Multimedia Newsroom creates a stir in the Dole Center

Letter from the Dean

By Deron Lee, graduate student

isitors to the second floor of the Dole Center thissemester have been unable toresist peering through thelarge windows of the new Stanand Madeline Stauffer Multi-media Newsroom, where J-School students and faculty areat work.

“We’re beginning to copewith the fact that we’re livingin a fishbowl here,” ProfessorRick Musser said. Musser ismanaging the newsroom andteaching his Online Journalismcourse there.

Nick Irvin, senior, a pro-ducer for KUJH-TV, welcomesthe opportunity to work in thefishbowl.

“We report on people. Wewatch them,” he said. “So Ithink it makes sense that they should be able to watch us work. I think it’s good.”

This summer, work crews gutted the second floor lobby to clear space for thenewsroom, which is designed to prepare J-School students for the converged mediaenvironment that awaits them in the workplace. A $200,000 donation from Stan andMadeline Stauffer made the project possible.

+ Meet the New Faculty+ Editor’s Day-Walter Mears+ Rich Clarkson-Dedicated Graduate+ William Allen White Day+ Bremner Editing Center+ Accreditation Process+ Professional/Community Outreach+ Tuition Differential Fee+ New J-School Web Site+ International Experiences+ Alumni News & Notes

What’s Inside...

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(Newsroom – continued on page 2)

- Sally and John Buzbee- Mike Moffet- Ranjit Arab- Kevin Helliker

Professor Rick Musser, Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom director,and Sandra Barry, KJHK radio news director, review the rundownof stories in the TV Newsroom system. The “amoeba table” inthe center of the room provides a place for students from KUJH,KJHK, and the Kansan to share ideas and work together.

Fall 2004

s you can see from this issue of JLinks, it’s a busy and exciting time here at the J-School. In August,we opened the Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom in theDole Center. Since classes began this fall, students havebeen taking advantage of the Bremner Editing Center,named in honor of the late journalism professor and theicon of quality editing, John Bremner.

In September, more than 100 editors from Kansasand other states gathered on Editor’s Day to hear WalterMears, an AP Pulitzer Prize winner, talk about a newway of reporting–blogging, a sort of online diary. Some

(Dean – continued on page 2)

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Ann M. Brill, Interim Dean

2 Fall 2004 JLinks

The symbol of the new medialandscape in the Stauffer MultimediaNewsroom is the convergence table(also called the “amoeba table” for itsunusual shape), which containsworkstations for the University DailyKansan, KUJH, and KJHK radio news.Here, students from the differentcampus media outlets can exchangestory ideas and formulate variousmethods for telling those stories.

The amoeba table also features twoworkstations for students in the OnlineJournalism class, who will be helpingother students in various journalismcourses get their stories from classpublished in the Kansan or aired onKUJH or KJHK.

The goal is not only to enhance thenews-gathering capabilities of thecampus media, but also to improve theeducational opportunities for students.

“This is a learning laboratory,”Musser said. “The real test is how muchand how well people are learning.”

The newsroom also features atraining lab with 12 eMac computers,as well as broadcast and editingfacilities for KUJH and KJHK. The

(Newsroom – continued from page 1)

Kansan newsroom remains in Stauffer-Flint Hall, but at least one Kansanstaffer will work at the amoeba table.

Most of the newsroom’s equip-ment is now installed and operatingaccording to plan, but there is stillwork to be done. As the newsroomcontinues to evolve, Staci Wolfe,multimedia coordinator, expects to see

the installation of avideo camera, aWebcam, and a large-screen plasma TVvisible from thehallway outside.“We’re in a constantstate of construction,”she said.

Musser said hehoped that all J-School students andfaculty will takeadvantage of thenewsroom.

M e a n w h i l e ,Musser encouragespeople to visit thenewsroom. “Theoperative term is,come on down.”

(Dean – continued from page 1)

Photo of traininglabs or KUJH atwork in newsroom

Amanda Stairrett, University Daily Kansan campus editor, juggles paper,computer and phone during her shift in the multimedia newsroom.Stairrett, who also is enrolled in the Online Writing, Design & Productionclass, works with multimedia reporting students to help them get theirstories published in the Kansan.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Multimedia reporting students attend trainingsessions with Staci Wolfe, multimedia coordina-tor, in the new multimedia newsroom eMac lab.

say it’s the future of reporting.We’ll see, but it’s great to seejournalists–professionals andstudents–trying new thingsand, at the same time, relying onthe tested skills of solidreporting, writing and editingthat are the bedrock of qualityjournalism.

We also have new facultymembers this year. KristenSwain, an expert in medical andscience journalism, brings skillsin investigative reporting andwriting to a complex area.

Doug Ward, a Kansasnative, combines the highestprofessional accomplishmentswith strong academiccredentials. Until joining us, hewas a copy editor at The NewYork Times. He also workedwith Gene Roberts, the 17-timePulitzer Prize winning formereditor of the PhiladelphiaInquirer.

Our third newcomer isI-Huei Cheng, who spent thesummer in the public relationsoffice of the Estee Laudercosmetics company. They join afaculty committed to providingthe very best education possiblewhile instilling passion for thecraft of journalism.

In addition, we arepreparing for our reaccred-itation visit in February. Thatexperience is helping us take alook at the past and set a planfor the future. Stay tuned. Justlike the past, our future islooking great!

Ann M. Brill,Interim Dean

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JLinks Fall 2004 3

Editor’s Day 2004 alter Mears was the fea- tured speaker for the J-School’s Kansas Editor’s DaySaturday, September 25. Hediscussed the Novemberelection.

Mears covered politics formost of his 45-year career withthe Associated Press, winningthe Pulitzer Prize for hiscoverage of the 1976presidential campaign. Mearsretired in 2001 and wrote histhird book, “Deadlines Past.”

More than 100 Kansaseditors, publishers and facultymembers attended Editor’sDay. They also had a pre-gamebrunch at the Chancellor’shouse and attended the Kansas-Texas Tech football game.

“Editor’s Day is a time toshow our appreciation toeditors from around the stateand to show them what we aredoing at KU,” Dean Ann Brillsaid. “We were also excited tohave Walter Mears here. He’s aveteran political reporter, whothrough his ‘blogging’ at thepolitical conventions, took anew approach to journalism.”

Mears teamed up withWashington reporter NancyBenac for the AP debut of itsfirst blog at the Democraticconvention in Boston. They

providedrunningcom-mentary,insightand newstidbitsfrom theRepublicanconventiontoo.

he Jayhawk flock has grown this fall with the addition of threenew full-time assistant professors andtwo part-time lecturers.

Prof. Kristen Swain, a formerassistant professor at the School ofMass Communication, University ofArkansas-Little Rock, was selected tofill the newly-created medical/sciencecommunication position. She hastaught health communications andwriting at Texas A & M University, theUniversity of South Florida andArkansas, and published extensivelyin the field.

