APRIL 2008, vol. 1 issue 2
Geneva Overholser, the award-winning journalist, educator and scholar, will become director of the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication, Dean Ernest J. Wilson III announced last week.
“Geneva Overholser is a visionary leader with unparalleled professional experience whose scholarship and public advocacy are providing a roadmap for the future during this profound period of transformation,” said Wilson. “No one has more effectively articulated the central role of journalism to our democracy and the need for change in both journalism education and the profession. She is the right leader at the right time for our students, faculty and the industry. I am delighted she is coming USC Annenberg.”
“I am thrilled to join a community that I believe is singularly well-situated to lead at this critically important time,” Overholser said. “Ensuring that the essential values of journalism are carried forward into the unsettling but enormously promising new world of media is a challenge that all of us in the craft, the journalism academy and the concerned public share. USC Annenberg is blessed with extraordinary resources, from its setting in Los Angeles, to its exceptional faculty and students, to the innovative leadership of Dean Wilson. I can't wait to begin.”
Overholser currently holds the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting for the Missouri School of Journalism. She was editor of The Des Moines Register from 1988 to 1995. Under her leadership, the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and she earned recognition as Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation and was named “The Best in the Business” by American Journalism Review.
She has been ombudsman of The Washington Post, a New York Times editorial board member, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group, and a reporter for the Colorado Springs Sun. She has been a columnist for the Columbia Journalism Review and frequent contributor to Poynter.org. She spent five years overseas, working and writing in Paris and Kinshasa.
Through the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in 2006 she published a manifesto on the future of journalism, On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change, and is co-editor of the Oxford University Press Institutions of American Democracy volume on The Press with Kathleen Hall Jamieson.
She chairs the board of the Center for Public Integrity. In addition, she serves on the Journalism Advisory Committee of the Knight Foundation and on the boards of the John S. Knight Fellowships at Stanford University, the Committee of Concerned Journalists, the Fund for Independence in Journalism and the Academy of American Poets. She was for nine years a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, the final year as chair, and is a former officer of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Overholser holds a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in history from Wellesley College. She is married to David Westphal, McClatchy Newspapers' Washington editor. Westphal will be joining USC Annenberg as executive in residence beginning Fall 2008. They have three children.
Overholser’s appointment is the culmination of a national search to succeed Michael Parks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Los Angeles Times editor who has led the school since 2001 and will conclude his term as director in June 2008.
Download the press release >>
Read Professor Overholser's biography >>
Watch her inverview with ATVN >>
(click on "New Journalism Director")
The University of Southern California has been honored with one of four inaugural Benjamin Franklin Awards for Public Diplomacy, a prestigious new honor bestowed by the U.S. Department of State.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented the award in a ceremony on April 8 in Washington, D.C.
"
[The Benjamin Franklin Award] is the most prestigious honor that the Department of State can bestow on American citizens who are making outstanding contributions to public diplomacy, both at home and abroad, and it reflects my conviction that the solutions to the challenges of the 21st century will come from all sectors of American society working together," Rice said. "In the area of academic institutions, we recognize the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy for having evolved into the world's premier research facility in this field."
Through a variety of programs and projects, USC is widely recognized for its pioneering leadership and contributions to academic scholarship and professional engagement in the field of public diplomacy. These include the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School and the world's first master's degree program in public diplomacy.
The USC Center on Public Diplomacy was founded in 2003 as a partnership between the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the School of International Relations in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. It has since evolved into the world’s premier research center in public diplomacy, bringing together members of the diplomatic, academic, NGO and corporate communities.
"The USC Center on Public Diplomacy leads our research into the global exchange of ideas and diplomacy," said Adam Clayton Powell III, USC's vice provost for globalization and a Senior Fellow of the Center. "What is now clear is that diplomacy is not just for diplomats: it is for artists and writers, scientists and business executives, educators and students – indeed, for all of civil society."
In 2005, USC launched a graduate-level degree program in public diplomacy, preparing students from around the world for leadership roles in international public service, business and nongovernmental organizations. The first full class of the Master of Public Diplomacy program will graduate this May.
USC is also the only institution in the world to offer an intensive two-week training program specifically for mid-career professionals, providing an immersive environment in which to engage colleagues from across the globe in new research and methods through the Summer Institute in Advanced Public Diplomacy.
"It's a tremendous honor for USC to be recognized as a galvanizing force in a field that has only begun to receive wider attention. A dedicated Center and master's program allows leading and emerging practitioners and scholars to advance an exciting new area of international relations," said Geoffrey Cowan, USC university professor, Annenberg School dean emeritus and founder of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.
