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Mass Media Messenger

2010

are interested in this field and want to pursue a career. So finally, we are able to offer it as one of our emphases. Our new professor, Dr. Park will soon be teaching classes in this area.

Our emphases in public rela-tions and advertising will remain, but some of the classes will change as we increase our offerings. The advertising emphasis will no longer require classes in marketing and finance, but will em-phasize the creative side of advertising.

This is an exciting time to be in media. Will print newspapers disap-pear or become something different? Will social media take over traditional media, so we receive our news updates by tweet or Facebook? Will our movies and television programs all be offered in 3D? Things are changing so rapidly, we have no idea where we will be in 10 years. But we have the greatest faculty in the world and the greatest students in the world, so we are poised to meet whatever challenges the next decade throws at us!

We have the greatest faculty in the world, and the greatest students in the world, so we are poised to meet whatever challenges the next decade throws at us.

Kathy Menzie

by Kathy Menzie

Letter from the ChairLetter from the Chair

Photo by Mike Goehring

2 Mass Media Messenger

What a great year this has been for the Mass Media Department. Frank Chorba was honored by his home-town, Maria Stover published several articles and is starting on a book, the Washburn Review Online has been nominated for a National Pacemaker award, Charles Cranston is writing and directing a short film and some com-mitted and enterprising students have started a new media club.

The sad news though, is our sec-retary, Ginny Falk, who has been here since 1995, will be retiring this sum-mer. We will greatly miss her knowl-edge and her friendly smile. Ginny remembers so many students and where they are from. It will be difficult to let her go, but we know she will love spending more time with her grand-daughters!

We have also hired a new person, JaeYoon Park. Dr. Park comes to us with a Ph.D. in Media and Film Stud-ies from Kansas University. She will begin teaching in the fall and will be bringing to the department a wonder-ful background in filmmaking and film studies.

That brings us to our greatest accomplish-ment this year—the new curriculum. We’ve been working on this for nearly four years, so we are thrilled to have com-pleted our plan for new class-es. It will take about a year for the changes to wend their way though university committees, including the Washburn Board of Re-gents, so it will probably be Fall 2011 before the changes take effect.

So what are we changing? We’re revamping our emphases and el-evating the department to a whole new level. And starting in the Fall 2010, students will begin to see some changes and course additions.

Instead of the previous emphases in electronic media and media writ-ing and publishing, we are combining

the two into contemporary journalism. Students will learn how to write and tell stories that will be in print, in broadcast and on the Web. This will give students a broader back-ground and allow them to be more mar-ketable in this rapidly chang-ing field.

We are adding a new emphasis in film and video. We are very excited about the possibilities this opens for us. We have long had students who

4 Mass Media Madness6 Transitioning to a new age7 News in brief 8 Menzie takes lead 9 Saying goodbye 10 Student media organizations11 Ichabods support local AWC12 Professor’s work pays off

14 Climbing the ladder in K.C.15 Reaching beyond “Marshall Arts”

16 Writing across departments

18 Non-profits an option for grads17 Mike Merriam

19 Graduates weigh benefits20 Class notes 22 Mass media graduates

Contents

23 Contributors

13 Our Hungarian hero

by Ben Fitch

The game-show-themed mass media banquet, “Mass Media Mad-ness,” truly was madness this year. The students of the public relations cam-paigns class sold 144 tickets—breaking last year’s record by 31 tickets. Kathy Menzie, department interim chair, said ticket sales were the first way to gauge success.

“It certainly was a resound-ing response,” she said. “We haven’t always had that.”

Menzie said the students in this year’s campaigns class took a while to come up with the theme for the banquet, but everything else went well.

“The whole banquet was good,” she said. “The invitation was good, the program was good. And the banquet itself moved along a little quicker than previous years.”

“It took a long time to get this group to form an idea, but once we did, everybody really was on the same page,”

Menzie said. The 24 students in the class put

together fliers, invitations and tickets, then organized the catering and coordi-nated with the speaker, Jeff Jacobsen, to put on the entire banquet. As guests ate, they listened as the hosts, Daniel Shute and Julie Jacobsen, picked raffle

tickets for prizes. The speaker, who is a

Washburn alumnus, spoke and showed examples of his work at Kansas University as a sports photographer. Also there were two videos of student presentations that demonstrated the ac-complishments of student publications and films.

Banquet ticket sales boast record high

Mass Media

Jordan Shefte, senior, receives a scholarship from Maria Stover. Many majors received scholarships the night of the banquet. Faculty mem-bers Maria Stover, Frank Chorba, Regina Cassell and Phil Grecian helped hand out the awards.


Every single class is different. Some classes vary in how they approach the event, or how the committees work together.

Kathy Menzie, Mass Media chair


The banquet’s main purpose is to present mass media graduates, schol-arship winners and to initiate new members into the Society of Collegiate Journalists. These initiates recited the pledge—a promise to hold to ethical journalistic practices. Then the out-standing students were announced.

“It’s always exciting to announce the outstanding students,” Menzie said. “Sometimes it’s hard to pick, and usu-ally we don’t fight about it. But that’s a fun part because it’s a surprise.”

Every year, the Mass Media Ban-quet is put on with a slim budget. “The whole department has not a whole lot of money for supplies, and the banquet fits into that category,” Menzie said. “It would be nice if we could raise some more money. There is only $100 in next year’s banquet account. We didn’t actu-ally make any profit.”

Overall, the night was a success, even in the face of such a small budget. But there were some ideas that will not be used again next year, such as the

glitter, which was spread over the tables and in the program envelopes.

The Memorial Union charged a $50 fee for the glitter clean-up. In addi-tion, Chartwells charged a $250 ser-vice charge based off of the number of tickets sold.

So glitter is out for next year, but there are elements that will continue on.

“The banquet will still be around,” Menzie said. “Every single class is dif-ferent. Some classes vary in how they approach the event, or how the commit-

MadnessScholarship winners and out-standing students: This year’s scholarship winners, left, were, Kate Hampson, Jordan Shefte, Mikki Burcher, Josh Rouse, Brooke Rollison, Ashley Na-deau, Lauren Eckert, Regina Budden and Nicole Stejskal (clockwise).

Below, the outstanding stu-dents are captured in a sponta-neously taken photo. They are, from left, Kate Hampson, Ashley Shepard, Josh King and Nicole Stejskal.

All students were recognized for their outstanding perfor-mance. Kathleen Menzie said picking the students for out-standing recognition was not an easy task, but the recipients were well-deserving.

Mass Media Messenger 5

Photos by Mike Goehring

Kathy Menzie, chair of the mass media department welcomes everyone to the Spring 2010 mass media banquet.


Transitioning to a new ageJust as the seasons change from

spring to summer to fall, so too does the mass media department to stay one step ahead of technological changes.

Starting in the fall of 2010, the mass media department will begin transition-ing to a new curriculum in an attempt to prepare students for where the industry is moving. There will be alterations in the emphases available to students, and classes will be adjusted to focuses more on what students will need when they graduate.

