Galley West Spring 2012

galleyWEST manship school of mass communication

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SPRING 2012

Three to be Inducted into 2012 Manship School Hall of Fame on April 19 SEND US YOUR MEMORIES

Lou Major, Jim Engster, Elayn Hunt Eicher The Manship School will induct three new members into its Hall of Fame on April 19 at Juban’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge. The 2012 inductees are Lou Major, Jim Engster and the late Elayn Hunt Eicher.

Lou Major graduated from the LSU School of Journalism in 1950 and began a newspaper career that is in its 62nd year with the Bogalusa Daily News and its parent organization, Wick Communications.

He started as a reporter for the Daily News and worked his way through the newsroom to become publisher in 1964. Though Major was publisher of the Daily News until 1997, he had earlier assumed duties as chief operating officer and eventually president of Wick Communications.

Under his leadership, Wick grew to include nearly 30 community newspapers

and specialty publications in 10 states. Major retired in 2001 after 50 years of “active duty” with Wick and was named to the company’s board of directors, a position he continues to hold.

Jim Engster, a 1981 graduate of the Manship School, is president and general manager of the Louisiana Radio Network, the state’s largest network provider of radio news, sports and agricultural news. He is also host of “The Jim Engster Show, a public affairs and news program on Baton Rouge public radio station WRKF-FM. Engster has provided election night coverage as well as legislative insight for WAFB for the past 15 years. He has won many awards, including the YWCA Greater Baton Rouge 2011 Racial Justice Award.

Elayn Hunt Eicher was the first woman in Louisiana to head the

Louisiana Corrections Department and the second female director of corrections in the United States.

At LSU she was editor of The Reveille and junior class editor of the Gumbo yearbook. Following her 1945 graduation she was hired as a reporter for the Baton Rouge State Times. It was perhaps her assignment to the police and court beat that led her to earn a law degree at LSU in 1950 and to later focus her career on corrections and rehabilitation. In recognition of her lifelong devotion to reforms in this area, the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center at St. Gabriel is named in her honor.

She died in February, 1976.

The Manship School Hall of Fame honors alumni, faculty and friends whose distinguished careers have contributed to or reflect credit on the academic programs in the school.

R E X R E E D B R I N G S P L AY T O B AT O N R O U G E American film critic Rex Reed (1960) will bring to Baton Rouge a one-night production of his New York show “The Man That Got Away: Ira Gershwin After George.” The show is dedicated to the life and songs of the legendary lyricist Ira Gershwin. It will play at the LSU Student Union Theater on Friday, April 20, 2012.

Faculty and staff are planning the Manship School’s centennial celebration to be held in 2013. We are collecting stories from alumni about their memories of the J-School/Manship School. We also need your e-mail address to keep you up-to-date on school news. Please e-mail stories and addresses to Sara Courtney at scourtney@lsu.edu.

Check out our Web site at www.manship.lsu.edu.

Letter from the President Andrea Clesi McMakin The Retired School Board Reporters’ Association

When I was a young reporter, right out of the LSU Journalism School, my boss, WBRZ-TV news director John Spain (BAJ, 1974), assigned me to the “education” beat. That beat included LSU, Southern University, Baton Rouge area public and private schools, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, the state Board of Regents, the education committees at the Capitol, and I’m sure a number of other organizations under the “education” umbrella.

Mass Comm Alumna Practicing with LSU Football Team Manship School 2011 graduate Mo Isom was crowned homecoming queen in Tiger Stadium last fall, but this fall she may be on the field in a different role—as a kicker for the LSU football team. Isom was a national champion goalkeeper for four seasons on the LSU women’s soccer team. She has been practicing kickoffs and field goals with the football team and will try out for the team this spring. Though she graduated in December, 2011, she is enrolled in graduate school and has one year left of eligibility.

EDITOR Linda Rewerts, assistant dean DESIGN Nicole Duet Latiolais, BAJ & BFA 1993

Needless to say, I was a fledgling among seasoned journalists, many of whom had covered education in this state for years. Wouldn’t you know it was on my watch that one of the biggest education stories to hit East Baton Rouge Parish broke wide open?

I was 22 years old in 1979 when the public school teachers in East Baton Rouge Parish voted to go on strike.

As a young adult, I knew very little about why people strike or walk picket lines. But these seasoned journalists I referred to earlier helped me understand the nuances of teachers, school boards, strikes and unions.