Howard Gillman, dean of the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said: "We are delighted to be the first educational organization chosen for the Franklin Award by the Secretary of State. It speaks to the important role that universities play in generating new knowledge on important questions and training the next generation of leaders."
The State Department and USC have partnered on numerous public diplomacy-related projects. The State Department’s Public Diplomat-in-Residence program has been based at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy since 2006. The Center has also provided the State Department with expertise about virtual worlds and the opportunities they provide for intercultural dialogue and public diplomacy.
"As new technologies make information accessible to more people, our nation needs to have a deeper understanding of the contribution that public diplomacy and soft power can make to advance America's interests around the world," said Ernest J. Wilson III, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. "We are honored that USC's leadership in this area is being recognized with the inaugural Benjamin Franklin Award.”
The USC Annenberg School was a founding member of the Edward R. Murrow Journalism Fellows Program, announced by Secretary Rice in 2005. Participating schools host international journalists, encouraging journalistic freedom around the world and promoting deeper understanding of American practices and institutions. In addition, Secretary Rice helped USC commemorate a landmark event in the United States’ public diplomacy efforts – the 50th anniversary of Dizzy Gillespie’s State Department-sponsored world tour in 1956.
According to the State Department, the Benjamin Franklin Award is given for a person or organization’s concrete impact on public diplomacy-related efforts, service to the larger community, development of best practices for adoption by other organizations and long-term engagement with participants and issues.
Watch the award presentation >>
See pictures from the ceremony >>
On March 26, USC Annenberg’s Office of Alumni Affairs launched the first in a series of Food for Thought dinners that bring successful alumni together with students who share common interests. The goal of these dinners is to introduce exceptional students to our alumni, who each host a table of four to eight students at the dinner, and to remind students that they are students today and alumni forever.
Alumni hosts facilitate the conversation at their table, encouraging students to ask questions that will help them learn from the host’s experiences and insights. Prior to the dinner, students who have been selected to attend the dinner receive briefings about their dinner host to help the students prepare pertinent and career-specific questions.
Alumni hosts at the March Food for Thought dinner included Ria Carlson (B.A. Broadcast Journalism & Political Science ’83), chief strategy and communications officer at Ingram Micro, Inc.; Tyler Cavell (M.A. Global Communication ’04), CEO of MediaScrape Inc.; Bob Gold (M.A. Communication Management ’80), principal of Bob Gold & Associates; Susan Hirasuna (B.A. Journalism ’82), anchor and reporter at Fox 11 Los Angeles; Rosemary McClure (M.A. Journalism ’76), assistant travel editor for the Los Angeles Times; and Mark Ordesky (B.A. Print Journalism ’85, executive vice president of production at New Line Cinema.
Dana Priest and Anne Hull of The Washington Post are the 2008 winners of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for their coverage of conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The $35,000 annual prize, presented by USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism, recognizes the year’s outstanding work in investigative journalism that led to direct results. The two were presented with the awards at USC Annenberg, where they also met with students and participated in a symposium on investigative journalism. Shortly after the Selden Ring Award was announced, The Washington Post also won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the Walter Reed series.
The Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting was established at USC Annenberg in 1989 by the late Selden Ring, a Southern California business leader and philanthropist. He funded the award to honor journalists whose investigative reporting informed the public about major problems or corruption in society and yielded concrete results.
This year’s award honors a series of articles that The Washington Post began publishing in February 2007, detailing how the once “crown jewel of military medicine” has been transformed into “a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients” living in poor conditions and struggling in a “messy bureaucratic battlefield nearly as chaotic as the real battlefields they faced overseas.”
“The Washington Post series exposing the outrageous conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is precisely the kind of journalism the Selden Ring award was created to honor and encourage,” wrote the judges when announcing the award. “The reporters wrote what they saw firsthand — horrible, unsanitary conditions for outpatient care. They witnessed uncaring treatment, bureaucracy that ignored human needs. They told this story with great authority and power. Walter Reed, once considered the gold standard for treatment of soldiers, was revealed as badly in need of overhaul. The impact of the series was immediate and sweeping. At a time when the country is still divided on the war in Iraq, all sides agree that our veterans deserve the finest care.”
“If it were not for these two reporters, our veterans would continue to suffer needlessly and unconscionably," said Michael Parks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former editor of the Los Angeles Times who now serves as director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism. “This is exactly what investigative reporting should do. Hold the government accountable to its people.”