“We’re changing our approach to everything,” said Kathy Menzie, interim chair of the department. “We’re trying to keep in line with the jobs that are available to students.”

One of the challenges occurring is in the emphases available to students. The new curriculum will consist of four emphases, including public relations, advertising, contemporary journalism, and film and video.

The biggest change occurring within the curriculum is the addition of a new emphasis, the film and video emphasis. Students in this program will learn how to tell a story through video and then how to produce a finished project, said Menzie.

The journalism program, currently called media writing and publishing, will be changing names. After the curriculum change, it will be called contemporary journalism, and will be a combination of the current media writing and publishing program and the electronic media programs. The pro-gram will cover all aspects of journal-ism, including photography and video production, and will have a great focus on Web journalism.

“We have always had a traditional [journalism] program,” said Menzie, “but this area has changed drastically.”

Public relations will remain similar to what it is now, with the addition of a few new classes. This is because the skills needed now are the same as the skills needed in the past to practice PR, but the avenues of communication have changed. Instead of writing hundreds of press releases, PR practitioners now need to be aware of social media and how to best utilize tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

“The industry has not changed, but it has changed completely,” said Menzie.

The same logic holds

true for advertising. Classes will be added and renamed, but the basic struc-ture of the program will remain similar to what it is now. The department is hoping to draw in more industry profes-sionals to teach as adjunct professors, said Menzie.

Although there are going to be many changes made within the next few years within the mass media depart-ment, Menzie said that current students shouldn’t worry that there will be extra burdens as a result of the changes. Cur-rent students will be fine as long as they are on track to graduating, but advis-ing will be vitally important during the transition to the new curriculum, said Menzie.

by Mikki Burcher


New EmphasesCreative Advertising

Contemporary JournalismPublic RelationsFIlm and Video

Current EmphasesAdvertising

Electronic MediaMedia Writing & Publishing

Electronic Media

Kathy Menzie

We have always had a traditional [journalism] program, but this area has changed drastically.

New Core Classes for MajorsMM100: Intro to Mass MediaMM200: Media BootcampMM290: Media LiteracyMM300: Media LawMM 413: Advanced Media Lab

Washburn had more than its fair share of snow during the 2009-10 school year. Bill Glatts, director of facility services, said Washburn spent more than $80,000 on labor, materials and equipment to keep the grounds safe during winter.

Not only are facility services responsible for the 16 miles of sidewalks, but crews also must make sure all 3,214 parking spaces on campus are clear.

Mike Jauken, a facility ser-vices worker, said the safety of the students, faculty and staff is the most important thing when it comes to winter weather.

Jauken hopes that next win-ter won’t be as harsh.

JJ Keki, the leader of a 1,000-member Jewish community, is a Black African Jew living in a country that only sanctions Islam and Christi-anity. He came to Washburn as part of the Diversity Matters Series and spoke about his unique story.

Keki is the leader of the Abayu-daya Jewish community in Uganda. A rural religious minority of farmers, the Abayudaya survived persecution by living in self-imposed isolation. They maintained their Hebrew tradi-tions in total isolation until the 1960s and 1970s when they reached out and

In the age of live now, live fast and live free, one man made a point of show-ing Washburn University the consequences.

Morgan Spurlock is a comedian and director of the landmark 2004 film “Super Size Me,” which is a social experi-ment documen-tary on the excesses of the fast food culture that Americans live in today.

In the film Spurlock forced himself to eat at McDonalds for 30 days as he documented the effects of a fast-food lifestyle on his health and ability to function in daily life.

Garrett Love, presi-dent of Wash-burn Student Government Associa-tion, said the lecture was important because it helped stu-dents become more aware of major health issues that Americans are dealing with.

Spurlock is working on his new film production label, which will allow him to distribute his own brand

of films under the title of “Morgan Spurlock Presents,” which will feature non-fiction films released in theaters, on television or DVD.

News in BriefWashburn sees tons of snow

Jewish leader emphasizes diversity

Spurlock speaks against fast foodby Kristen Grimmer

established contact with Israel.Keki helped lead an interfaith

community out of poverty and is a founder and director of the Delicious Peace interfaith coffee cooperative. The co-op has a Jewish president, a Christian vice-president, and Mus-lim treasurer. Students attending the lecture learned about how efforts to bring peace to the world exist as far away as Uganda. This program was part of a Kulanu speaking tour to raise funds for two Abayudaya schools that educate and feed 700 Jewish, Chris-tian and Muslim children.

Matt Wilper, left, went to Morgan Spurlock’s presentation. Spurlock came to Washburn in December 2009.

Photo and right photo courtesy of student publications

Photo courtesy of Joanne Altman


Saying goodbyeEvery morning, Ginny Falk, the

Mass Media Department secretary, arrives at her desk at 8 a.m. to begin her day.

“I answer the phone, I answer a lot of questions from students,” Falk said. “Entering schedules—I’ve already done the fall semester. I type a lot of corre-spondence and establish student files.”

Falk said her job description might not be exactly current, but the human resources department is now updating it—the first time since 1995 when Falk began working for Washburn.

Falk was born in Horton, Kan., which now is home to approximately 2,000 people. Falk came to Topeka in 1964 to work for the highway patrol.

She worked for many organiza-

tions including the Kansas Depart-ment of Wildlife and Parks and Savings and Loan. Eventually, Falk made her way to The Menninger Clinic, a local psychiatric center where she worked as a clinical secretary and receptionist. When Menninger down-sized, Falk decid-ed to find another job.

And that job was at Washburn. At the time, Dale Anderson was the interim chair of the Mass Media Department. Falk said she was interested by the emphases offered by the mass media program, and that

she enjoys working with students.

“A majority of them are polite,” she said. “Occasionally you will get a student who is trying to get some-where, and they are in a hurry. I get a lot of requests from students who want to staple their papers.”

Falk said she also likes the faculty in the department—Kathy Menzie, the chair, and the others, who she said are easy to work for. But the job is not easy.

“I have trouble keeping track of the number of majors be-cause it’s always chang-ing,” said Falk.

Outside of work, Falk has many hobbies.

“I like to cross-stitch, cook, bake and

by Benjamin Fitch


Ginny Falk has been part of the Mass Media department for 15 years. She will be retiring June 30, 2010.


garden when the weather is good. I tried that last summer,” she said.

Her husband was the real garden-er, she said. He passed away in No-vember 2008 from cancer. They had been married since July 2, 1966. But she still likes to plant flowers in her

garden—roses, can-nas, daf-fodils and dahlias. She also enjoys playing Bunko with her friends. In addition, Falk goes

to an exercise class twice a week—an aqua exercise class that she has at-tended for 13 years. And her dog, Brownie, a 6-year-old dachshund, likes to play fetch.

Falk will be retiring at the end of the spring semester. She has a variety of plans for her time when it is not consumed by her work at Washburn.

Falk said she would like to deliver Meals on Wheels, volunteer at Let’s Help and the office at her church—Faith Lutheran at 17th and Gage.

“My church has given to me since ’66,” she said, “I would like to give back to them. They gave a lot of time when my husband was ill.”