Swain graduated with a B.A. injournalism from the University ofMississippi, has a master’s degree injournalism from the University ofAlabama College of Communications,and received her Ph.D. in masscommunications from the Universityof Florida College of Journalism andCommunications.

Prof. Douglas Ward, a formercopy editor with the New York Times,teaches editing and writing. Ward’s

New faces in the J-School

Lisa Loewen, Kristen Swain, Doug Ward and I-Huei Cheng (Chris Ralston not pictured).

career also has included editingpositions at the Kansas City Star,Hutchinson News, Parsons Sun,Philadelphia Inquirer and PhiladelphiaDaily News.

Ward graduated with a B.S. injournalism and mass communicationsfrom Kansas State University, has amaster’s degree with honors injournalism from the University ofKansas, and received his Ph.D. in masscommunications from the Universityof Maryland.

Prof. I-Huei Cheng has joined thefaculty on a one-year appointment asan assistant professor, teachingMarketing and Media Research andco-teaching Strategic Campaigns. Sheis currently completing her Ph.D. atthe University of Missouri.

Part-time lecturers Lisa Loewen,teaching Research and Writing, andChris Ralston, teaching Print andOnline Design, also have joined thefaculty.

Walter Mears

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www.journalism.ku.edu

A photographer gives his allBy Charles Higginson, ACEJMC program associate

any alumni say they give their alma mater their full support, but few take it as literally as Rich Clarkson,Denver photojournalist and a 1955 graduate. He has arrangeda bequest through which virtually his entire estate will cometo the University. His extensive photography collection, in-cluding prints by Ansel Adams, is destined for the SpencerMuseum of Art, and the remainder will benefit the J-School.Values are undetermined, but the gifts help substantiallyboost the School toward its $5 million KU First goal.

“I’ve been involved with the University my entire life,”Clarkson said. “When this fund-raising campaign camealong, it just seemed the time to do it.”

Clarkson’s ties to the University do indeed go back. Bothhis parents graduated from KU, and the campus providedmemorable adventures to a boy growing up in Lawrence.

Take the time he and some friends sneaked into the net-work of steam tunnels under the campus and found them-selves under Old Robinson Gymnasium. Hearing basket-balls pounding, they made their way up to the second floor,where Coach Forrest “Phog” Allen was conducting prac-

tice. During a water break,Allen came over and invitedthe boys to meet another ob-server of the day’s session –James Naismith.

Or the time whenClarkson, as the 11-year-oldpublisher of an aviation news-letter, got a call from one ofhis regular contacts, the headof the aeronautical engineer-ing program. There wassomeone in the office hemight want to interview, theman said, so Clarkson hoppedon his bicycle and pedaled up 14th Street, and spent 40 min-utes interviewing Orville Wright.

“My father asked if I got his autograph,” Clarkson said.“I told him, ‘I’m a journalist. Journalists don’t ask for auto-graphs.’”

Clarkson’s interests soon turned from aviation to pho-tography. As a journalism student at KU, he honed the skillsand savvy that eventually made him one of the country’spre-eminent photojournalists.

Although he has not designated specific purposes forthe gift, he said he hoped the School would be able to re-establish emphasis on photojournalism and visual commu-nication, complete with full-time faculty. A teacher himself,Clarkson has advice for aspiring photojournalists.

“It may be a glamorous, sexy, rewarding job to be aphotographer at the Olympics, but that future is availableonly to a very few incredibly talented people,” he said. “Thereal future is in roles of leadership. Put together the tools tobe a great picture editor or director of photography. Thatmeans becoming a complete journalist, including writingand design. I’ve always pushed my photographers to doeverything.”

Clarkson has been director of photography and seniorassistant editor of the National Geographic Society, assis-tant managing editor of The Denver Post and a contract andcontributing photographer to Sports Illustrated.

He organized photographic coverage of the Munich andMontreal Olympics for Time magazine and of the MoscowOlympics for Sports Illustrated, and he was overall coordi-nator and director of photography in the main Olympic sta-dium for the Atlanta games.

In 1987, he founded Rich Clarkson and Associates inDenver. The company creates projects based on fine pho-tography in many forms, including photographic books, ex-hibitions and interactive multimedia.

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Rich Clarkson

William Allen White National Citation

4 Fall 2004 JLinks

Gerald Seib

he William Allen White Foundation has selectedGerald Seib, the Wall StreetJournal Washington bureauchief, as the recipient of the 2005William Allen White nationalcitation. He is a 1978 graduateof KU and the School ofJournalism. He will speak andreceive the citation at a public ceremony on WilliamAllen White Day, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 11, at 1:30p.m. in the Kansas Union’s Woodruff Auditorium.

Marlin Fitzwater, press secretary to PresidentsRonald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, received the2004 national citation. As the only press secretary tobe appointed by two presidents, he gave more than850 press briefings in six years. His book, “Call TheBriefing,” is a best-selling memoir of 10 years in theWhite House.

A panel of William Allen White Foundationtrustees selects the citation recipients. It has beenpresented annually since 1950 to journalists whoexemplify the ideals of William Allen White (1868-1944), a nationally influential Kansas editor, publisherand namesake of the J-School.

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JLinks Fall 2004 5

New Bremner Editing Center opensCo-written by Viva Bolova, junior

rof. John B. Bremner demanded the best of his editing students. His legacy lives on in the J-School and beyond.This fall, the J-School opened the door to the new BremnerEditing Center in 110 Stauffer Flint, named in honor of thelate KU professor.

Students work with professors and teaching assistantsto improve their editing and writing skills. DianeLazzarino, a long-time faculty member, works at the center,offering coaching, computer programs, videos and booksto journalism students.

“Professors in the J-School are concerned about thequality of writing in classes of all levels,” said Mary

Wallace, assistant to the dean. “Wecreated the Center to help studentsaddress deficiencies, and ensure con-tinued excellence in our students’editing and writing skills.”

An Australian native, Bremnercame to KU in 1969 and taught copyediting until 1985. During his tenureat KU, he won the HOPE teachingaward and was named the nationalOutstanding Journalism Educator.

Bremner wrote two books, “Words on Words” and“HTK.” He was also involved with the Gannett Foundationin creating the ”John Bremner: Guardian of the Newsroom”video, which is still used to teach editing in the newsroom.

“This was the guy who, at the last part of his career,was invited to go to the New York Times to help the NewYork Times’ editors to become better editors,” said Prof.Tim Bengtson, chair of the J-School curriculum committee.

“What we are trying to do is make the school live upto what John Bremner wanted it to be,” he said.

Bengtson said that often students are easily satisfiedwith what they write, and don’t realize the need to rewriteand strive for more.

In the Bremner Editing Center, students are able toget help in problemareas identified bytheir professors. It isgoing to be up to eachstudent to make surethat he or she mastersthe material.

An official openhouse and dedicationprogram will be laterin the fall.

Accreditation: Standards for successCo-written by Brandi Garvin, 2004 graduate

very six years the School of Journalism seeks reaccredita-

tion from the Accrediting Councilon Education in Journalism andMass Communications (ACEJMC).

