest in 1908. She wrote the book and lyrics and her son the score. The play is based on the Dakota homesteading adventures of a young University of Nebraska graduate who falls in love with an Iowa woman he meets on the prairie.