Falk’s two sons, Darren and Kevin, are Kansas State University graduates, and Kevin got his master’s at Emporia State University. Darren is presently taking classes at Washburn.

In terms of where Falk will end up, she said she thinks right here is a good spot.

“I’ve never had the desire to live anywhere else because family was here,” Falk said.

She can finally take it easy!

“My church has given to me since ‘66. I would like to give back to them.”

Ginny Falk

Ginny Falk to leave Washburn

Ginny Falk to leave Washburn

with her teaching skill and care for students ever since.

“It has been my honor to call Dr. Menzie my department chair for the last year and I hope that future students will have the chance to do the same,” said King.

Last summer, Gordon McQuere, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, met with members of the faculty, who agreed that Menzie would be the best choice as interim chair.

After a succesful year, the faculty recommended to the dean that the job become permanent.

Menzie took over for Barbara Desanto, who took a job at a university in St. Louis, Mo., in July of 2009. Previously, Bruce Mactavish, associate deal of the college of Arts and Sciences, served as interim chair for two years, replacing longtime chair, Thimios Zaharopoulos in 2005.

Menzie takes leadThere is a wizard in the Washburn

University mass media department. Her new job as department chair requires a magical touch and she probably needs one to accomplish what she needs to do.

Kathy Menzie, this wizard of student advising, academic communication and departmental head duties is working diligently to create a stable environment to learn about the media at Washburn. Menzie’s new administrative tasks fill her schedule, making her busier than she has been in the past. She said that she is in her office more as students flounder, file and fly in and out.

In the beginning, Glenda Taylor, chair of the art department and Menzie’s appointed mentor, helped give advice, negotiate chair responsibilites and answer questions, but Menzie has been flying solo for most of the year.

Menzie is planning ahead to the coming semesters and looks forward to an updated curriculum, specialty classes and, of course, graduation for students in the department.

Maria Stover, a professor in the department who has been teaching for seven years, has seen four chairs during this time. Revising the curriculum is a big enough task but multiple chairs has increased the difficulty.

“I think Dr. Menzie transitioned successfully into her new role as a chair of the mass media department,” said Stover. “Overall, I must say, we’ve had a very productive year - we not only managed to hire a new faculty member, but we also finalized our new curriculum. This fall we are even starting to offer some of the new courses. This is an exciting time for the department.”

Students have been longtime fans of Menzie’s teaching style. Senior Josh King remembers his first class with Menzie and he has been impressed

by James Ahrens


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After serving a year as interim chair of the mass media department, Kathy Menzie has received the official title of chair. She has been with Washburn since fall of 1998.

Photo by Mikki Burcher

Washburn to have the upper hand with job opportunities.”

The club just finished an intercept survey for a local advertising firm, Jones-Huyett Partners, and is in the process of planning a series of work-shops to help students in transitioning into the professional phase of their lives.

“When school starts back up, we will try to get more student

involvement in the club and we will re-elect new

officers, not only to get

active members, but to give people the chance to try new positions,” said president Jeff Dailey.

The Ad Club is an opportunity for students to begin assimilating into the professional job market.

year under the direction of its new president, Rob Peters, a sophomore with an electronic media emphasis.

Plans for next year include boosting wsfva.weebly.com, the

website, assisting with student videos and starting a Wash-

burn film festival that will be open to all university students in the country.

“I don’t want it just to be for those who are inter-

ested in video filming and video editing,” said Peters.

His goal is to include members who are interested in all areas of production, from people who are inter-

ested in promotion and distribution to actors and set-designers.

“I want it to be useful for network-ing,” he said.

Cranston said, while networking cannot be the main objective, he is still looking forward to next year’s group.

“Not only are they going to bring people in, but hopefully they’ll be able to initiate some projects,” he said.

Both Cranston and Peters said they hope the film festival will be ready by next spring, and all majors will find something in it to interest them, regardless of emphasis.

“This should be something that all mass media students can get involved in,” said Cranston.

by Regina Budden

The Washburn Student Film and Video Association had a rocky start, but as it ends its second year of exis-tence, the future looks bright for this media organization.

In the first year of the WSFVA, Charles Cran-ston, the organization’s faculty adviser, said most of the group’s energy went toward building awareness and fundraising.

This year, interest waned af-ter many of the core members gradu-ated or found other interests. How-ever, the group has big plans for next

WSFVA anticipates transition from good to great

The Washburn Review Online was nominated for a Pacemaker award.

The Review Online is in the top 2 percent of college newspaper websites and one of 20 finalists in the category of schools with less than 10,000 stu-dents.

“Our site compares with schools that have three or four times our en-rollment,” said Kevin Mitchell, online editor-in-chief.

This award is based on design, ease of navigation, writing and editing, and graphics and interactivity.

A new site was launched by the online staff in the fall semester, which was headed by Valerie Caviglia, then editor-in-chief.

“The goal was to make a better functioning website with more depth,” said Mitchell.

The winner of the Pacemaker will be announced at the Associated Col-legiate Press Convention this fall.

Review Onlinenominated for Pacemaker by Erika Lucero

The Washburn Advertising Club is one of the newest clubs at Washburn. Since the beginning of the semester, it has grown from four core members to more than 50 members, including students from various departments.

This year the club held a panel discussion that brought in representa-tives from local employ-ers such as M.B. Piland, Jones-Huyett Partners, Gizmo Productions, WIBW, KTWU and the Kansas State Communica-tions Department.

“A big part of what we are doing is networking,” said Justin Gutierrez, vice president, “By bringing in local professionals to interact and meet with the students, we hope to place [students] on the radar of potential employers. We want the students of

Ad Club brings professionals to Washburn, helps students network, prepare for careers


by Ben Fitch

Student media organizations

junior Regina Budden. The Headliner Awards also served as a fundraiser for the group, and almost 100 people were in attendance this year.

“This was the most successful fundraiser the chapter has had in sev-

eral years,” Napier said. “The To-peka chapter is looking forward to watching this event grow in the future.”

Wash-burn profes-sor Regina Cassell has

been a member of the Topeka AWC for several years and serves as the student liaison for the organization.

“In the past, this group was great for a decent lunch and some conversa-tion, along with a short program,” Cas-sell said. “I am so proud of the mem-bers who have pushed this organization to bigger things; most of whom, I will brag, have been both my students and graduates of the mass media depart-ment.”

One of the benefits of being a mem-ber of the AWC is the local job bank that is accessible to members only.

“One of the main reasons I joined AWC was for the job bank. After apply-ing to several and finally earning the one I have today has really pushed me to become more involved,” said Aman-da Schuster, who is president-elect of the AWC and a mass media graduate of Washburn University.

I am proud of the members who have pushed this organization to bigger things.

Regina Cassell


While the Topeka Chapter of the Association of Women in Communica-tions is not just for Washburn gradu-ates, at least four of the last five presi-dents of the organization are Ichabods.

“It shows that graduates of Wash-burn are committed to the community and getting to know others in the com-munity and this organization provides a way for others to do that,” said Mary Napier, a 2004 mass media graduate and former president of the AWC.