In addition to the Post, judges honored two other news organizations for their outstanding work, recognizing them as finalists for the 2008 Selden Ring Award:
-
The New York Times
for "A Toxic Pipeline," an ambitious global investigation that traced the source of toxic chemicals in drugs that killed people in Panama. The series caused the FDA to halt the import of diethylene glycol from China, led to recalls in more than 30 countries and forced China to close a factory.
-
Chicago Tribune
for "Hidden Hazards," which shed a powerful spotlight on problems the Consumer Product Safety Commission failed to uncover, including unsafe car seats as well as toys and cribs that killed children.
The winners were selected from a field of more than 80 nominations. The judges noted that “in a year dominated by newsroom budget cuts, ambitious investigative reporting is alive and well at newspapers of all sizes.”
Chaired by Sharon Rosenhause, managing editor of the Sun-Sentinel, the 2008 Selden Ring Award judges were Dean Baquet, Washington bureau chief, The New York Times; Suki Dardarian, managing editor, News Coverage & Enterprise, The Seattle Times; Martin Kaiser, senior vice president/editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Deborah Nelson, director, Carnegie Seminar, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland; Susan Schmidt, reporter, The Washington Post; Jim Willse, editor, The Star Ledger.
Learn more about the Selden Ring Awards >>
USC ANNENBERG TO ATTEND UNITY CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO; PARENTS AND ALUMNI ARE INVITED TO ANNENBERG RECEPTION
Nearly 10,000 journalists and media executives will attend the UNITY: Journalists of Color '08 Convention in Chicago from July 23 to 27 to discuss timely issues affecting journalism and the media industry. UNITY is a coalition of four journalisms professional associations: the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association. The coalition’s mission is to advocate fair and accurate news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenge the industry to staff its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation's diversity.
USC Annenberg plans a strong presence at this year’s UNITY conference. Alumni who will be attending the UNITY Conference in Chicago in July, along with local area alumni and parents of USC Annenberg students, are invited to meet the school’s journalism faculty and administration. The convention will be held at the McCormick Place West Convention Center.
USC Annenberg’s reception at UNITY is the next event on the school’s Dean on the Road tour. The reception, which will take place on July 24, is co-hosted by the school and the California Endowment. Check the Annenberg website in the weeks ahead for
more information.
UNDERGRAD SHARP INTERVIEWS BILL CLINTON FOR MTVU
Joshua Sharp (B.A. Communication '09) interviewed former President Bill Clinton in New Orleans on March 16. The Daily Trojan reporter and columnist from Corcoran, Calif. was one of four college journalists selected for the debut of mtvU's "College Editorial Board" series. mtvU is an Emmy-winning online network aimed at college students, streamed 24/7 in campus dorms, dining halls and student lounges across the U.S. The four student journalists asked questions about race issues on the '08 campaign trail, drug use in presidential candidates' pasts and the new Clinton Global Initiative University.
The former president
was at times assertive toward the student journalists, particularly when Sharp asked him about his wife's ties to lobbyist money. "Let me finish,” Clinton said during the interview. “I'm going to answer this. But I have a right to answer this."
"You can't let [Obama] posit a choice that doesn't exist," Clinton added, noting that Sen. Obama has unresolved ethics issues of his own.
During the interview, Clinton asserted he isn't a Washington insider: "How anyone can say that I'm a Washington insider when I live in New York and am not in politics anymore?"
The series premiered on the mtvU cable network last month.
After the interview session, Joshua said that "Growing up in Corcoran, I never expected to be on TV – though I've always wanted to question Bill Clinton. It was very humbling to be selected, and I just hope that I represented college journalists well. The professors and staff at USC have been huge in my development, both personal and academic. That's why I want to return to Corcoran and tell students there about the advantages of higher education. Without that exposure, they're selling themselves short."
Joshua is spending the spring semester abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, interning with a Member of the Scottish Parliament. He aspires to be a political speechwriter in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.
Watch the interview >>
KENNETH OWLER SMITH SYMPOSIUM EXPLORES CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Cause-related marketing (CRM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are playing a larger role in corporate PR strategies and non-profit funding. However, with an economic downturn and what some see as growing public suspicion of corporate motives, the field is facing questions of transparency, usefulness to businesses and charities, and relevancy to younger consumers. At the annual Kenneth Owler Smith Symposium, hosted by USC Annenberg and the Public Relations Society of America Los Angeles (PRSA-LA), a panel of practitioners and advisors discussed these and other issues related to the future of CRM and CSR on Feb. 28.