Perhaps you may recognize their names: Linda Lightfoot (LSU Manship School Hall of Fame inductee), George Cotton, (BAJ, 1969) and Bobby Neese, (BAJ, 1975) Yes, we were competitors, and no, they were not about to share their scoops; nonetheless, they helped me understand the scope of the immense teacher strike story of 1979.

I tell you this tale for a reason. These days, Linda,

George, Bobby and I get together for lunch regularly to discuss the good ol’ days in the news business and to reminisce about the education stories we covered more than 30 years ago.

We call ourselves “The Retired School Board Reporters’ Association.” It’s great to be with them again. . . without the pressures of news deadlines.

We usually have an agenda for our meeting and we even have our own pledge: “In a democracy, people have the right to get together and air condition whatever they want.”

So if you happen to see four old journalists sitting at a Baton Rouge restaurant table “air conditioning,” you’ll know we’re chewing on the governor’s latest plan for upgrading state education or the LSU Tiger football recruiting class. The education beat still can’t be beat!

Sincerely, Andrea Clesi McMakin B.A.J. Journalism,1978, LSU M.M.C. Mass Communication 2010, LSU

“Iowa of the Tiger” With videos, photos, t-shirts, buttons and even Ron Paul Family Cookbooks to show for their efforts, 24 Manship School students returned from Iowa full of vigor and excitement. Students covered every aspect of the Iowa Caucus experience, from candidate meet and greets, to huge caucus night parties, to intimate newsroom editorial meetings.

Their stories, insights, analyses, photos and videos, published on http://www.lowaofthetiger. com, were picked up by Washington Post’s Post Politics, Huffington Post’s OffTheBus and Storyful, a news aggregate site. Their videos were featured on Google and Fox News, and at one point on caucus night, three of YouTube’s Hot 5 politics videos were from our students.

Alumni Spotlight on Jeffrei Clifton Jeffrei Clifton, 2009 Manship graduate, was one of the four-member team that won the 2011 Google Online Marketing Challenge. Clifton was an MBA student at the University of Houston Jeffrei Clifton (far left) with team Bauer College of business at the time of the competition. This is the first group from North America to win the competition, which has been held annually since 2008. The challenge gives college students across the globe the chance to show off their skills in advertising, e-commerce, integrated communication, management information systems, marketing and new media technologies.

More than 35,000 students in 4,429 teams competed from 68 countries, with the Houston student team coming out on top, winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Google’s headquarters in California. University of Houston student teams chose the Houston Symphony as their client.

Clifton earned her MBA in 2011 and is marketing coordinator at Fenner Advanced Sealing Technologies in Houston. She will visit the Manship School April 19-20 to speak to classes and other student groups.

Updates

ALUMNI Kevin Brown visiting the school with Rome Geautreau, daughter of 2002 alumna Nancy Malone Gautreau

1950s Dede (Coco) Wilson’s (1959) fourth book of poems, “Eliza: The New Orleans Years,” published in November 2010 by Main Street Rag, was produced as a one-woman play in Jackson, Miss. in April 2011 and will be performed in Charlotte, N.C., by Carolina Actors Studio Theatre in May and June.

1960s Stephen J. Gonzales (1969) created his own communications consulting company, Concannon Communications in Houston.

1970s Mary Louise Carstens Hopson (1978) had an article published in The Dallas Bar Association’s monthly newspaper, “Headnotes,” that was named “Best Series of Articles” (feature general interest category) by the State Bar of Texas.

1980s Valerie Andrews (1981) was named last September to head Loyola University’s Mass Communication Shawn M. Donnelley Center. The center assists some of New Orleans’ best known nonprofits with public relations campaigns.

Alex D. Martin (1981) is deputy managing editor and national editor at the Wall Street Journal.

He is married to Lisa Schelp

Ryan Brumley (Tiger TV) shooting video in Iowa

Martin, a 1982 graduate of the school.

Sonya F. Duhe (1983) is director and professor of the School of Mass Communication at Loyola University in New Orleans.

Lynda Swanson Wilson (1983) is director of humanities & sciences at UCLA Extension in Los Angeles.

Mike Danna (1983) is 2011 Public Relations Association of Louisiana Communicator of the Year. He is director of public relations at the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation and host of TV show ‘This Week in Louisiana Agriculture,” which marked its 30th year in September with a trip to Turkey.

Gregory Stephen Buie (1986) is general manager of Pepsi/Brown Bottling Group in Hattiesburg, Miss. He has held this position since 2005.