The last few years have seen the AWC add many new events because representatives of the Topeka chapter have attended the national conference and found new ideas from other groups.

One of the first new gatherings the organization put together besides the normal lunch meetings was evening networking at places like the Rowhouse and Hazel Hill Chocolates.

“Not everyone can make it to the lunch meetings, so we started having a networking event in the evening,” Napier said.

After that, members held a mem-bership drive, which expanded the ranks.

In the last two years, they have added a community investment project, where a group of members donate their expertise to a deserving charity within the community.

In addition, this past spring, the AWC held its first commu-nity headliners award banquet.

The cer-emony honored three women who have contributed to a non-profit organization, a for-profit organization and a media outlet in the past year. They also announced the winner of their scholarship, which was Washburn

by Rachel Whitten

Junior Regina Budden received a Topeka Association for Women in Communication scholarship and honorary membership from Jamie (Kennedy) Hornbaker, Topeka AWC president and Washburn mass media alumna.

Photo courtesy of Mary (Hammel) Napier

Ichabods support local AWC Ichabods support local AWC

After taking time to do research on reality television in her native home-land of Bulgaria, Maria Raicheva-Stover has finally completed a chapter called, “You’ll See, You’ll Watch: The Suc-cess of Big Brother in Post-Communist Bulgaria.”

Over her winter break in 2005, Raicheva-Stover went to visit her family in Bulgaria. While she was there, she started to notice that reality television had become a big deal, and she could

see her family members, especially her mother, were becoming fans of the hit reality show Big Brother. Raicheva-Stover knew that reality television had already caught people’s attention in western nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Aus-tralia. Now she observed it gaining popularity in east-ern countries of Europe. Big Broth-er was the most watched show in the country at the time, according to Raicheva-Stover.

“Two-point-one million viewers were glued to the T.V.,” she said. This intrigued her, and she researched Big Brother to contribute what she learned to a book on reality T.V., “Reality Television: Merging the Global and the Local.”

Raicheva-Stover was also busy working on a second book chapter. After taking time to work with her colleague Elza Ibroscheva in researching the topic of mentoring woman in academia, she completed a chapter called, “The Key to Success: Alternative Approaches to Mentoring Academic Women,” in the book titled, “Women in Higher Educa-tion: The Fight for Equity.”

Raicheva-Stover explained that the chapter was an update on how women were doing in academia, specifically women professors’ statuses.

“It was fascinating, I learned so much,” said Raicheva-Stover. For in-stance, she learned that women are not equally represented, as there are fewer women professors in certain fields such as the natural sciences. Also, in gen-eral, there are fewer female professors than male professors. This indicates to Raicheva-Stover that a lot needs to be done with equality.

A large part of this chapter was a case study. It took Raicheva-Stover 1.5 years to study this qualitative exami-nation. She and Ibroscheva examined mentoring women who had just gradu-ated and were early in their careers with 4- to 5-year tenures.

“Mentoring is consistently identified as one of the factors that helps woman succeed in career advancement,” Raicheva-Stover said.

However, her research led Raicheva-Stover to the conclusion that traditional approaches to mentoring women might not work.

“We need to find alternative ap-proaches to mentoring,” Raicheva-Stover said.

Some of the approaches Raicheva-Stover mentions in the chapter are hav-ing multiple mentors, peer mentoring (where women mentor other women) and virtual mentoring (where women can use existing networks for advice). Throughout the chapter, Raicheva-Stover tells the readers about her own experiences, which helps the reader connect with the author and get a better understanding of mentoring women in academia.

After the hard task of preparing, re-searching and writing the two chapters, the work is winding down as “Reality Television: Merging the Global and the Local” was printed earlier this year and “Women in Higher Education: The Fight for Equity” is currently in press.

Professor Maria Raicheva-Stover has put together two book chapters in the last few years. One has already been published this year, the other is in press.

It was fascinating, I learned so much.

Maria Raicheva-Stover

by Erika Lucero

Years of research reaches fruition



“You’ll See, You’ll Watch”

“The Key to Success”

Professor’s work pays off

Follansbee?

Chorba reaches 25 (years of teaching)by Paige Ross

Professor Frank Chorba has served as a Washburn faculty member for 25 years. Last summer he was recognized for his achieve-ment by Washburn and his hometown.

Our Hungarian Hero



There is more behind the name of Frank Chorba than sports and technol-ogy. This Washburn mass media profes-sor received an award for his 25 years of teaching service, but there were even more awards to be won as he ventured back to his hometown last summer.

As Chorba made his way to Follans-bee, W. Va., as he does every summer, he thought about the memories made there when he was a child.

Follansbee was founded by the Fol-lansbee brothers, who owned their own steel mills. The steel mills provided tre-mendous employment to the citizens of Follansbee, and Chorba himself worked when he was old enough. When Chorba lived in Follansbee, the population was about 4,500 people. Today, due to the decline in the popularity of steel mills, the population is around 3,000 people.

“There were hills, valleys, train tracks and caves,” said Chorba. “I would carry a stick in one hand and pick black-berries with the other. My mother made wonderful, big blackberry pies,” he said.

His mother made many delicious pies, including apple, because Chorba would roam and find the most “crisp, magnificent apples” for her to bake with.

The house he grew up in had 21 rooms. His father bought the place from his grandfather and rented it out to people who needed a place to stay. Lou Holtz, who later became a very famous football coach at Notre Dame Univer-sity, stayed in Chorba’s home in 1936.

Chorba’s parents, who were Hun-garian, taught him to speak in his native language, but he learned Italian and Slovak from his neighbors, who would often speak to him in those languages. He started learning English in kinder-

garten. Now, he can still speak some Slovak and his native Hungarian.

“When I go to Hungary to see relatives, they tease me because of my old-fashioned version of the language,” said Chorba.

In Follansbee, Chorba and his fam-ily lived in the low-end part of town, which was about six blocks in area. Neither of his parents graduated from high school, and Chorba remembers be-ing very poor, but this did not give him a negative experience as a child.

“I had a very, very lovely child-hood,” said Chorba. “I loved being a lower-ender, and I wouldn’t have changed that.”

Last summer, after the long travel to Follansbee, Chorba arrived in his beloved hometown. The purpose of this trip was to reunite with his friends and family and to celebrate an annual event called the Follansbee Community Days festival.

The festival took place from July 11 to July 13 and included an awards ceremony for fellow Follansbee citi-zens who have made an impact on the community. Six people were awarded a key to the city, a plaque, and a Make a Difference Award at the festival, and Chorba was one of these recipients.

Mayor Tony Paesano (his last name means “friend” in Italian, said Chorba) introduced Chorba. He explained that Chorba had accomplished a great deal of work over the last few years, includ-ing receiving a doctorate in communica-tions from Southern Illinois University and completing the first book of The Journal Radio Studies.

“For a person to receive his doctor-ate is a big deal in a small town such as Follansbee,” said Chorba.