Director of public relations studies Jerry Swerling moderated the panel that included Michael Rouse, Corporate Manager, Philanthropy & Community Affairs, Toyota Motor Sales; Greg Donaldson, National VP, Corporate Communications, American Cancer Society; Maureen Carlson, Principal, Caliber Sales & Marketing; and Ed Chansky, Corporate-Philanthropy Attorney, Levett Rockwood P.C. Issues included not disclosing the portion of funds donated per purchase, campaign promotion spending vs. donation amount, social media’s affect on PR strategies, CRM vs. corporate philanthropy, and the evolution of CRM and CSR strategies.
Panelists advised practitioners to consider the values of the company to see what sorts of charities would be most compatible as well as what customers expect.
“The research shows that consumers want us to be involved in environmental and safety initiatives,” Rouse said. He added that this was a natural fit for Toyota in its business model with its hybrid vehicles and green manufacturing plants as well as a commitment to vehicle safety.
This type of perspective also lends itself to creating integrated CRM and CSR, where internal publics that align themselves with the corporation also will align themselves with the charities it supports. Swerling said that in an era of citizen journalism, the people who you employ will be your biggest advocates in who you support as a company. This will be promoted or disparaged in the new media depending how authentic the company is in its philanthropy.
A question from the audience asked how CRM and CSR will change if the economy enters a recession. Panelists agreed that - if anything - traditional corporate philanthropy would probably suffer and said CSR and CRM will still play an important role.
“I don’t think it’s going to be going away,” Donaldson said. “I think what will change is the types of causes that companies are involved in will change.”
Carlson said the bottom line is that PR people will need to get creative.
USC ANNENBERG STUDY REVEALS GENDER AND RACIAL IMBALANCE IN OSCAR-NOMIATED FILMS
A new study by a USC Annenberg School for Communication research team found there has been no improvement in gender balance in Academy Award-nominated films during the past 30 years in the “Best Picture” category. The data show there are almost three speaking males for every one female, and more than four white speaking characters for every one non-white character. The researchers separated the sample into three blocks of time by release date (1977-1986, 1987-1996, 1997-2006). No meaningful difference emerged in the percentage of single-speaking females over time.
“Unfortunately, females are grossly underrepresented in these prestigious films,” said Stacy Smith, USC Annenberg communication professor and principal researcher. “The gender-imbalance findings are a microcosm of a much bigger representational phenomenon in American film and television.”
“I am aware of this 30-year stalemate,” said Susan Thorne, vice chair of the Screen Actors Guild Women’s Committee. “The question is, ‘what are we going to do about it?’” She said the answer to that question could be another women’s movement: “We have to do it again. They didn’t get it.”
The findings coincide with broader research unveiled at a January conference sponsored by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and the Media that showed fewer than 28 percent of speaking characters in G-rated films from 1990-2006 are female; females were more than five times likely than males to be shown in sexually revealing clothing in the top 400 movies from 1990-2006 (rated G, PG, PG-13, R); appearance is heavily focused upon when a female does play a lead role in G-rated films; and looking at over 1,000 television shows created for children, male characters occur roughly twice as often as females.
"While everyone agrees that media representation is social power, and that relative invisibility contributes to social inequality, it is vitally important to back up such arguments with hard data,” said noted scholar and USC Annenberg communication school director Larry Gross. “Only when provided with the unambiguous results of rigorous research can advocates for media equity move the debate beyond empty rhetoric. This study represents the sort of impact that communication scholarship can have on issues of long term social importance."
Smith also researched the relationship between off-camera and on-camera gender. Only the presence of a female director had any impact on gender roles. With a female director, the amount of female speaking characters jumped from 27 percent to 41 percent.
“Though the number of women directors in this sample of films was very small, these few women seem to be powerful players in the representation of females shown in film,” she said
View the results of the study >>
KAFAI LINKS ONLINE GAME CHEATING TO REAL WORLD CHEATING
Visiting scholar Yasmin Kafai spoke to USC Annenberg students in a discussion entitled "Pathways Into Participation: Cheating Practices and Designs for Learning in Virtual Worlds." She presented the world of cheat sites and cheating practices and their impact in both the scientific gaming world and in academe. The talk, part of the Annenberg Program for Online Communities Speaker Series, was a special presentation of the USC Annenberg Research Seminar Series.
