Alumni News

MARGO ASHMORE (B.A. ’78) publishes a twice-monthly community newspaper, the Northeaster, serving Northeast Minneapolis, St. Anthony, Columbia Heights and Hilltop.

EMMALYNN BAUER (B.A. ’12) started as the Director of State Agency Communications at the Office of the Governor Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan.

GREGORY BORCHARD (B.A. ’99), professor in the Journalism and Media Studies Department at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas, is editing the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Journalism for SAGE Publications. He was named the editor for Journalism History, an AEJMC Division Journal in 2018.

PHAVANNA NINA BOUPHASAVANH

(B.A. ’03) was accepted to graduate school at the Earl Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing, and still runs her storytelling business with an emphasis in copywriting for Fortune 500 companies.

EVAN CORDES (B.A. ’07) has been made a partner at the law firm of Hansen, Dordell, Bradt, Odlaug & Bradt where he practices in the area of workers’ compensation and employment law.

MARK ENGEBRETSON (B.A. ’89, M.A. ’09) is the director of communications for the University of Minnesota Libraries. He produced and directed “Jay’s Longhorn,” a 2019 documentary film about the origins of the Punk Rock/Alternative Rock/New Wave scene in Minneapolis. The film won Best Music in a Feature Film at the Queen City Film Festival in Maryland. MCKENNA EWEN (B.A. ’09), producer at CNN, was named 2020 Video Editor of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association.

AMY FELEGY (B.A.’19) is a reporter for CTV in the North Suburbs and the Chaska Herald. Her photographs were also selected to appear in a Minnesota magazine.

AMANDA FRETHEIM GATES (B.A. ’03) received the Outstanding Service Award from the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts in February 2020.

ANNE GREER (B.A. ’73) is program director for the Conference Board, where her work involves designing and delivering programs for top executives of innovation and market insights from a diverse set of major companies. All of the organization’s in-person meetings since March had to be converted to web meetings with a focus on the COVID-19 situation—to provide current unbiased information and exchange ideas for dealing with the crisis.

BETTE HAMMEL (B.A. ’47), author of six books, has a new historical fiction book coming out soon.

JESSICA HART (B.A. ’19) is a multimedia journalist at KRCG in Columbia, Mo.

MUNA HASSAN (B.A. ’11) is the CEO and founder of Body and Mind by Muna. Seeing a major gap in content geared toward Muslim women wanting to get fitter and eat better, Hassan created an app specifically catering to this market. The app—Muslimah Fit— officially launched in the Apple Store in May. ALYSSA HODENFIELD (B.A. ’18), video producer at The Sacramento Bee, was named a local news finalist for the Livingston Awards for the documentary she produced, S.A.C., which explores the legacy of Stephon Clark and looks at the lasting impacts of Clark’s death on his family, the Sacramento area and the legislation and policy changes that have come since.

MARSHALL HOFFMAN (B.A. ’86) has been the news director for the KMRS/ KKOK radio stations in Morris, Minn., for the past two years after 13 years in print journalism.

JANE E. HOSMANEK KAISER (B.A.’78, M.A. ’80), writing as Seelie Kay, released her 15th book, “The White House Wedding,” on Feb. 14. Her 16th book, “Martimus,” will be released on May 29.

JEAN NAYAR (B.A. ’80) completed a book called “Lucky—Anil Nayar’s Story: A Portrait of a Legendary Squash Champion,” a biographical memoir on the barrier-breaking sports career of her husband, who blazed a trail to the top of the international stage in squash, was the first Indian to serve as captain of Harvard University’s squash team, and was recently inducted into the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame.

ANITA NELSON (B.A. ’90), president and owner of IN Food Marketing & Design, celebrated her company’s 25th anniversary in March 2020.

JAMES NELSON (B.A. ’83) is awaiting publication of his fifth nonfiction book about the American military experience in World War I. The York Patrol, to be published by William Morrow in February 2021, follows his previous books The Remains of Company D, Five Lieutenants, I Will Hold—which won the 2017 Colonel Joseph Alexander Award for

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Have news to share? Send it to murphrep@umn. edu for inclusion in the next issue. biography from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation—and The Polar Bear Expedition.

