Class Notes

Joseph Slate
B.A. 1951
Slate’s newest children's book, I Want to be Free, with illustrations by Caldecott honoree E.B. Lewis, will be published by Putnam in 2009. Also in 2009, a musical based on Slate's best-selling "Miss Bindergarten series will tour 19 cities. The schedule is on his web site: www.josephslate.com/

Doug Ramsey
B.A. 1956
Ramsey was awarded the 2008 Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA). The 12th annual awards recognizes excellence in 41 categories of music-making, presentation, production and jazz journalism. The nominees and winners are based on votes cast by more than 400 JJA members and include writers, broadcasters, photographers and new-media professionals.

Mike Peringer
B.A. 1957 
Peringer’s book Good Kids: the Story of Artworks goes into movie production beginning June, 2009. The movie will be filmed in the Seattle area at Peringer’s insistence. Airing is scheduled for spring, 2010. Networks expressing the most serious interest are Showtime, A&E and Lifetime.

Peter Clarke
B.A. 1958
Clarke is the 2009 Communication Distinguished Alumnus. He will deliver the keynote address at the Department of Communication's annual Graduation Celebration in June. Clarke is a professor of preventive medicine and communication at the University of Southern California. He also co-directs From the Wholesaler to the Hungry, which has helped launch almost 150 programs that direct surplus produce to low-income Americans.

Martin H. Arnold
B.A. 1964
Arnold retired from ITT after a 37-year career in public relations. For the past 15 years, he has taught communications at University of Connecticut and Iona. Arnold earned his M.A. in Communications from Fairfield University (1983) and an MBA from the University of New Haven (1997). He also took a certificate from the UW advanced management program in 1977.

Terry Tazioli
B.A. 1970
Tazioli was a featured speaker at the Society of Professional Journalists Washington State Collegiate Journalism Conference held on the UW campus November, 2008. The focus of the conference was on ethics and career advancement.

Temple Mathews
B.A. 1976
Mathews is a successful writer and screenwriter living in Southern California. His most recent writing credit is Picture This (2008) starring Ashley Tisdale.

Edmund K. Joyce
B.A. 1977
Joyce received first place from the Society of Professional Journalists San Diego Chapter in the Radio Breaking News/live category for his coverage of the La Jolla landslide. He won second place for Regular Beat Coverage (environmental beat) and second place for Radio, Use of Sound, in the SPJ competition. Joyce also won first place in the Breaking News category from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated as a member of the KPBS news team that covered the 2007 San Diego wildfires. He’s worked as a reporter, anchor and editor for KPBS since 2006.

Stuart Chernis
B.A. 1981
Chernis is publisher of the Marysville Globe and Arlington Times in Snohomish County, as well as business journals in Wenatchee and Bellingham. He was recently recognized by the Washington Newspaper Publisher’s Association as a 2008 General Excellence Winner, earning a first place for the Marysville Globe and a tie for second place for the Arlington Times.

James F. Hamilton
B.A. 1983; M.A. 1986
Hamilton, an associate professor at Grady College, University of Georgia, published a second book in 2008. His first, Democratic Communications; Formations, Projects, Possibilities, came out at the beginning of the year and Alternative Journalism, co-authored with Chris Atton was published by Sage Publications in December. Alternative Journalism conducts a cultural, historical, political-economic, and sociological analysis of alternative journalism, and is the first book-length study of the topic.

Jocelyn McCabe
B.A. 1993
McCabe is vice president of communications for the Association of Washington Business, the state’s chamber of commerce located in Olympia. In October 2008 she earned the designation Accredited in Public Relations from the Public Relations Society of America.

Q. Allan Brocka
B.A. 1995
Brocka premieres the second season of his hit animated television series Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in the World on MTV’s LOGO Network. Brocka created, wrote and executive produced the 2008 season, which stars the voice talents of Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho, Jennifer Coolidge, Mark Hamil, George Takei, Peter Paige, Wilson Cruz, Tori Spelling, and Lance Bass. The series features show-stopping musical numbers written by Brocka and Jeff Marx (creator of Avenue Q).

Lori Matsukawa
M.A. 1996
Matsukawa was the mistress of ceremonies at the Seattle chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League's (JACL) annual Installation Banquet. The event took place in January, 2009 and included a Community Service Award to the UW.

Pamela Prado
B.A. 1996
Prado is an anchor at KSEE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Fresno, Calif. She interned at KCPQ and KOMO in Seattle while attending the UW and began reporting in Yakima, Wash., before heading to Fresno.

Paula Kenley Freeman
B.A. 1997
Freeman earned her M.A. in counseling psychology at Argosy University in 2007. She has a small private counseling practice, working with people who have chronic disabilities and youth who are in foster care. She recently immigrated to the province of South Holland to be with her new husband and her cat.