Kafai’s presentation centered on the online science game community, which currently attracts millions of players with many different identities, and she also addressed the broader topic of cheating and how it is often enabled in the rarified world of online game sites such as Whyville.
Kafai addressed the attitudes toward cheating in the academic forum. Speaking of multiple choice and other standardized tests currently being administered to students, Kafai said that cheating has become rampant.
“The thing with these tests is that it is so easy to cheat,” she said, adding that the comfort level of the “virtual public” in these arenas has made it possible for young internet users to pop in and out of a given site with ease – and a relative lack of accountability. “I can assure you that for kids in these virtual worlds things merge rather seamlessly,” she added.
The web site Whyville is a cheat site that boasts several features familiar to gamers: avatars, or personally identifiable icons for online gaming and blogging, and articles designed with the science gamer in mind.
“The particular community I belong to has over 3,000 cheat sites created by students,” she said. “I think it gives [students] a different approach in thinking about several games, what is difficult, how to explain it…it kind of allows you to become engaged.”
Returning to the issue of gaming and cheating, she said that the dichotomy between the two worlds is clear. “Cheating in gaming is an acceptable practice whereas in schools it is not okay,” she said.
CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLPOMACY LAUNCHES ELECTION BLOG
The USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the USC Annenberg School and the New York-based Foreign Policy Association have announced the launch of a collaborative blog on Public Diplomacy and the U.S. Presidential Elections. The blog will collect and analyze statements by U.S. presidential candidates on world opinion, and world opinion on the U.S. elections. Its aim is to help readers understand how the candidates and their policies are viewed by the world’s publics and how the candidates are communicating – or planning to – with the world.
"It is clear that the next U.S. president will face a daunting challenge carving out a new foreign policy agenda and engaging world opinion," said Geoffrey Wiseman, acting director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. "This important blog will provide a unique public diplomacy service, demonstrating that many Americans are themselves listening to, and engaging with, international publics."
"The current U.S. Presidential race has sparked an unprecedented interest around the world,” said Noel Lateef, President and CEO of the New York-based Foreign Policy Association. “I am delighted that FPA and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy are entering into an important joint venture to showcase global opinion in the blogosphere.”
Public Diplomacy and the U.S. Presidential Elections will identify and collect in one place Web-based commentary and analysis of the public diplomacy dimension of the U.S. Presidential elections. Included will be statements by the candidates and their advisors concerning U.S. public diplomacy, statements by them directed at foreign audiences, as well as foreign opinion on the U.S. elections and candidates. Comments and observations from prominent international non-governmental organizations will also be included. Naturally, comments by readers are welcome and encouraged.
Contributors to the blog include Desa Philadelphia, a former journalist for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Time Magazine and CNN; former Senior Foreign Service Officer Mark Dillen of Dillen Communications LLC; and Melinda Brouwer of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
Read the blog >>
KENNETH TURAN WINS 2008 COLUMBIA JOURNALISM ALUMNI AWARD
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism presented USC Annenberg adjunct journalism professor Kenneth Turan their 2008 Alumni Award. These awards are given annually to graduate School of Journalism alumni for a distinguished journalism career in any medium, for an outstanding single accomplishment in journalism, for notable contributions to journalism education, or for achievement in related fields. Awardees are selected by members of the school’s Alumni Association. USC Annenberg Journalism professor and alumnus Joe Saltzman (B.A. Journalism ’61) received the award in 2005.
Turan is the film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's "Morning Edition," as well as the director of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. He has been a staff writer for The Washington Post and TV Guide, and served as the Times' book review editor. He is the co-author of "Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke." He teaches film reviewing and non-fiction writing at USC Annenberg and is on the board of directors of the National Yiddish Book Center. His most recent books are: "Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made" and "Never Coming to a Theater Near You."
Steve Kroft
, a correspondent with 60 Minutes, presented the awards on April 4 at Columbia University.
Read the press release >>
RECENT ALUMNA GARDNER'S NEW BOOK DELVES INTO ADVERTISING TARGETED AT WOMEN
USC alumna Andrea Gardner-Bernstein (M.A. Print Journalism '04) explores the ways advertising targets women in a new book titled "30 Second Seduction: Advertisers' Changing Tactics and the Women Who Fall for Them."
Read more >>
DANIEL CERONE NAMED DIRTY SEXY MONEY SHOWRUNNER
Daniel Cerone (M.A. Public Relations '89) is executive producer/showrunner for the next season of the ABC television show Dirty Sexy Money. He previously was producer/showrunner on the Showtime drama series Dexter. He also created and executive produced the CBS drama Clubhouse.