“It is a ‘Good Housekeeping’seal of approval,” said SusanneShaw, KU journalism professorand ACEJMC executive director.

ACEJMC works to ensure thequality of journalism and mass

communication schools in the United States and,increasingly, internationally. The council administers avoluntary process of evaluation. Schools that have beenaccredited are re-evaluated every six years.

The J-School’s site team visit is scheduled for Feb.6-9. Faculty and staff have spent the last year gatheringdocuments and preparing for the visit.

The accrediting team for the Kansas visit includes: BethBarnes (team chair), director of the School of Journalismand Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky;Joel Kaplan, assistant dean for graduate professionalprograms in the School of Public Communications atSyracuse University; Carol Pardun, associate professor inthe School of Journalism and Mass Communication at theUniversity of North Carolina; Kathleen Fearn-Banks,associate professor in the department of communicationsat the University of Washington; Barbara Serrano, deputynational political editor at the Los Angeles Times; andBarbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television NewsDirectors Association in Washington, D.C.

ACEJMC sets standards of accreditation, and schoolsmust substantially meet them to achieve accreditation.

A school seeking accreditation spends about a yearwriting a self-study, examining itself. Next, a team ofprofessionals and educators makes an on-site examinationof the school. The visiting team’s recommendation thengoes through two more levels of deliberation. The endresult is accreditation, provisional accreditation or denialof accreditation.

KU was one of the original group of schoolsaccredited by ACEJMC in 1946, and its offices have beenlocated in the J-School since 1985.

“The school gets no special treatment for housing thecouncil,” said Charles Higginson, assistant to the ACEJMCexecutive director. “We make sure this school is reviewedjust as rigorously as any other.”

Prof. Susanne Shaw

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Prof. John Bremner

Bremner at the head of the class.

Photo

by E

arl R

ichar

dson

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6 Fall 2004 JLinks

he J-School has a strong history of partnering with private bus-iness and industry and public andnon-profit sector organizations.Students in both the StrategicCommunications and News andInformation tracks have manyopportunities to benefit from workingon real projects, for real clients.

“Partnerships with outsideorganizations, especially in the stateof Kansas, are very important to theJ-School and KU,” Interim Dean AnnBrill said. “Community outreach isessential to building professionalrelationships, keeping current withthe media trends, and maintaining anetwork for our students as they seekinternships and jobs.”

Strategic Campaigns, one of thecapstone courses in the StrategicCommunications track, providesstudents with the opportunity toapply everything they have learnedduring their years in the J-School to amajor business or non-profit agencycampaign, complete with fully-developed public relations, ad-vertising and marketing elements.

“In Strategic Campaigns, we seekclients who involve students in the

Community and professional outreach

2003-04 Strategic Campaigns Clients—Salina Area Chamber of Commerce (IABCBronze Quill Award winner); ChipotleRestaurants, national chain; UnionBroadcasing, Kansas City; KU Women’sBasketball; Commerce Bank; DouglasCounty Bank; and UMB Bank, Kansas City.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital EndowmentAssociation Heartbeat—newsletter

Douglas County Senior Citizens 60 andBetter—monthly newsletter

Operation Immunization—state outreachwith KU School of Pharmacy

Alternate Spring Breaks—advertising forKU students to do community service

KU Services for Students withDisabilities—informational materials

Johnson County Community CollegeSummer Youth Program—print advertisingencouraging parents to involve their childrenin an active educational environment

Junction City Daily Union CommunityCredibility project—involving residents,journalists, and Fort Riley personnel

Grassroots Arts Center, Lucas, Kansas—marketing program

Trinity Respite Care Services—marketingproject

Brown v. Topeka Board of EducationWeb site—for the 50th anniversary(www.ku.edu/~ojclass/brown)

William Allen White Web site—celebratingthe William Allen White Home Museum, livesof the White family, the White Foundationand the White Children’s Book Awards(www.journalism.ku.edu/school/waw)

Lee Denim Days—annual fund-raiser forbreast cancer awareness work for the SusanKomen Breast Cancer Foundation,sponsored by PRSSA

National Organ Donor Awareness Day—campus campaign, sponsored by PRSSA

Locks of Love project—A volunter hairstylist cut and collected hair from students,with the hair going to wigs for children whohave lost their hair to cancer treatment,sponsored by a management student

process of solving real challenges andproblems that the clients themselvesface,” Bob Basow, associate professor,said.

The organizations that partnerwith the classes also get the benefit ofseveral complete campaigns, at agreatly reduced cost.

“It really is a self-fulfillingprophecy,” Basow said. “What makesCampaigns succeed is the expectationof success that the students and clientbring to the problem.”

News and Information studentsalso have opportunities to producecontent for real-world media. Lastyear, students in Christy Bradford’sBusiness Reporting class wrote for theKansas City Business Journal. Studentsin Susanne Shaw’s CommunityJournalism course worked asreporters and copy editors for theLawrence Journal-World, and continueto do so.

Last spring, students in PeggyKuhr’s Community, Media andCredibility class worked with theJunction City Daily Union to researchthe media needs of two differentgroups in the community—JunctionCity High School students and FortRiley soldiers.

Bob Basow, associate professor, and studentsfrom his Spring 2003 Campaigns class meet withtheir client BlueCross BlueShield in the company’sKansas City offices.

Junction City High School students discuss wherethey get their news during a forum with Prof.Peggy Kuhr’s Community, Media and Credibilityclass.

Class clients & public serviceprojects in recent semesters:

For all things KU Journalism, visitwww.journalism.ku.edu he J-School’s Web site received a major facelift. Based on months of research and planning, we reworked notonly the design, but also, the content, navigation andfunctionality. You will find more useful information and adesign that allows us to better showcase our students’multimedia work.

The site is designed to provide information to students,potential students, alumni and friends, faculty and staff.Think of it as a portal to all things KU Journalism.

The Alumni & Friends section will also expand incoming months to include more alumni profiles andupdates. The section currently includes links to this alumninewsletter, a database of alumni, information on supportingthe J-School and more.

Do you have any suggestions, or just want to let usknow how you are doing? E-mail us at jschool@ku.edu.

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-School students graduate prepared for careers in the real world. It is only logical that they also graduate well-versed in the latest, real-world technology.

The J-School introduced a new Tuition Differential Feethat helps accomplish just that. It supports the purchaseand update of hardware and software, special technologytraining for students, additions to the Journalism ResourceCenter, equipment for the new Stan and Madeline StaufferMultimedia Newsroom training lab, and various othercomputing needs in Stauffer-Flint Hall and the Dole Center.

“Employers expect a certain level of technologicalsavvy from employees,” David Guth, associate dean, said.”This fee allows us to provide students with the right toolsfor career success.”

On June 24, the Kansas Board of Regents approved theJ-School’s Tuition Differential Fee, along with tuitionincreases in the KU Schools of Business, Education, FineArts and Engineering. Students taking any courses in theSchool of Journalism now pay the $12 per credit hour fee.