Chorba was also recognized for his extensive research of the early days

of Follansbee Steel and on “Pastime Park” in Follansbee. He has collected photographs from the early Follansbee years and is conducting interviews with people over 100 years of age.

Chorba said that he was thrilled to get these rewards, but he absolutely loves doing things to help other people.

“I like to give,” said Chorba, “be-cause the reason we are here is to con-tribute to one another.”

“The toughest part of my job is easily time management,” said Sloan. “I try to give myself each Saturday off just beacause I need some time to back off and hang out with friends.”

As he continues to wear many hats at the newspaper, he said he is thankful that Washburn has given him such a solid foundation.

“I think the curriculum in the Mass Media Department has really helped out,” said Sloan, “You have to take a design class that’s where you learn how to design newspaper ads, obviously the feature writing class has helped prepare me for blogging.”

During the fall 2009 semester, Sloan was in Frank Chorba’s Sports and Media class.

“He’s a tremendous guy, very bright and capable. He represents the direction the department has taken,” Chorba said. “The department recognized the way careers are emerging, which means students will have to be entrepreneurs more and more, and that’s what the web allows you to do.”

Climbing the ladder at the Kansas City Kansan has been a relatively quick experience for Washburn graduate Nick Sloan.

He started at the Kansan as an intern in 2005, got hired as a school and government reporter in 2006 then in 2008 became the sports editor.

In 2009, he became executive publisher.

“At 24, I never expected that to happen,” Sloan said.

In August 2009, the Kansan staff heard that corporate was going to pull the plug on the online newspaper. Sloan approached the owners about the possibility of buying it, and they were open to the idea.

“We agreed to do it based upon royalties; over a certain time period I owe them just pennies of what I earn from the newspaper,” Sloan said. “I didn’t pay anything up front; it’s based on royalties from the amount I make.”

Sloan has been amazed at the amount of support he has received so far, most unexpectedly he said, from the other media outlets in the Kansas City area.

“The most surprising thing is that everyone in the Kansas City press is pulling for me, I’ve had 15 reporters from the Star email me telling me they hope it works. They email me messages of support calling me and wishing me well--not that I didn’t expect it, but usually in a media type enviornment there’s competition,” Sloan said.

But the members of the Kansas

I’ve had a lot of great support from the community in what I’m trying to do.

Nick Sloan


by Rachel Whitten

Nick Sloan, at his computer working hard on the Kansas City Kansan online newspaper. Visits to the website have doubled since September, when Sloan began running the site.

Photo courtesy of Nick Sloan

climbing the ladder

in k.c.City press are not the only ones pulling for Sloan.

“I’ve had a lot of great support from the community in what I’m trying to do,” Sloan said.

Right now, being at the top of his game means selling advertising and scouting for news. Sloan is working out of various coffee shops in Wyandotte County, and his news generally comes from reader submitted tips, or police scanner.

“I go to a lot of free events, whether high school football games, parades, general community events, and musical events. I talk to them about the website and give out business cards. The more I talk to people about it the more they’ll come

to the site,” Sloan said.

His hard work has paid off. Since September, the Kansan’s website traffic has more than doubled.

“This was done with grassroots marketing, word of mouth. I introduced myself to a lot of people,” Sloan said.

He has also hired a reporter that will be writing about music and social life in the Kansas City area.

Despite that, Sloan said he is so busy; he has to schedule time to take a break.

working with Marshall again. “He always keeps it lively and he

likes to crack jokes,” Smith said. “He’s a comedian. He just makes the work-place a fun place to be.”

Overall, Marshall said his Holton and Topeka jobs have one thing in common that thrilled him--he was able to get them in the first place.

“The best part is that I have a job, especially with the way newspapers are now,” Marshall said. “While I was in college, I didn’t know if I would have a job in mass media when I graduated.”

With a marathon under his belt, leaving his mark at Washburn with “Marshall Arts,” and moving from the Holton Recorder to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the only way to go from here is up for Marshall.

Chris Marshall might come across as a quiet guy to people who don’t know him very well, but beneath a humble exterior is a talented, incred-ibly funny person who is dedicated to his burgeoning career as a journalist.

Marshall earned a degree in mass media last spring and maintained a busy schedule during his time at Washburn. Among other things, he trained for a marathon, became the variety director for Campus Activities Board, was active in a fraternity and started his own cartoon for the Wash-burn Review called “Marshall Arts.”

Marshall didn’t decide to become a mass media major until 2007, when he was a junior.

“I was an art major before then, but I didn’t think I could get a job with an art degree so I switched over to journalism,” Marshall said.

Marshall began working for the Washburn Review as a sports writer and was promoted to sports editor the following year, where he remained until he graduated. Josh Rouse, junior, took over as sports editor after Mar-shall left.

“Working with Chris was always a good time,” said Rouse. “He is one of the most laid-back, talented guys I know. He can write, design, draw – pretty much anything you ask him to do, he did it.”

“The best thing about working with Marshall was his great sense of humor; he always has something hilarious to say, which makes working with him really enjoyable,” Rouse said.

Marshall kept busy since gradua-tion; he got a job as the sports editor at the Holton Recorder before he even graduated, then came back to Topeka in November to work at the sports and news desk of the Topeka Capital-Journal and take a marathon class from Washburn as he continued to submit “Marshall Arts” to the Wash-burn Review.

Marshall spent 70 minutes each workday driving back and forth be-tween Topeka and Holton before his full-time job at the Capital-Journal.

by Leia Karimul Bashar


Reaching beyond ‘Marshall Arts’

Self-portrait by Chris Marshall

He is so cool!

Note to self: be more like Chris Marshall

“I miss the people at the Holton Recorder, but I don’t miss the drive,” Marshall said.

The difference between the two papers is both the size and the content.

“In Holton, I was the only sports person,” said Marshall, who added that the close coverage of high school sports also made a difference. “I liked the community part of it, it’s a small town so you get real involved with the teams and the community families.”

This won’t be the first time Mar-shall has worked for the Topeka Cap-ital-Journal. He worked there part-time while he was a college student.

Eric Smith, a part-time sports clerk at the Topeka Capital-Journal, who also worked with Marshall for the Washburn Review, said he enjoys

Every year, hundreds of authors submit their work to Inscape, the English department’s literary magazine. Only a select few will make it into the compilation, and someone is responsible for designing their work into the finished project.

Enter Mikki Burcher, dual English and mass media major. Burcher, a senior set to graduate in December, 2010, said she took on Inscape on top of everything else because she likes to be busy, and she is bent on acquiring what she calls “a unique skill set.”

“I want to be prepared when I go into the ‘real world,’ and juggling a lot of responsibilities is good practice for when I graduate,” said Burcher. She was grateful that many of her Inscape responsibilities were “juggled” around Christmas break, so they didn’t interfere with her classes.

And there were a lot of responsibilities. Burcher was responsible for designing the cover as well as picking fonts, sizes and margins, then going back and formatting for consistency.

“I basically designed it from a blank page to what it is now,” she said.