Read more >>
DAVID TAPPED AS CBS CORRESPONDENT
Priya David (M.A. Broadcast Journalism '03) has accepted a job as a CBS news correspondent based in New York. She will report for The Early Show and the CBS Evening News weekend editions.
Read more >>
Herb Klein (B.A. Journalism ’40) launched The Herb Klein Legacy Foundation for excellence in public policy programs, in conjunction with his 90th birthday on April 1.
Bruce Furniss (B.A. Journalism ’79) was featured in “Furniss Brothers,” an article posted on usaswimming.org.
Bob Gold's (M.A. Communication Management ’80) multi-service public relations agency has joined the United Nations Global Compact to support international corporate responsibility. The agency has also joined the Whiteoaks International Network as a managing partner and WIN’s sole North American affiliate agency.
Deanna Brown (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’86) was named president of Scripps Networks’ Interactive Group in April ’07, with responsibility for the company’s portfolio of Web sites, including the HGTV.com and FoodNetwork.com. She previously was general manager of Yahoo! Media Group’s Lifestyles business unit, and vice president/general manager of AOL’s Life Management division.
Guy Gruppie (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’88) was elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) by the organization's national board.
Vickie Lins (M.A. Communication Management ’90) has been named senior vice president of marketing and communications for Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable. She previously served as vice president of marketing and communication at Adlink in Los Angeles. Vickie has frequently been cited as a “Woman to Watch” in the cable industry, according to a press release from Comcast Spotlight.
Virgil Labrador (M.A. Communications Management ’92) has been appointed editor-in-chief of Satellite Markets and Research, a free online service that offers news analysis, industry forecasts and market intelligence covering key trends on the global satellite communications market. He is also editor-in-chief of the monthly e-newsletter, Satellite Executive Briefing, and author of "The Satellite Technology Guide for the 21st Century" (Synthesis Publications, 2008).
Zack Smith (B.A. Public Relations ’94) is the founder/owner of [zspr], a freelance sports PR agency in Portland, Ore. His clients include Callaway Golf, Wilson Sporting Goods and Nautilus.
Michael Mayne (B.A. Communication ’98) is currently the director of development, alumni and constituent relations at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He married Heidi Asimus on March 1.
Nicole Ellison (Ph.D. Communication Theory & Research ’99) gave a presentation last month as part of USC Annenberg’s Online Communities Speaker Series in which she discussed research on the impact that Facebook, MySpace and other online communities have had on Michigan State University’s undergraduates.
Erin Gillooly (B.A. Public Relations and Communication ’02) has joined Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial Marketing and Business Development group as public relations manager. She will be responsible for PR strategy, planning and program execution. Erin is engaged to Daniel Collar (B.A. Communication ’02). They plan to marry on June 8 in San Diego.
Mark Van Lommel (B.A. Communication ’02) was recently promoted to account supervisor at Edelman in Seattle, where he helps manage the Microsoft Xbox 360 PR team.
Atish Baidya (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’03) accepted a new position at WCHS-TV8 in Charleston, West Virginia.
Kaustuv Basu (M.A. Print Journalism ’03) recently married Rebecca Paige Adamus.
Anna Rawson (B.A. Communication ’04) is a professional golfer and model who recently ended the Final Round of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Qualifying Tournament by earning a conditional LPGA card. Golf Weekly named Anna the “Most Popular Golfer on the Ladies European Tour.”
In Memoriam
Joseph Lyou (B.A. Journalism ’49) passed away on March 20, 2008, in Santa Paula. Born on Nov. 28, 1919 in Los Angeles, he was among the first Korean-Americans born in the United States. Joe graduated from USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism in 1949, after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Back at home, he worked as a sports reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Mirror, managing editor of the California Bowling News, and publisher of the Pacific Bowler. Joe wrote about bowlers and bowling for more than 50 years, often in his column, Tenpin Slants. He received the Bowling Writers Association of America's highest honor, the Mort Luby Sr. Memorial Award, and is a member of the Southern California Bowling Hall of Fame. He is survived by his sister Anna, daughter Tracy, son Joseph Keith and five grandchildren. Memorial donations may be sent to Blanchard Community Library, where Joe enjoyed tutoring for the adult literacy program: 119 N. Eighth St., Santa Paula, CA 93060, or 805-525-4571. At his request no funeral services were conducted. His ashes have been scattered at sea.