1990s Jason Theriot (1991) received a postdoctoral fellowship from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University for the 2011-2012 academic year.

At Harvard he will be part of a Consortium on Energy Policy addressing offshore development and coastal restoration in the Gulf of Mexico.

He spoke to students in the Manship School on Jan. 30.

Molly Sanchez (1992) was named director of development for the LSU Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge effective Oct. 31, 2011.

Paul “Sonny” Marks (MMC, 1993; J.D. 2007) is an attorney at Stockwell Sievert law firm in Lake Charles, La.

Laurie Driggs Fontenot (2003) has started a public relations agency in Lafayette, L’Acadian Communications.

Michael Tullier (1998) in July, 2011 was named manager of development communications and marketing at Auburn University.

Norisha Kirts (2003) is associate director in the Office of Advancement at LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business.

Lisa O’Beirne (1998) is director of development for the Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute at LSU. Brian Q. Davis (1999) is the founder/business development executive at Q Technologies Inc. in Shreveport. He recently completed the Entrepreneurial Development Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his team won first place in the business plan and presentation competition.

2000-2011 Emily Kern Hebert (2000), formerly a staff writer for The Advocate, works for Capital Area Court Appointed Special Advocate in public relations.

Gerald J. Johnson (2000) is a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy stationed as a naval intelligence officer at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Kevin Brown (2001) is a cofounder of a Nashville-based, entertainment-focused digital marketing agency, Rockhouse Partners. In 2010 Rockhouse was acquired by Etix, an international web-based ticketing service. (upper left) Ryan Rogers (2002) was promoted to marketing & communications director at Darrell Gwynn Foundation in Davie, Fla.

B. Slattery Johnson (2003) was selected by the Louisiana Association of Non-Profits for the community leaders class.

Meredith Richards (2003) last year was hired as a producer for Anderson Cooper of CNN. Stephen Evans (2003) accepted a position as director of communications and public relations at Red Mountain Resources, a public oil and gas company in Dallas.

Justin Fritscher (2004) in December received his master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Jackson State University’s School of Policy and Planning. In Jackson, he is a freelance writer and a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Nicole Chandler Colvin (2004) won two Telly awards for videos she produced for Baton Rouge General Hospital Foundation and for Alzheimer Services. The Telly Awards honor the best local, regional and cable television commercials and programs as well as work created for the Web. Allison Bruchhaus (2004) was named director of college communications and public relations at Louisiana College in Pineville.

Stephanie Pagitt Mire (2004) and her husband, Marcus, have started a clothier line for boys, JV Clothiers, based in Baton Rouge.

Emily Reimsnyder (2011) is a junior account executive at Bond PR and Brand Strategy in New Orleans.

Jesse Hoggard (2004) was named the Public Relations Society of Louisiana’s Practitioner of the Year. He is director of communications at Louisiana Technology Park in Baton Rouge.

Rachel Whittaker (2011) is a sportswriter at American Press in Lake Charles.

Linzy Rousel Cotaya (2005) was selected as 2011 AMA Member of the Year by the New Orleans Chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Adam Causey (2005) is a watchdog reporter at The Florida Times Union in Jacksonville, Fla. Walter Gabriel (2006) in January founded the Law Firm of Gabriel, LLC in Atlanta.

Michelle Mathew (2007) is back at American University in Paris after spending last semester studying in Cairo. She will finish her coursework this semester for a master’s degree in Middle East and Islamic studies.

Ginger Gibson interviewing presidential candidate Ron Paul by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. She works at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Ginger Gibson (2008) in November joined Politico, a Washington-based political newspaper, as a national politics reporter. She was previously at the Newark Star-Ledger covering Gov. Chris Christie and New Jersey politics.

Katharine Gavin (2008; MMC 2010) is an associate at Greener & Hook, LLC in Arlington, Va. While in graduate school she served as a mentor at Koniag Education Foundation providing academic support to Alaska Native students.

Lindsay Newport (2008; MMC 2011) accepted a position in November as analyst with The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va. Tyler Batiste (2008) has been named deputy sports editor of the Wilmington, Delaware News Journal. He previously worked at the Houma Courier and Thibodeaux World.