In fall 2003, former Dean Jimmy Gentry appointed aJournalism Technology Fee Committee to assess the needand student reaction to a fee. The committee includedgraduate and undergraduate students in both of theJ-School’s tracks, along with faculty and staff.

The committee researched technology fees at other

Enhancing learning through technology improvements

A student uses the new computers in the 105 Stauffer-Flint computer lab.

universities and journalism schools, conducted studentfocus groups, developed a student questionnaire, andworked with student organizations for input and support.The results of the research yielded strong support for thisfee initiative.

The J-School will continue to improve its technologyofferings with the funds generated from the fee.

JLinks Fall 2004 7

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8 Fall 2004 JLinks

Linda Davis: International traveler Worldly students ournalism and “the interna- tional experience” fit togetherlike a hand and a glove.

Each semester, J-Schoolstudents take advantage of thestudy abroad and internationalprograms available to them at KU.

The J-School’s most popularstudy abroad experience remainsthe Paderno del Grappa programin Italy. Every semester, pro-fessors and students from all overthe country converge on thebeautiful campus in Paderno foran educational and life experienceunlike any other.

The J-School sends a differentprofessor to the program eachsemester. This fall, Terry Bryant,lecturer, is teaching E-commerceand the Media and InternationalBusiness Journalism in Italy.

Also, last year a group ofjournalism students traveled withLinda Davis, associate professor,to Costa Rica. Along with the J-School programs, KU offers manyother chances for students to goabroad.

Abby Mills, a 2004 graduate,received a grant from the NationalSecurity Education Program towork and study in Russia thisyear. She is helping establish ajournalism program in southcentral Siberia at Gorno-AltaiskState University this semester.

Mills will study internationaljournalism at St. Petersburg StateUniversity in the spring semester.She earned degrees in bothRussian and journalism.

Emily Howard, a Maygraduate, was one of 25 KU/AsiaScholars this summer. She visitedChina, and is teaching Kansansabout the country this semester.Other scholars in the programvisited Japan and Korea.

The school continues toexplore ideas to further theinternational experience forjournalism students.

J inda Davis, associate professor, is no stranger to traveling abroad.She was the first professor in the J-School to teach in the Paderno delGrappa, Italy, program. Last summer,she led 11 students to San Jose, CostaRica, as part of the KU-Universidad deCosta Rica exchange program.

So when the opportunity to partici-pate in a seminar in Havana, Cuba,came up, she jumped at the chance.

After receiving a license to travel toCuba, KU funded its first facultyseminar to the country. Davis joined 15other professors in Cuba for theseminar in June 2004.

The purpose of the seminar was toprovide direct, in-country experiencein Cuba to stimulate professionalcollaboration among U.S. and Cubanfaculty and to explore options forstudents. The nine-day trip includeddaily academic meetings where facultyshared knowledge of Cuba.

Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco, directorof the Office of Study Abroad, and herstaff set up a committee to chooseparticipants. Disciplines representedincluded journalism, political science,English, Spanish, history, art, theaterand film, engineering and the MedicalSchool. Gronbeck-Tedesco said thecommittee chose a broad cross sectionof faculty from nine KU departments.

“Linda was chosen because she gavea great proposal,” said Gronbeck-Tedesco. “As a journalist, she gave a dif-ferent view of how cultures develop.”

Growing up in Miami, Davis saidshe found herself immersed in Cuban-American culture following the Cubanrevolution. Her father flew manyflights between Havana and Miami forPan Am during that time. She saidexposure to life in multicultural Miamiled her to research and teach LatinAmerican media systems and inter-

Co-written by Jennifer DeGraeve, senior

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national marketing communications.“Opportunities like this don’t come

around enough,” Davis said. “Gettingto share experiences and learn fromKU professors from a wide variety ofdisciplines was a wonderful education.”

“Under ‘Fidelismo,’ there is no of-ficially sanctioned objective journalismin Cuba, though the country has manyskillful professionals. It’s all‘government public relations’ from ourpoint of view. I was, however, fas-cinated by the local news shows withtheir high ideological content. Theradio culture, on the other hand, isfantastic, because Cuban music is soamazing. Obviously, the media scenein Cuba is Fidel-driven, not market-driven, and it is a real opportunity toobserve a different system,” Davis said.

Davis said she looked forward tobringing more international exper-iences to the classroom in the future.

Linda Davis stands in front of the former PalacioPresidential (currrent Museo de la Revolución),where students began an unsuccessful assass-ination attempt against Fulgencio Batista in 1957.

The Santería blend of African and Spanish religionscan be seen on the streets and in homes. The coloryellow represents Cuba’s patron saint, the Virginde la Caridad del Cobre, who is associated withOchún, the Yoruba goddess of love and rivers.

JLinks Fall 2004 9

ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES Where are they now?

www.journalism.ku.edu

2004Ashley Arnold is an accountrepresentative with Weyforth-Haas Marketing in OverlandPark.

Jonah Ballow works forPhog.net and JayhawkIllustrated.

Brittany Bublitz joinedInfinity Broadcasting inKansas City, selling radio.

Robyn Flohrschutz is withTopeka’s KSNT 27 NewsToday as a reporter/editor/photographer/producer.

Maggie Koerth is assistanteditor of Mental Floss, a satireand news magazine inBirmingham, Ala.

Paula Paggi is morningnewscast producer for WAGTin Augusta, Ga.

Lindsay Sierens is a trafficmanager for BarkleyEvergreen & Partners inKansas City.

Jessica Scott is an intern forthe U.S. Olympic CommitteeMedia and Public Relationsdivision at the training centerin Colorado Springs, Colo.

2003Amber Agee is an outsideretail account executive inSalem, Ore., for the Statesman-Journal.

Mike Alzamora is a sportsanchor with the IndependentNews Network, in Davenport,Iowa.

Ashley Anstaett is policydirector for Sen. AnthonyHensley, Democratic minorityleader in the Kansas Senate.

Tawnya Bach reports oneducation and communityactivities for KRBC-TV inAbilene, Texas.

Mark Belot is an accountexecutive with FallonWorldwide in Minneapolis.

Tara Bonin is marketingdirector of InnovativeSoftware Technologies inRiverside, Miss.

Thais Brandao is retailoutside account executive forthe Statesman-Journal in Salem,Ore.

Andrea Burnett is a reporterat KFDX-TV, the NBC affiliateserving Wichita Falls, Texas,and Lawton, Okla.

Kelli Christman is an accountcoordinator with sturgeswordin Kansas City.

Andy Davies is an associatesports producer at KSHB-TV,in Kansas City.

Amanda Denning is anassistant account executivewith Fleishman HillardInternational Communicationsin Kansas City.

Natalie DePriest is paid pro-gramming coordinator, sales,for Tribune Broadcasting,KPZR-TV, in St. Louis.