As the news editor on the staff of the Washburn Review, it would be easy to assume that designing Inscape would be just another day in life, but Burcher said that aside from the scale of the project, there are still a few key differences.

Firstly, she said that although she has creative license at the paper, she has to maintain certain sensibilities because it is a newspaper, but with Inscape, “I could have done whatever, as long as the class approved.”

Also, at the Review, she said her

work depends on someone else getting their job done first, whereas the work for Inscape is done after all the other work has been compiled.

Lastly, Burcher said the interactions between team members are very different, due in part to the fact that the other people working on Inscape are guaranteed to be from the creative writing emphases.

“Writers are generally more passive, whereas journalists have to be aggressive, so it makes a big difference in the way you handle conflict and approach people,” said Burcher.

Burcher’s involvement

with Inscape was through the English department’s Publishing Lab class, which is responsible for the project every year. Howard Faulkner, chair of the English department, was very pleased with Burcher’s direction of the project.

“She is a wonderful writer, has a good mind for analysis, a sly sense of humor and great organization,” he said.

After a semester of work, the hardest part was letting go.

“One of my not-so-good qualities is that I am a perfectionist,” she said, “and I know when I get it back from the printer I’m going to find something and beat myself up for not catching it.”

Her English major allowed her

Writing between departments

I want to be prepared when I go into the ‘real world’ and juggling a lot of responsibilities is good practice for when I graduate.

Mikki Burcher

by Regina Budden


Burcher is a double major in both Mass Media and English and will graduate Dec. 2010. She was the layout and design editor for the 2010 Inscape.

Photo by Tesa DeForest

to work on the Inscape project, but it was her mass media degree that gave Burcher the skills to really take on the design.

“Originally, my English degree was what I called my ‘passion degree.’ I am emphasizing in creative writing, and I absolutely love to write anything from poetry to term papers,” she said. “But I always knew I would dual major because English is not a practical degree.”

Without being able to utilize the professors and opportunities of the mass media department, Burcher said that there would not have been any chance of her doing the work with Inscape.

“Everything about Inscape literally started with the mass media department,” she said, “Except the content.”

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One of Merriam’s students in the spring 2010 semester, Erika Wohlge-muth, agrees.

“It’s interesting because we’re hearing real life cases he’s done and defended,” Wohlgemuth said. “It’s interesting to see how his court cases go, whether he won or lost them.”

Much like teaching, Mer-riam didn’t set out to be a First Amendment lawyer when he entered law school.

“I joined a law firm that represented large media com-panies and I just started doing that work,” Merriam said.

Since then, Merriam has defended a number of big cases, representing media companies across the state. He said the hardest to defend are when his clients make an error but do not own up to it.

“When publishers make mistakes they need to ac-knowledge it and fix the problem…most of my clients acknowledge errors when they occur and try to do the right thing about them,” Merriam said.

There are a few steps that people working in the field of mass media can take to avoid getting sued.

“They need to educate themselves with the risk associated with the media

industry, and join the appropriate organizations that conduct continuing education in that area so that they’ll be familiar enough with the potential problems, that way they can seek help if they don’t already know the answer,” Merriam said.

discussion with the students.”The chair of the mass media de-

partment, Kathy Menzie, said students should feel fortunate to have an actual practicing First Amendment lawyer to teach the law class.

“We are so lucky to have someone of his expertise, who is a well known

and well respected First Amendment lawyer, and known all over the state. For us to have this opportunity, to have his expertise is pretty incredible,” Menzie said. “Most law classes are just taught by someone in the depart-ment with some interest, but to actu-ally have a First Amendment lawyer in our department is a great benefit to the students.”

by Rachel Whitten

Mike Merriam can teach mass me-dia law to a classroom full of journal-ism students, just don’t expect him to remember any of their names.

Merriam is a First Amendment lawyer who has been teaching media law to Washburn students for 10 years. At the beginning of every semester, he makes it clear to his students that their names aren’t relevant to the course.

“I’m not on campus, I only see them one day a week, we don’t spend a lot of time on in-troductions, we go to the subject matter of the course,” Merriam said. “Names are not particu-larly germane to the subject of media law.”

Merriam has been a practic-ing First Amendment lawyer since he graduated from Wash-burn Law School 34 years ago. Before he started as an adjunct at Washburn, teaching wasn’t something he had given a lot of thought to.

“The person that was teach-ing media law before me moved on to something else and asked me to take over,” Merriam said.

Although some media stu-dents might not be interested in taking a course on media law, it’s required by the department, so all majors and minors pass through Merriam’s classroom at some point. But Merriam hopes to spark some curiosity about the subject in his students.

“It pleases me when it’s obvious that students are interested and curi-ous about the subject,” Merriam said. “I like it when students ask questions, contribute in class. I don’t like to just conduct a lecture, I prefer to have a

Mike MerriamMike Merriam


lawyer, celebrity, teacher

Photo by Mike GoehringMike Merriam has been teaching mass media law for 10 years. Merriam has practiced mass media law for 34 years.

Non-profits an option for grads

eral. He said that some of the people he worked with at Family Services even sent his resume to contacts in New York.

“The whole idea of an internship is to get your feet wet and to put your skills to use,” said Mapes. “When [our interns] leave, they have a better idea of what they want to do.”

In a job market where climbing the corporate ladder and making a six-figure salary are praised above all else, jobs and internships at nonprofit or-ganizations may not be the first things to come to mind, even though they can be the most beneficial.

Kerrice Mapes, marketing coordi-nator at Family Service and Guidance Center, knows this better than anyone. As a Washburn University mass media graduate (2005) she had to do an internship her senior year. After trying two others, she finally settled with one at a nonprofit that changed her entire point of view.

“I was kind of like ‘I don’t think I want to work at a nonprofit, that’s just not what I want to do,’” she said. But, in spite of her reluctance, Mapes applied for an internship at Family Service and Guidance Center.

After joining the team at Family Service, Mapes said her first assign-ment was to make a few changes to their newsletter, and that’s where she really began to appreciate the differences between this and the other internships she had. Instead of mak-ing “a few” changes, Mapes was given the opportunity to redesign the whole newsletter. She said it’s those kinds of opportunities that she loves.

“In a nonprofit, you kind of have the liberty of taking some chances,” she said, “You can wear so many dif-ferent hats, it’s not like you only get to copy edit or you’re only the design person or something.”

Ryan Sinovic, also a mass media graduate (2008), began his internship at Family Service and Guidance Center because he was “excited to work for a company that was not in it for money, that was in it to help people.”

While he worked at Family Ser-vices, he did graphic design, marketing

materials, designed Internet pages, edited videos and collected artwork for service projects, among other things. He had a lot of creative control, but he said that this is not the case with all interns.

“It just really depends on your skill set,” he said, “But I got to do a lot more than I would have at another agency.”

After graduation, Family Services hired Mapes as a full-time employee, but this rarely happens. Although she was their first intern, there have been five since, and although there have been a few like Sinovic that they “definitely would have liked to keep on the team,” there is not always enough money in the budget.