Kyle Alagood with Janet A. Napolitano Kyle Alagood (2007) organized a presentation in June, 2011 by Janet A. Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Alagood is a research associate at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. Dana Tumblin (2008; MMC 2010) was selected as a 2011 Presidential Management Fellow, a prestigious program administered

Paige Payne (2009) is the regional family readiness coordinator of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Atlanta.

Alexandra Cranford (2009) is a meteorologist in Shreveport with the KTBS 3 Storm Team.

Whitney Breaux (2009) received her MBA in August from LSU and is in a pharmaceutical sales position with Eli Lilly Co. Summer Suleiman (2009) is an international news source assignment editor at CNN in Atlanta.

Erin Carmichael (2009) works for U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho).

Kelly Eason (2009) is an account executive at Obsidian Public Relations in Memphis.

Alice Womble (2011) is the community wellness administrator at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana in Baton Rouge.

Zac Lemoine (2011) is research editor at the LSU Office of Communications & University Relations.

Melissa Lee (2011) is digital media coordinator at The Moran Group in Baton Rouge.

Mark Francescutti, a Dallas Morning News senior managing digital editor, congratulates Kyle Whitfield (right) David Woo / The Dallas Morning News Kyle Whitfield (2009) received The Dallas Morning News’ award for Online Innovator of the Year at the annual Journalist of the Year banquet Feb. 14. The award was given based on his execution of the real-time high school football scoring project.

The Dallas Morning News is now the only news organization in the country that delivers real-time scores, stats and play-by-play for about 50 high school football games each week on the web and on mobile devices.

Nick Persac (2010) is a government reporter for The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette.

Aly Neel (2010) is a correspondent for Today’s Zaman in Istanbul, Turkey.

Madeline Peters (2010) started a new job Feb. 6 as coordinator in the media relations department at MSNBC. She previously worked on MSNBC’s “The Morning Joe Show.”

Samantha Navarre (2011) is chapter development consultant for Kappa Delta Sorority.

Cassie Arceneaux (MMC 2011) is assistant director of communications for the LSU College of Engineering.

Christopher Hagan (2011) is weekend sports anchor and reporter at KSNF-TV in Joplin, Mo. Lance Frank (2011) is a publicist at the CBS News Press Office assigned to the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.”

Lance Frank with Scott Pelley Ted Greener (MMC 2011) is an assistant account executive in the public affairs group at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in Washington.

Melissa Hart (2011) moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., in August to intern with the Fiesta Bowl. She works in the event operations department and coordinates auxiliary events.

2011 Forty Under Forty Awards Congratulations to Melissa Parmelee (2005) and John Snow (2007; MBA 2010) who were recognized by the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report as two of 40 men and women under the age of 40 who are influencing the Capital Region. Parmelee is director of major gifts at the Capital Area United Way in Baton Rouge. Snow is a consultant at SSA Consultants.

T h i r ty Y e a r s L a t e r . . .

A pair of 1981 J-School graduates reconnected and married 30 years after graduating from the school. Katherine Jensen and Bob Boccaccio married April 2, 2011, in Baton Rouge. Katherine is senior editor for the New York city-based Chain Store Age magazine and Bob is owner of Boccaccio Productions, based in Baton Rouge.

ALUMNI ANNOUNCEMENTS

Deaths

Books in Print Rachel Emanuel (1977; MMC 1990) with Alexander P. Tureaud Jr. has written “A More Noble Cause: A.P. Tureaud and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Louisiana” (LSU Press) Sandra Cordray (1989 MMC) with Denise Danna received a 2010 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers for their book, “Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina.” Also, they received a Book of the Year Award from the American Journal of Nursing.

Timothy Rodrigue (1998 and current master’s student) has written “Vlad Dragwlya: Son of the Dragon,” published by Gate 6 Publications. Rodrigue is the assistant director of alumni and external relations for the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business.

Julie Guidry Laperouse (2003) published her first book, “Are You A Screaming Peacock?” She, her husband and two children recently moved back to Baton Rouge from Jackson, Miss.

Births Tristi Bercegeay Charpentier (2005; 2007 MMC) and husband, Devin, had a son, Owen Luke, on Jan. 31, 2011. Tristi is the corporate giving administrator at Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Baton Rouge.

Becky J. Norvell (2005) gave birth to a son in May 2011. Also in May, she graduated from Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Johnson City, Tenn., with a Master of Divinity in Christian care and counseling.

TaRhonda Thomas McKee (2005) and husband Mike had their third child, Ruby, born July 14, 2011. TaRhonda is anchor of the Daily Connection Show at KUSA-TV in Denver.