Ashley Earnest is an accountexecutive with 360kc.com, anonline advertising vehicle forarea businesses. The site isdescribed as a “visualdirectory.”

Melissa Eisberg is an accountcoordinator for Deutsch, Inc.,a public relations, eventplanning and advertising firmin New York.

Meghan Erwin is publicationseditor for the National Cable

Television Cooperative inLenexa.

Amanda German is directorof marketing at SandhillOrthopedic and Sports-medicine in Garden City.

Jane Gist is marketingmanager for the OverlandPark Convention Center/Global Spectrum, OverlandPark.

Jenni Glass has been hired asthe marketing assistant forShawnee Mission MedicalCenter.

Erica Gray is with the GlobalCustomer Service Center ofBloomberg L.P. in New York.

Lindsay Gross is an assistanteditor with CoveyCommunications in GulfShores, Ala. She worksprimarily with two magazinesfor condo owners.

Dan Harriman is an assistantto the events manager of theChemical Heritage Foun-dation in Philadelphia.

Justin Henning is a Web pro-ducer with the Palm BeachPost.

Sarah Warren Henning is asports copy editor with thePalm Beach Post.

Megan Hickerson is executiveassistant to Gina Sanders, thevice president and publisherof Teen Vogue.

Emily Hutchins, MSJ, hasjoined Jones Seel Huyett, anadvertising, marketing andpublic relations firm inTopeka as account manager.

Julie Jantzer is an associateproduction editor forPrimedia businesspublications.

Joy Larson joined KCAU-TV,the ABC affiliate in Sioux City,Iowa, as a reporter.

Kristen Layton is a salesrepresentative at News RadioKMBZ, an Entercom station inKansas City.

Zach Lee is an assistant editorat Rocket Productions, acommercial production housein Austin, Texas.

Carrie Lindeman is a publicrelations account executivewith Sullivan Higdon & Sinkin Wichita.

Christa Lobaugh is in the GECommunications LeadershipDevelopment Program, an 18-month program with three six-month rotations in differentdivisions and internationallocations.

Susan Novak, who tookjournalism graduate courses,received a first place award inthe National Federation ofPress Women’s 2004 contest.Novak is managing editor ofKansas Heritage magazine ofthe state Historical Society.

Erin Osburn is an accountplanner with the HarwoodMarketing Group in Dallas.

Julie Ottmar is a mediacoordinator at McKeeWallwork Henderson inAlbuquerque, N.M.

Amy (White) Schmitz is copyediting for four suburbannewspapers for TownsendCommunications in northernKansas City.

Kristin Schultz is a staffmember for the Flint HillsNational Golf Club andWichita Open.

Jonathan Smith is aninteractive media buyer withPlattform Advertising inJohnson County.

Elizabeth Taylor is aneditorial promotionscoordinator at the DailyOklahoman, Oklahoma City.

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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

ally Buzbee, a 1988 J- School graduate, willboard a plane Nov. 1 and flyfrom her home base inWashington, D.C., tobecome news bureau chief for theAssociated Press in Cairo, Egypt. After thefirst of the year, her husband John Buzbee,a 1989 J-School graduate, and their twoyoung daughters plan to join her.

The Buzbees have spent much of thepast six years living and working in theMiddle East. And for the first six monthsof 2004, John worked in Tikrit, Iraq, for theState Department as the second-rankingcivilian in the province.

Their professional lives, hers as ajournalist covering the Middle East, andhis with the State Department working torebuild Iraq, complement each other.

“When I first came to Washington,”Sally Buzbee said, “I was doing moredomestic issues, economic issues, welfare.John had been a journalist, then got adegree in Arab Studies and joined the StateDepartment. John is interested in the Arabworld, and I have found that across theboard people in the Arab world andelsewhere are regular, normal people whohave regular, normal lives. It interests meto write about it.”

Much appeals to Buzbee about theCairo position. “Bureau chiefs write. It’s astrong tradition,” Buzbee said. “In generalI’m interested in this job because there isso much misunderstanding about theMiddle East, and I have a strong desire toaddress those misunderstandings.”

Buzbee, though, will have two initialpriorities: overseeing the spot news reportthat organizations around the globedepend on for daily information about the

Middle East, and working to build a solidnews infrastructure in Arab countries.

“Cairo is our control bureau for thewhole Middle East,” Buzbee said.“Everything from journalists in Iraq to thegulf states to Yeman. We need apermanent person in Saudi Arabia. Fouryears ago that would have beenunthinkable, but things are changing. Thedemand for news in the Middle East isdramatically increasing.”

Sally Buzbee came to KU thinking shewould get a degree in English, thenpossibly teach. But her work for theUniversity Daily Kansan inspired her andallowed her a glimpse of possibilities forherself. “I just loved working on thecollege paper,” Buzbee said. “We dove inheadfirst. It was the first situation where Iwas treated like an adult and expected tocontribute.”

“It’s also almost impossible to over-estimate how much Prof. Susanne Shawdid for us by telling us to get out there andwork and learn from people around us.From KU, I got a good, rigorous groundingon how you do this kind of work and whatis right and wrong, and since then I’velearned so much from the people aroundme,” Buzbee said.

John Buzbee was featured in the June 2004edition of KU Connection, the KU AlumniAssociation’s online newsletter, for his workin Tikrit, Iraq. Access the article online at:www.kuconnection.org/2004June/people_3.asp

The Buzbees:MissionMiddle EastBy Kara Lynch,Journalism Lecturer

Sally and John Buzbee, with daughters Meg, 3, and Emma, 5.

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Sarah Tongier is a grantsspecialist, with the KUCenter for Research.

Kelley Weiss is the producerof the Walt Bodine Show atKCUR 89.3 FM, an affiliateof National Public Radio.

2002Daniel Ahlquist is at theUniversity of North Carolinain a sociology graduateprogram.

Marit Bates is coordinator ofthe technology group for theGolf Course SuperintendentsAssociation of America.

Kyle Burnett is an assistantmedia planner at GSD&M inAustin, Texas, one of the twomain agencies used by Wal-Mart.

Emily Callaghan is aproduction assistant in themarketing department ofStrayer University inWashington D.C.

Julie Carter is a productionassistant for VFW magazinein Kansas City.

Mark Hansen is a projectcoordinator at ThomasNieman, Inc. in Wilmette, Ill.He researches, edits anddevelops new books for thecompany.

Jeremy Knickerbockerrecruits college graduates forthe Sears Retail ManagementDevelopment program asassistant store director inTopeka.

Amy McCollom is directorof marketing for SouthwestTile & Marble in OklahomaCity.

ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

Michael Moffet: The RegulatorBy Kara Lynch, Journalism Lecturer

awrence resident and J-School alum, Mike Moffet, has lived on both sidesof the regulatory table: as one who is regu-lated and as regulator. His recent appoint-ment by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to theKansas Corporation Commission, theagency that regulates telecommunications,trucking and utility services, puts himsquarely back in the regulator camp.