The budget issue was previously a large reason that many people, includ-ing Mapes, were wary of taking on jobs or internships at non profits. But Mapes said that one big turning point

for her was that at a nonprofit organization, there are lots of perks.

“You get to leave your job at the end of the day knowing that you’re helping

the greater good,” she said. She also enjoys the other benefits

such as schedule flexibility, more vaca-tion time and the fact that when she leaves work, she is done for the day. Mapes also mentioned a program that her organization has that allows moth-ers to bring their new babies to work.

“Things like this are not going to happen in a corporation,” she said, “Sometimes you have to think about that life-work balance and I think a nonprofit really addresses having that healthy balance in your life.”

In Sinovic’s case, although he was not hired on at Family Services after graduation, he said that his contacts there still assisted him in obtaining his new job working with online outreach and education for the Attorney Gen-


by Regina Budden

Kerrice Mapes chose to work with the non-profit, Family Service and Guidance Center.

Photo courtesy of Kerrice Mapes

In a nonprofit, you have the liberty of taking chances.

Kerrice Mapes

Graduates weigh benefits:


by Ben Fitch and Tara Schroeder

It’s no secret that the field of mass media is an ever-changing one. The undergraduate experience is a journey to prepare students for jobs that may not even exist when they enter college.

Many students are finding that the high of graduation is crushed by the reality of a job market driven by a struggling economy.

Renee Robinson, public relations account supervisor for Nicholson Kovac, said that a changing market requires flexible professionals who can adapt. Many professionals choose to continue their edu-cation. Achieving a new skill set can enable a media prac-titioner to merge into other parts of the field or contribute to their particular field in new ways.

“The top skills we look for are writing, critical thinking, and analysis and adaptability,” said Robinson. “Professionals must have a desire to continuously expand their skills and an ability to see the greater vision of the market and where they fit in that vision.”

The initial goal for many mass me-dia professionals upon graduation is to get a job. Yet, after only a few years in the field, that goal often shifts to figur-ing out what’s next. Options for college graduates are numerous. Some choose to enter graduate school immediately while others choose to work in the industry first.

“I recommend working in the industry for a few years before think-ing about grad school,” said Robinson. “This allows you to see what’s out there and how you can contribute.”

Robinson, who studied at Okla-homa State University, chose to do just that.

“Graduate school is always a good choice after that,” said Robinson. “Many companies are very supportive of continuing education and some even assist with tuition costs.”

Robinson graduated with bach-elor’s degrees in English, journalism and broadcasting with a public rela-tions emphasis. Later, she pursued a master’s degree in mass communica-tions and media management.

“Working and going to school at the same time has a major ben-efit,” she said. “I was able to take the knowledge from graduate classes in the evening and apply them to my job during the daytime. I was also able to take real world media experiences to add to classroom discussions.”

Jaycie Wiechman is a content developer for CivicPlus, a Manhattan-based Web site developing company for government sites. She also started working in the industry after graduat-ing from Washburn (2009). She did so because she wanted more experience before going to graduate school.

“I wouldn’t recommend graduate school to everybody,” she said. “It’s good for principle and especially good for people who want to go in to teach-ing. But if you learn the things you really need to know to complete your job, that’s all you need.”

Making the decision to attend graduate school is only the first step. Searching for the right graduate program and the right field of study are the next hurdles. The choice of a worthwhile field of study is just as important as finding the right fit in a graduate school.

“Studying communication is always a solid option,” Robinson said. “But in this business, understanding the language of finance and marketing can be invaluable. An MBA is also a great idea.”

And sometimes, graduate schools will take previous experience into con-sideration when accepting—or deny-ing—applicants. Wiechman said she wanted to study in the fine arts film program at the University of Texas, which only accepts about 12 people a year. Their common requirement for acceptance is two years of experience.

“Occasionally they will let in one or two people who have scholarships,” she said, “but you have to demonstrate exceptional skills.”

And breaking into a new market, or just a new part of the market, can be as much about who you know as what you know.

“Developing a network is vital to success,” said Robinson. “Member-ship in professional groups like PRSA, AWC and AWF among others can be an important part of professional development.”

Wiechman said employers are probably always going to look for basic experience from their prospective em-ployees, no matter where it is gained.

“But if you go to a good grad school that offers hands-on experi-ence, you will be a lot better off,” said Wiechman.

school or work?

I recommend working in the industry for a few years before thinking about grad school. This allows you to see what’s out there and how you can contribute.

Renee Robinson

Media Alumni Stephanie AugusteAuguste, 2004, has been the virtual contact representative for the Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs since Septem-ber 2008.

Valerie (Holmes) BakerBaker, 2007, is the marketing assistant for the The National Association of Trailer Manufacturers. She maintains the association website, designs and creates all of the marketing pieces, writes press releases and news stories for publications all over the United States, and coordinates their annual convention and trade show.

Lydia Becker Becker, 2006, is the Sales and Market-ing Manager of Becker Autos in Beloit, Kan. She is also the President of Beloit Area Chamber of Commerce and a Solomon Valley Economic Develop-ment board member.

Cheri Underwood BernardBernard, 1986, is the Public Rela-tions/Product Placement Analyst with Payless ShoeSource. She has been in this position since April 2006 and at Payless since January 1987. Cheri and husband, Jim (below), have two chil-dren, Dylan, 15, and Jake, 12.

Jim BernardBernard, 1986, is the manager for Goodyear Auto Service Center. He has been with Goodyear since 1988.

Julie Boggs Boggs, 2006, moved to Knoxville, Tenn., in August and is the Marketing Communications Coordinator for the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

Andrew Dunlap Dunlap, 2009, is working for Enter-com, Kansas City, as the promotions

assistant for 610 sports and KMBZ news.

Karl FundenbergerFundenberger, 2008, is working for FryeAllen, Inc as Social Media Direc-tor. Last year he ran his own consult-ing and marketing business call Mixed Media, LLP.

Tyler GrafGraf, 2004, is a credit specialist with DHL in the Seattle area. He is pursu-ing an accounting degree at Central Washington University.

Julie (Hoytal) GouldGould, 2006, is employed by Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home in Topeka. She is involved in Junior League of Topeka and married Grant Gould (WU 2007) in 2008.

Jan HamiltonHamilton, 1970 and J.D. 1973, was successful in getting the U.S. Supreme Court to accept Certiorari in one of his cases, Hamilton v. Lanning. He is the chapter 13 Trustee for Topeka and is married to Terese Hamilton.

Corey JonesJones, 2009, went from being a news reporter to an online editor for The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Curtis Kitchen Kitchen, 2002, is the Kansas State/Big 12 beat reporter for Sports Radio 810 WHB in Kansas City and is a senior writer for 810whb.com. He is also the producer of KAOS (Kenny and Ozone Show), which was voted Pitch Maga-zine’s “Best Radio Show” in 2009.

Lana Kraus Kraus, 2009, is the Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Resources coordina-tor and the Youth Engagement Spe-cialist for Kansas Family Partnership,

Inc. in Topeka. She is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators, Kansas Red Ribbon Planning Committee and is involved with the Traffic Safety Conference Planning Committee.