Rob Ballenger
M.A. 1999
Ballenger spent five years as an assistant producer of National Public Radio's hourly news in Washington, D.C.  Earlier this year he was promoted and now oversees the Midwest & Western broadcasts of All Things Considered.  As the swing producer, he is in charge of making editorial decisions about how the show will be reshaped each evening as it ‘rolls over’ into the Central, Mountain and Western time zones. Competition for Ballenger’s job was high and he feels having a graduate degree in Speech Communication helped him immensely.

Jessica Davis
B.A. 2000
Davis is a journalist, documentarian and producer. She has made a documentary on black jazz artists in Seattle, who were around in the '50s, '60s and '70s. See clips at www.vimeo.com/jessicadavis.

La'Chris Jordan
B.A. 2001
Jordan—named one of the "50 Playwrights to Watch" by the Dramatists Guild—debuts her play Piney Ridge at the Seattle Parks and Recreation's Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center from March 20 through April 5, 2009. Piney Ridge, winner of the 2007 Eight Tens @ Eight Festival in Santa Cruz, Calif., is a gripping story of racial tension in 1910 Virginia.

Heather Tien
B.A. 2001
Tien is a regional pubic relations specialist for Boost Mobile in Irvine, Calif. She joined Boost in December 2008 after working five years at various public relations agencies specializing in the food/restaurant industry.

Jenni Hogan
B.A. 2002
Hogan recently joined Seattle’s KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Team as morning traffic anchor. She moved over to KIRO from KOMO-TV in Seattle, where she was traffic anchor.

Andre Billeaudeaux
M.A. 2003
Billeaudeaux is a lieutenant commander for the U.S. Coast Guard. He's served as the law enforcement and assistant group operations officer at Group Fort Macon, N.C.; deck watch officer and dive officer aboard CGC Polar Star; group Seattle oerations officer; Thirteenth Coast Guard District public affairs officer and has just assumed the position of director of auxiliary servicing 1,800 uniformed volunteers. Along with his M.A. from the UW, he holds a master's degree in National Security Studies from Naval Post Graduate School. His leadership with the Citizen's Action Network has earned broad recognition: the Secretary's Excellence Award winner in 2006, a top-five finalist in The Kennedy School of Government/Noblis Homeland Security Innovation Award for 2007 and Naval Post Graduate's Zimbardo Award for leadership and academic excellence.

Dr. Marita Gronnvoll
B.A. 2000; M.A. 2003
Gronvoll is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill.

Jennifer Bragg
B.A. 2005
Bragg is an account manager at Owen Media Inc, a high-technology public relations agency in Seattle. She received the PRSA’s 2008 President's Award for Volunteerism.

Cammie Croft
B.A. 2005
Croft is the deputy new media director for President Barack Obama. She joined the White House from the Obama-Biden Transition Project, where she served as the deputy new media director, specializing in online communications. Of Croft's new position, Communication professor Leah Ceccarelli said: "I directed Cammie's honors thesis in the department. Her goal in that thesis was to discover how to help the next Democratic presidential candidate avoid being undermined by a rhetorically savvy Republican campaign. I'm so pleased to learn that she has followed through on that work."

Jessica Estrada
B.A. 2005
Estrada was promoted in September 2008 to director of small business programs for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. She manages the Chamber's various business networking events and professional development programs, including the Young Professionals Network. In spring 2008, she was a nominee for the Puget Sound Business Journal's 40 Under 40.

Verena Hess
M.A. 2000; Ph.D. 2006
Hess is a senior marketing manager at Microsoft. She works on SharePoint, using her research skills in communications to focus on analysts and their perspectives about the social computing space for big businesses.

Carolyn Kim
B.A. 2006
Kim is a program coordinator for the University of Washington Educational Outreach department. To keep her journalistic skills going, she interns for the Ballard News Tribune as a photographer/reporter, and she is transitioning from KUOW/NPR to BCC's KBCS station (A World of Music & Ideas) where she will have the opportunity to host live and on-air.

Dylan King
B.A. 2006
King received a promotion to program coordinator for Executive Education at the Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. The new  position has her doing marketing, recruitment, and participant customer service for the Executive MPA, Electronic Hallway, and Cascade (her previous department).

Marisa McQuilken
B.A. 2007
McQuilken works as a reporter for the Legal Times. She recently spent a week on the ground in Afghanistan covering rule of law work.

Kristine Cowen
B.A. 2008
Cowen recently accepted a position at Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Kate Dunsmore
Ph.D. 2008
Dunsmore is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at The College at Florham, Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N. J.