A native of Norton, Moffet is a 1972graduate. He said his journalism trainingwas essential to the work he had done.

“A lot of what I have done over thecourse of my career has related to publicaffairs and the work of taking what are of-ten complicated and difficult issues, andtrying to explain them in a non-technicalway for both decision makers and the pub-lic, “ Moffet said.

After graduating from the School ofJournalism, where he was selected out-standing senior by the faculty, and fromthe School of Law in 1975, Moffet workedfor former Sen. James B. Pearson inWashington, D.C.

He followed this by working as a leg-islative aide to former Sen. NancyKassebaum, assisting her on energy, trans-

portation, andbanking legislation.He then served ascounsel to the Avia-tion Subcommitteeof the U.S. SenateCommittee onCommerce, Scienceand Transportation.

From there he accepted a position withthe Federal Aviation Association (FAA),followed by a position with the AmericanAssociation of Airport Executives in theWashington area. During the first Bushpresidency, Moffet returned to the FAA asa political appointee—associate adminis-trator for policy, planning and interna-tional aviation. In that position, he workedon the development of the national avia-tion noise policy, a significant, and highlycontroversial undertaking in the field ofenvironmental regulation.

For the past six years, he has workedfor Public Strategies, an Austin, Texas,public affairs consulting firm, as strategicadviser to the president of SBC Kansas,studying the effect of regulation from thevantage point of the communications in-dustry.

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Michael Moffet

Ashley Shroyer, a politicalscience graduate who tookjournalism classes, is a deskassistant at ABC NewsNightline in New York.

2001Muriel (Bernard) CriderCowgill is a marketingconsultant for ManhattanBroadcasting Company(KMAN, KMKF, KXBZ, &KACZ) in Manhattan.

Jennifer Curry is a staff writerfor the reference publisher H.W. Wilson in New York. Shewrites for Current Biographies,a periodical bound as a book,and the World Authors series.

Matt Dougherty is themanaging editor for fiveDispatch-Tribune newspapersin Kansas City North.

Christa (Henton) Dubill hasbeen hired as the 6 and 10p.m. news anchor for WKOW-TV in Madison, Wis., the ABCaffiliate.

Karen Hahn is attendinggraduate school at EmersonCollege in Boston, studyinghealth communications.

Scott Lowe, MSJ, wasawarded a fellowship at theMetcalf Institute for Marineand Environmental Reporting,part of the University ofRhode Island Graduate Schoolof Oceanography. He willreport on environmental is-sues for the Providence Journal.

Margaret Clare Mclellan isworking as an advertisingsales assistant for HachetteFilipacchi Media, U.S., inChicago, working primarilyfor ELLE, ELLEgirl andPremiere magazines.

Mindie Paget, MSJ, LawrenceJournal-World arts editor, wonsecond place for healthwriting and page layout, andthird place for a section sheregularly edits, the SundayArts & Living section, fromthe National Federation ofPress Women.

Josh Scofield is the sportsdirector at KREP FM inBelleville/Concordia.

Bryan Turner is a PeaceCorps volunteer in Bulgariafor the next two years,teaching high school Englishand helping set up smallbusinesses.

Nathan Willis is a copy editoron the metro copy desk of theWashington Post.

2000Elizabeth (Powell) Ashby isthe editor of ProduceMerchandising magazine, abusiness-to-businesspublication in Lenexa.

Danny Fiser is an accountexecutive at Feist Publicationsin Kansas City sellingadvertising space in theKansas City, NortheastKansas and Lawrence Feistyellow page directories.

Seth Jones has been promotedto associate editor of GolfCourse Management magazine.

Christoph Lapczyna, MSJ, ishead of public relations atKWB, a company that createsand promotes continuingeducation programs inHamburg, Germany.

Keena McClendon isproduction coordinator forfour Primedia magazines inOverland Park.

Edd McCracken won theScottish Press AssociationYoung Journalist of the YearAward. He reports for the SundayHerald in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Jessica Salazar is researchdirector for the John Kerry-John Edwards campaign inMissouri.

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J-School alum finds ‘civic duty’ in filmBy Lisa Schmitz, graduate student

anjit Arab grew up in Wichita, the birthplace of Pizza Hut and a citywhere Americana drifts by in the dusty,Kansas wind.

Yet, despite spending his childhood inthe nation’s heartland, Arab maintained akeen awareness of the “immigrantexperience” during his youth.

“My parents immigrated from Indiain the late ’60s,” said Arab, a 1993 J-Schoolgraduate, “and I always had a sense ofwhat it meant to be an immigrant. It was afeeling of being from two lands.”

Arab, a publicity manager forUniversity Press of Kansas, carried thatperspective with him as he studiedjournalism and, more recently, turned tofilmmaking.

Earlier this year, Arab and creativepartner Aaron Paden completed “ElJardín,” a documentary film that focusedon Garden City, and the successfuleducation program for the children ofimmigrants there. In June, the film wontwo prizes at the KAN Film Festival inLawrence, including first place in thecollege documentary division.

“‘El Jardín’ means ‘the garden,’ andGarden City is truly a place where manydifferent types of people are growingtogether,” said Arab, 34.

Arab said he was inspired to make thefilm after repeatedly reading about theactions of Connie Morris, a State Board ofEducation member who moved to havechildren of undocumented workersremoved from public schools, despite a

U.S. SupremeCourt decisionthat said chil-dren must beeducated.

“ T h i sreally bother-ed me,” Arabsaid.“I wantedto express myfeelings, and amovie seemedlike the rightmedium be-cause I could show – really show – peoplethe children being talked about.”

With only a basic background in film,Arab decided to enroll in Prof. TomVolek’s corporate video and documentaryclass in the spring of 2003 to help ease theprocess.

“Prof. Volek, as well as Terry Bryantand John Broholm, really supported mein my goal,” he said. “I can’t thank themenough for their help.”

Arab is currently working on a sequelto the 26-minute “El Jardín.” The follow-up examines the issue of in-state collegetuition for the children of Kansasimmigrants.

“I feel obligated to use my journalistictraining toward some positive end,” Arabsaid. “It’s not about awards orrecognition; it’s more about a civic duty,you could say, and making people think.I think journalism students would do wellto remember they have that power.”

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1999Chad Bettes, MSJ, is thepublic affairs officer for theU.S. Department of StateOffice to Monitor andCombat Trafficking inPersons in Washington D.C.

Corbin Bosiljevac is anetwork marketingrepresentative with ExcelCommunications and isstarting an outdooradventure company basedin Mexico.

Katie Burford, MSJ, youthand families reporter for theAlbuquerque Journal, is aFulbright Scholar studyingChilean media and teachingat the University of Arts,Sciences andCommunication in Santiago.

Tyler Cook is an accountexecutive at Saatchi &Saatchi on the ToyotaAutomotive account inOverland Park.

Michelle Rosel McDonaldis a producer with HighNoon Productions inDenver, producing pro-grams for the Food Network.