Blake Kresge Kresge, 2009, was recently promoted to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. producer with WIBW-TV.

Evan LintonLinton, 2008, will be cutting film reels for the Daytime Emmy Awards for the Days of Our Lives soap opera.

Tracey Mace-AndersonMace-Anderson, 1996, is handling public relations for her family win-ery, Market Vineyards. She left Argus Health Systems in December 2009. She married Steve Anderson in De-cember 2009 and has a son, Weston.

Shalyn Marsh Marsh, 2009, is the Communications and Marketing Manager for Visit To-peka Inc.

Linda MeyerMeyer, 2009, is the Director of Com-munications for Faith Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kan. She is married with three children. Her daughter was married May 1, 2010.

Jessica Mills Mills, 2007, is engaged to be married in July to Samuel Reid (WU 2008).

Stephanie Gigous MooreMoore, 2005, is working for the Mr. Goodcents main office as the creative director. She and her husband, Corey, are expecting their first child this fall.

Brandy Nance Nance, 2003, earned her MBA from


The University of Phoenix in Spring 2010.

James NormanNorman, 2006, is now a trainer for the Kansas Department of Labor.

Alicia PhillipsPhillips, 2008, works for Payless Shoe Source as a distribution analyst. She is in her second semester at University of Kansas, pursuing a Masters of Jour-nalism in marketing communications. She will travel to China in May for three weeks through the BU960 course at Washburn. She is doing a research project on social media use among col-lege students in the United States and China. Phillips will marry Christopher Mowder in September.

Marcus RamirezRamirez, 1998, is currently working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kan-sas and offers Medicare supplement advice.

Tara SchroederSchroeder, 2009, is an assistant ac-count executive at Zillner, a marketing and advertising company in Kansas City. She is also the head instruc-tor for the National Dance Alliance, coach of the Saint Thomas Aquinas High School dance teams, co-director of the Elite Nationals dance squad at Washburn, faculty member at Fuzion School of dance and professional arena football cheerleader/dancer.

Amanda SchusterSchuster, 2008, is working for the League of Kansas Municipalities. She is also the incoming president for the Topeka Association for Women in Communication.

Michelle SimonSimon, 2006, is the Diabetes Program manager at Prairie Band Potawatomi

Family Health Center.

Cassie TaylorTaylor, 2008, moved to Lufkin, Texas in September 2009 and is working as a store manager for a National Vision Center.

Tim Traynor Traynor, 2009, is enrolled in Wash-burn University’s master’s of social work program. He works full time for the Kansas Adjutant General’s Public Affairs Office, which allows him to travel throughout the world.

Melissa TreoloTreolo, 2008, is a reporter at The Chieftain in Bonner Springs and won several KPA awards, including first place in series and first place in inves-tigative reporting.

Sarah Van DalsemVan Dalsem, 2007, is pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Nebraska. This summer, she is work-ing as the Media Relations Manager for the 2010 Special Olympics Na-tional Games, which are scheduled in Lincoln and Omaha at the end of July. She will be in charge of media rela-tions, social media campaigns, crisis communication and documentation teams.

Jeff WagamanWagaman, 1984, has joined the Boys and Girls Club of Topeka as the Chief Professional Officer. Jeff and his daughter, Lindsey, reside in Topeka.

Jayme (Adkins) WalshireWalshire, 2004, has been the Outreach Coordinator for Helping Hands Hu-mane Society for 3 years in September.

Beth A. WarringtonWarrington, 2004, is the Publica-

tions and Marketing Administrator at the Kansas Bar Association and is in charge of all the legal handbooks, collectively called the “KBA Bookstore” and the editing of any major projects, including the magazine, The Journal of Kansas Bar Association and any technical aspects of web work.

Ernie W. Webb IIIWebb, 1998, is a sports copy editor at the Tulsa World, a 110,000-circulation daily in Tulsa, Okla. Before leaving the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., last summer, he won APSE top-10 daily recognition, and VPA, first in sports pages.

Jaycie WiechmanWiechman, 2009, is working in Man-hattan, Kan., at CivicPlus, a company that specializes in government eb sites.

Suzanne Clarke ZurnClarke Zurn, 1995, is Vice President of Digital Media and Advocacy at Xenophon Strategies in Washington, DC. Her online campaign strategies helped Xenophon earn a coveted Silver Anvil Award for the Best Public Affairs Campaign from the Public Relations Society of America. She was named a Washburn Alumni Fellow in 2003.


S m a l l B u s i n e s s S o l u t i o n s

F i n a n c i a l P l a n n i n g

Curtis Henderson, CPA

1800 SW Harrison Topeka, KS 66612 (P) 785-CPA-1040 (F) 785-235-2006 Cell:785-231-0829 [email protected]

Class Notes

FALL 2009

Jaime BrownLeia Karimul-BasharBlake KresgeAngela MarquartTara SchroederAlex SiegelDevin Tatrn

SPRING 2010

Paul AbronJames AhrensPaige AndersonAmanda BaylessValerie CavigliaKristen GrimmerAllison KimbleJoshua KingLeslie KrugerJoshua MabryPaige RossMorgan SchaefferBritta TjadenRachel WhittenKristina Wright

SUMMER 2010

Tracy GibsonJustin GutierrezWhitney KobbemanKevin MitchellFahra Noorani

CONGRATS, GRADS

Let us know about jobs, awards, marriages, children and any other news your wish to share. Contact [email protected].

Mass Media Graduates

Jaime Brown

Leia Karimul-Bashar

Blake Kresge Angela Marquart

Devin TatrnAlex Siegel

Paul Abron Paige Anderson

Josh Mabry

James Ahrens

Kristen Grimmer

Rachel WhittenMorgan Schaeffer

Leslie Kruger

Whitney Kobbeman

Justin Gutierrez

Tara Schroeder

Valerie Caviglia

Kevin Mitchell

Josh King



Supporting student success through co-curricular opportunities

check us out at:

www.washburn.edu/getfit

The mass media department wants updates on all things new: marriag-es, babies, job, awards, etc.

E-mail:regina.cassell€washburn.edu

call:785.670.1836

or mail to:Mass Media DepartmentWashburn University1700 S College Ave.Topeka, KS 66621

EditorsRegina Budden - Copy DirectorMikki Burcher - Design Director

Page DesignersBen Fitch - Public Relations

Erika Lucero - Media Writing & Publishing and Public Relations

Kristin Grimmer - Media Writing & Publishing

Rachel Whitten - Media Writing & Publishing and Electronic Media

WritersJames Ahrens - Media Writing & PublishingRegina Budden - Public Relations,

Media Writing & Publishing Mikki Burcher - Public Relations Ben FitchKristin GrimmerErika LuceroRachel Whitten ContributorsLeia Karimul BasharMike GoehringPaige RossTara Schroeder

FacultyRegina Cassell

The 2010 Mass Media Messenger was produced as part of MM431, Publication Layout and Design.

contributors

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investing private financial support to serve students and strengthen

Washburn University.

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