Julie Guidry Laperouse and Chad Sabadie, WBRZ sports reporter

Marriages Terri Broussard (1999) married Lemuel Williams, former University of Texas basketball player, on March 19, 2011 in Lakeway, Texas.

Broussard is affiliate vice president, government relations for the American Heart Association in Austin. She was recently appointed to the Leadership Austin board of directors and selected for Austin Under 40 for 2011.

Chad Sabadie (2003) married Brooke Ellis on Jan. 12, 2012. He is a sports anchor and reporter with WBRZ in Baton Rouge.

Tambry Reed (2006) married Sam Slavich in May, 2011. The couple resides in New Orleans where Reed is a public relations manager at Zehnder Communications.

The wedding of Terri Brousard and Lemuel Williams

Kyle Bove (2011) married Gerri Sax (2011) on Feb. 11, 2012, in New Orleans. They met while working on The Daily Reveille, and he proposed to her at an LSU football game. Kyle is the communications coordinator for Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in Baton Rouge and Gerri is a post production assistant at Post Matters.

Emily Tiller (MMC 2011) married Andrew Wascom on Feb. 3, 2012. Emily is the program coordinator for the Manship School Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs and will teach a mass communication course in the fall.

Malva Haynes Huson Brown (1937) died Feb. 16, 2012, in Charleston, W.Va. at age 96. She was a Reveille editor (which is how she met her first husband, Roland T. Huson, also a J-School graduate and a 1995 inductee into the Manship School Hall of Fame). Her son said she was still bright, curious and editing a novel until shortly before her death. She is the mother of Roland T. Huson III (BAJ 1966) and stepmother of Ann Brown Singleton (BAJ 1968). The family asks that friends consider remembering her with a donation to the Roland T. Huson Jr. and Malva Haynes Huson Scholarship Fund in the Manship School.

“Reveille Seven” member Carl Corbin died Aug., 19, 2011 in New Orleans at age 96. Corbin graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Missouri after he and six other journalism students were expelled from LSU for planning in 1934 to publish a letter scrutinizing then-Sen. Huey P. Long. After graduation he worked for The TimesPicayune for five years before enlisting in the Army. He later held positions as managing editor of The Hattiesburg American and editor of The New Orleans States. According to his son, Carl Corbin Jr., his father stood by the actions of The Reveille Seven until his death.

Retired army Major Gen. Robert Bruce Smith died July 1, 2011 in Napa, Calif. at age 91. He graduated in journalism in 1941 and was commissioned from ROTC as a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation. He served as a plans and operations officer of the 83rd Division Artillery in Europe during World War II. After the war he worked two years for the Lake Charles American Press as news editor before being recalled to active military service in 1947. He served two tours on the Army staff in the Pentagon before being promoted to brigadier general in 1962 at age 42. He retired from the army in 1973 and moved to Napa with his family. He was inducted into the Manship School Hall of Fame in 1996.

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www.manship.lsu.edu Coming Soon March 22, 4:30 PM–6:30 PM Public Policy Fellow Mark Fenton Holliday Forum, Journalism Building Healthy Community Design: A Local Policy Playbook for Health, Economics and the Environment

March 30, 8:30 AM–3:00 PM Breaux Symposium Holliday Forum, Journalism Building That’s the Way It Is: Media Propaganda and Its Impact on American Democracy

April 19 Hall of Fame Dinner Juban’s Restaurant April 20 Rex Reed’s play, The Man That Got Away: Ira Gershwin After George Student Union Theater

2012 ANNUAL FUND The 2012 Excellence Fund, chaired by Richard Manship, provides students and faculty with resources such as technology, travel supplements, research funding, library materials and distinguished guest speakers.

Please consider making a difference in the education of our students. Richard Manship will generously match a gift made prior to June 30 from any “first time” donor, or any increase in a current donor’s gift over last year up to $500! What a great way to leverage your hard-earned money.

Your tax-deductible investment in the school will come back to you many times over as you watch our graduates excel in the workplace as the academic reputation of the school continues to grow. Simply fill out the information to your right and return it to the school.

PLEASE SEND US YOUR NEWS SEND TO: Galley West, c/o Linda Rewerts Manship School of Mass Communication • Louisiana State University • Baton Rouge, LA 70803-7202 PHONE 225.578.2418 • FAX 225.578.2125 • EMAIL jrrewe@lsu.edu

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