1998Jaime (Powell) Beringer hasa new position as productmanager for Sears, Roebuck& Co. in Chicago.

Jeff Beringer is director,Web relations for WeberShandwick in Chicago.

Regina Cassell is the facultyadviser for yearbook andnewspaper and instructor ofmass media at WashburnUniversity.

Erin (Johnson) Jungmeyeris in marketing for Propane

Resources, a consulting firmin Mission.

Miranda Khan has joinedWPTV, the NBC affiliate inPalm Beach, Fla., as co-anchorand investigative reporter. Forthree years, she was primary 6and 10 p.m. anchor and

consumer investigationreporter for WQAD-TV inMoline, Ill. Her first job wasanchor/reporter at KPLC inLake Charles, La.

Jaimee (Reggio) Lumm is anaccount supervisor of publicrelations at Chandler Groupin Evanston, Ill. Shespecializes in supportingproduct communications

efforts for health care andpharmaceutical companies.

Umut Bayramoglu Newburyis at the Kansas City Star inpaginating and copy editing.

Ann Weishaar has beennamed producer of a newsshow at KPNX-TV in Phoenix.She prepared for that whileproducing the 5 p.m. newsduring the Olympics.

Ranjit Arab–Photo courtesy ofThad Allender, 2002 graduateand Lawrence Journal-Worldphotographer.

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Matthew York is marketingcoordinator for PlaygroundDestination Properties inReno. He earned an MBA in2003.

1997John Hart, MSJ, is co-authorof a book, “Breach of Trust:How Washington TurnsOutsiders Into Insiders,”written with former U.S. Rep.Tom A. Coburn. Hart wasCoburn’s press secretary.

Rob Nelson works for theinteractive agency IdeaIntegration as a seniorcopywriter and creative teamlead for the HP/Compaqaccount in Houston.

Matt Wendt has been namedproducer of the 6 p.m. news atKPNX-TV in Phoenix.

1996Dan Lara, MSJ, is a news andmedia relations specialist forKU University Relations.

Betsy Rate joined CBS asassociate producer of “60Minutes.” She was anassociate producer on PBS’Bill Moyers’ “NOW”program.

1995Chris Gannett completed hisMBA at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis. He is amanagement associate withCitigroup Corporate andInvestment Bank in NewYork.

1994Lance Hobson is an Air Forcenavigator.

David Johnston is now themarketing director for KU. Heis working on his master’sdegree in higher educationadministration at KU.

1993Marlene Neill, communityrelations specialist for the cityof Waco, Texas, wasaccredited by the PublicRelations Society of America.

Hale Sheppard, an attorneywith Sharp, Smith, &Harrison, P.A. in Tampa, Fla.,specializes in global taxplanning, cross-borderbusiness transactions andinternational taxcontroversies.

1992Jerry Bever is generalmanager of KTVA-TV, Ch. 11,in Anchorage, Alaska.

Amy Cranch is the editor ofthe Chicago Field Museum’smagazine, In the Field.

Blaine C. Kimrey is anattorney specializing in medialaw with Winston & Strawn,an international law firm inChicago.

Stephanie Patrick is ahealthcare reporter at theDallas Business Journal. In2003, she won two awardsfrom the Texas MedicalAssociation.

1991Julie (Novak) Curtin becamea partner at DCI, a marketingfirm based in New York.

1990Elaina Khoury Boudreaucurrently serves as director ofpublic relations andcommunications for a GeneralElectric Company, ERC.

Michael Fulhage is anassistant professor and newseditor on the ColumbiaMissourian. He is researchingMexican immigration for amaster’s degree thesis.

Monica Hayde recently madethe switch from practicingmedia and intellectualproperty law to a career inlegal marketing.

Stephen Wade, publisher ofthe Pittsburg (Kan.) MorningSun, is listed among the top 20young professionals in thenewspaper business, featuredin Presstime magazine’sannual “20 under 40”December issue. Presstime isthe monthly publication of theNewspaper Association ofAmerica.

1989Chris Halsne was one of threereporters for Seattle’s KIRO-TV, who placed first inconsumer spot news reportingin the Best of the WestJournalism contest, sponsoredby First Amendment Funding,Inc.

Susan Gage Sass has joinedthe journalism faculty of theUniversity of Nebraska. Shewas team leader for sports atThe Oregonian, in Portland.

1988Joe Bollig, MSJ, seniorreporter for The Leavennewspaper of the CatholicArchdiocese of Kansas City,Kan., won three awards at theCatholic Press Associationconvention in Washington,D.C.

Krista Roberts is assistantnews director at WATE-TV,Knoxville, Tenn.

1987Brian Masilionis is anadvertising accountsupervisor with GreyWorldwide in New York,working on the Smucker’s, JifPeanut Butter and Criscoaccounts.

1986Angela (Pfenninger) Baierhas been named marketingdirector for the city of Denverby Mayor John Hickenlooper.

John Egan has been promotedto editor of the Austin BusinessJournal in Texas. He had beenmanaging editor since 1999.

1985Alison Gilman anchors the 5and 9 p.m. newscasts week-nights at WITI-TV, FOX 6, inMilwaukee.

1984Susan (Fotovich) McCabe is afreelance writer living inKansas City with her husbandand three children.

1983Gerald Sass Jr., MSJ, hasjoined the journalism facultyof the University of Nebraska.He was copy chief of TheOregonian, in Portland.

Brad Swisher is a marketmanager for Lamar OutdoorAdvertising in San Diego.

William Chris Wessel ispublisher of the Atchison DailyGlobe.

1982Nancy Ross-Flanigan, amaster’s graduate of theCollege of Liberal Arts andSciences, is a science writerfor the University of MichiganNews service and freelancesarticles on health and lifestyle.She took courses in the School.

Janet Marguia is the executivedirector and chief operatingofficer of the National Councilon La Raza. She was formerlyKU’s executive vice chancellorfor University Relations.

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today at the age of 73 as a meat cutter for the House ofSausage on Strawberry Hill.

Growing up here, Helliker read The Kansas City Kansanand he also worked delivering The Kansas City Star and Times.

“KCK as a whole is a place where people work hard,and I think that I have a work ethic that was developedthere,” he said.

A 1977 graduate of Bishop Ward High School, Hellikersaid the teacher who had the greatest influence on him therewas Sister Susan Rieke, who is now the chairwoman of theEnglish Department at the University of Saint Mary,Leavenworth.

“She taught English and very much encouraged me topursue a career in writing,” Helliker said.

He added that Blake Mulvany, retired superintendentof the Catholic schools, was the principal of Ward at thattime, and was a great role model.

Helliker received a degree in English literature fromthe University of Kansas in 1982. He took journalism classesat KU and worked on the University Daily Kansan, the stu-dent newspaper, while he was there.

“The three instructors there who made a huge impres-sion on me were Ted Frederickson, Rick Musser and (thelate) John Bremner,” Helliker said. “I think that the jour-nalism professors there are very tough, and I found themto be tougher than the professors I had in other depart-ments, but I also found them, in retrospect, much better attraining us for the real world,” Helliker said.