KATE NELSON (B.A. ’07), editor-inchief of Artful Living, received a 2020 Top Women in Media Award presented by Folio: and AdMonsters, a prestigious accolade bestowed upon a group of women who represent the best and brightest up-and-comers, entrepreneurs, change-makers, corporate champions, and industry trailblazers in the publishing industry.

MARY LOU (KROENING/GUST)

NEMANIC (B.A. ’75, M.A. ’77) released her new book, “Metro Dailies in the Age of Multimedia Journalism” (Temple University Press), about the struggle to keep metro daily newspapers alive and the people who are dedicated to that struggle.

MICHAEL NORTON (B.A. ‘86) wrote Chasing Maine’s Second, a profile of the first federal election decided through ranked choice voting.

JANESSA PALMER (B.A. ’17) recently completed a Master’s of Environmental Science at Antioch University New England.

JOEY PETERS (B.A. ’08) joined the Sahan Journal as a reporter covering health issues affecting Minnesota’s immigrant and refugee communities.

EMILY (BANKS) PHILLIPS (B.A. ’08) launched a new digital video franchise for Hearst Television, showcasing the company’s 26 local news stations’ exceptional coverage of the coronavirus in their communities.

KIMBERLY RODEN (B.A. ’77, M.A. ’87), career mentor at the Women’s Resource Center of Sarasota was

Three Hubbard School graduates were named to AdFed’s 32 Under 32 in May 2020: ANNIE (ECONOMOU) MULLINS (B.A. ’13), connections strategist, MONO; ELLENI PAULSON (B.A. ’15), social media strategist, Colle McVoy; and JAYNA WILCOX (B.A. ’15), senior digital sales strategist, Hubbard Broadcasting Corporate.

the recipient of the Gulf Gate Elementary School Outstanding Senior Volunteer of the Year award given by the Sarasota County Schools.

BABATUNDE SANTOS (B.A. ’19) was hired as a general assignment reporter at WLUK Fox 11 in Green Bay, Wis.

CLINT SCHAFF (B.A. ’00) is the vice president of strategy and development for the Los Angeles Times, and business leader of L.A. Times Studios. He was named to AdWeek’s Creative100, which honors 100 innovative minds leading creativity in marketing, advertising and media.

JENNY SILGEN (B.A. ’05) began work at Medtronic as a principal marketing specialist in the Cardiac and Vascular Group. Previous to Medtronic, she held marketing roles at Target and Strother Communications Group (SCG).

BRIANNA SMILEY (B.A. ’19), associate account executive at The Lacek Group, was nominated for AdFed’s 32 Under 32 honor.

SCOTT STACHOWIAK (B.A. ’83) is the senior vice president at Health Media Relations with Porter Novelli Public Relations. Prior to joining Porter Novelli, he was at Russo Partners in New York, after leaving ABC News and his broadcasting career in 2016.

MARSHALL TANICK (B.A. ’69), a partner with the Twin Cities law firm of Meyer Njus Tanick, was named an Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer magazine.

Due to COVID-19, ANNE THOMPSON (B.A. ’19), marketing specialist at Be The Match, helped her team transition to digital marketing campaigns, further implementing paid and earned media.

KASISOMAYAJULA VISWANATH (Ph.D. '90) participated in the University of Minnesota's Consortium on Law and Values webinar titled “Communicating Science to Reduce Health Disparities in a World of Communication Inequalities” in April 2020.

HEATHER L. VOORHEES (M.A. ’15) begins as an assistant professor of Communication Studies at the University of Montana in Missoula in August 2020. She will be the department’s first faculty member focusing on Interpersonal Health Communication.

CHARLEY WALTERS (B.A. ’75) is in his 44th year with St. Paul Pioneer Press. He is a former Minnesota Twins major league pitcher (1969) and current member of Major League Players Alumni Association. He is a former Minnesota Daily sportswriter and currently writes about sports for the Pioneer Press.

JEFF ZUCKERMAN’S (M.A. ’90) memoir, “Unglued: A Bipolar Love Story,” is scheduled for publication in the summer of 2020. The book is a hopeful story about the effects of a wife and mother’s late-onset mental illness on her family, particularly her husband.