“In advanced reporting, you had to write a story everyday, and when you have other classes to attend, that’s justessentially like being a full-time reporter while also being afull-time student,” he said. “The rigors of that made the real

KU Alum, former Journalism studentKevin Helliker wins Pulitzer Prize

(Helliker – continued on page 15)

W

By Mary Rupert, former Kansas City Kansan news editorand 1996 journalism masters graduate. Article reprintedcourtesy of the Kansas City Kansan.

Editor’s Note: Kevin Helliker will be on campus Nov. 29-30.Check the Web site, www.journalism.ku.edu, for more details.

hen Kevin Helliker was diagnosed with an aneu- rysm, he found out all he could about it. That lifeexperience eventually led the Kansas City, Kan., native toa Pulitzer Prize for explanatory writing.

Helliker, the Chicago bureau chief for the Wall StreetJournal, won the Pulitzer with Thomas M. Burton.

The awards committee for the top prize in journalismnoted that Helliker’s and Burton’s story examining aneu-rysms was “groundbreaking.” The Pulitzers, awarded bythe Pulitzer board through Columbia University, also carrya $10,000 prize.

“Purely by accident, a scan taken of my chest found Ihad an aneurysm in my aortic root,” said Helliker, who is45. “I still do have it.”

The aneurysm is too small for surgery, he noted, but ifit were to grow, surgery would be recommended.

Helliker noted his initial reaction to the scan was sur-prise, because he always thought that aneurysms were un-detectable until they struck.

“Then I began to process and learn about what theyreally are and what could be done about them,” Hellikersaid.

Eventually, what he discovered led him to write aboutit. In their story, Helliker and Burton told readers that itwas well-established that aortic aneurysms run in familiesand they can be treated, yet much of the medical commu-nity was not giving patients this information. Aneurysmscan be detected by computerized tomography and mag-netic resonance scans, he said.

“Our profession has taken a hit lately with the JaysonBlair’s and Jack Kelley’s (journalists who were caught pla-giarizing or making up information), but it’s an honorableprofession,” Helliker said. “With this package of stories thatwe won the prize for, it demonstrated that journalism canreally make a difference for the good. We have had peoplewho read our stories write us letters and tell us that ourstories saved their lives.”

Helliker said he grew up in KCK with a strong workethic from his father, G. Robert Helliker, who still works

Kevin Helliker

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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

world actually seem kind of easy by com-parison.”

Helliker started his journalism careerwith an internship at the Kansas City Times.

“I remember the first story I did as anintern for the Kansas City Times. I profileda self-help group for little people, dwarves,and I had a call afterward from a youngdwarf who hadn’t known about this group,and just told me that my story had changedher life.”

Next Helliker joined the Wall StreetJournal’s Houston bureau. He left the Jour-nal to return to the Kansas City Times, wherehe worked a little more than a year, thenwent to work for a magazine, Corporate Re-port of Kansas City, which is now Ingram’s.After three years with a new magazinecalled Arizona Trend, he then returned tothe Wall Street Journal, where he has beenfor 15 years. As bureau chief, he oversees ateam of 10 journalists.

“Working for the Journal, in and of it-self, is an honor,” he said. “There are a lotof people here who do great work day inand day out, who never win prizes, as thereare in all newspapers.”

Helliker left KCK years ago when hewent to college, but he said he returns tovisit his parents and family here. It wasHelliker who, as bureau chief, assigned theWall Street Journal story about the renais-sance of Wyandotte County last summer.

“I’ve talked to Warren Buffett (Ne-braska Furniture Mart founder) about whythey chose Wyandotte County, and he hadgreat things to say about the county and inparticular, about the mayor,” Helliker said.

He said he remembers KCK as a goodplace to grow up. Helliker offered a bit ofadvice to students or young journalists.

“My advice would be to approach thejob with passion, and if it takes dreamingabout the Pulitzer Prize to do that, that’sfine, but really, affecting readers’ lives is,in and of itself, a tremendous reward,” hesaid. “Information is tremendously pow-erful, and I guess my advice would be touse it for good.”

(Helliker – continued from page 14) Kathryn Ann (Miller) Nelson isinterim managing editor of theAlbuquerque Tribune.

1981Carol Beier was appointed to theKansas Supreme Court by GovernorKathleen Sebelius in 2003. A 1985graduate of the KU School of Law,she practiced in Wichita beforejoining the bench. She was on thecourt of appeals first, from 2000-03.

1980Kathleen Conkey is assistant generalcounsel at CBS Television, workingwith the daily news program InsideEdition.

Mark Spencer covers governmentand community life in Connecticutfor the Hartford Courant. Spencerspent six months researching whymany immigrants from Ecuadorsettled in Connecticut.

1977Jerri (Reyner) Corgiat has publishedher first novel, “Sing Me Home,” setin the Missouri Ozarks.

Ann Gardner, editorial page editorfor the Lawrence Journal-World,received first place in editorialwriting from the National Federationof Press Women. The editorial,“Truth Comes Out,” analyzed casesin Lawrence where public officialswere less than forthcoming and howthis pattern of unwillingness madetheir situation more complicated.

Patricia Eliot Tobias is the senioreditor of publications for the Writer’sGuild of America, west. She is alsopresident of the International BusterKeaton Society.

1976Richard L. Kovatch is founder andCEO of SalesVantx, Inc., an Internetventure based in Columbus, Ohio.He recently launched his newest site,www.roadfax.com, a service forbusiness faxing over the Web.

1974Jo Jo Murphy (Judith Fogelman),MSJ, owns Look Good on Paper,Virtual Assistant, which providescopy editing, business writing,document production, wordprocessing and resume writing(www.lookgoodonpaper.com).

1972Rosemary Mahnke is director ofmarketing communication forSprint’s Business and WholesaleBusiness Unit in the LocalTelephone Division. She has beenwith Sprint for more than 26 yearsand lives in Overland Park.

Ronald Parker is a writer andproducer of films and televisionshows and miniseries. He received aHumanitas Award for his Joan ofArc mini-series script. Movies andmini-series he has written and/orproduced have won Oscars, Emmysand Golden Globe awards.

1971Joe Vaughan is owner/president ofJoe Vaughan Associates Publishing,handling specialty book publishing.In 2003, he was elected to a four-year term on the Johnson CountyWater District #1 Board of Directors.

1954Charles F. Morelock, MSJ 1962, is aretired teacher and loyal KUbasketball fan.

1949William Nelligan is the executivedirector of the Certification Board ofNuclear Cardiology in Damascus,Md. He recently celebrated his 50thwedding anniversary.

1948Betty Bacon Hodges published abook “Nasturtium & His MagicDoors” in December 2002. It is achildren’s book featuring twelveadventures in fairies, dragons andimagination.

JLinks is a publication for the alumni and friendsof the University of Kansas William Allen WhiteSchool of Journalism and Mass Communications

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