Matt Waite holding his copy of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, awarded to the St. Petersburg Times staff

Lincoln, Neb., July 28th, 2010 — Matt Waite, a 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Politifact.com, will teach this fall in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Waite will teach a new course, “Developing New Media,” designed to teach students to develop new digital information products.

“We’re going to talk about audience, journalism, business models, technology, marketing — the whole spectrum you have to go through to go from idea to launch,” Waite said. “We’re going to argue, we’re going to build, and we’re going to have fun.”

A journalist and programmer and UNL alumnus, Waite is the principal developer of PolitiFact.com, a website on which St. Petersburg Times reporters fact-check statements by politicians and publish the evaluations. It was the first website to receive a Pulitzer for national reporting.

PolitiFact combines reporting with Web development, and also has won a Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism. Waite won a second Knight-Batten Award this year for The Obameter: Tracking Obama’s Campaign Promises. The Knight-Batten Awards recognize creative, innovative news and information efforts that help involve citizens in public issues and supply opportunities for participation. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funds the award program, offering a $10,000 grand prize and $6,000 in special distinction awards.

“Journalism today is helping people get the information they need to make decisions that improve their lives,” said Gary Kebbel, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. “Politifact and the Obameter do exactly this, using data, fact-checking, reporting and easy-to-understand graphic displays. Our students will learn from the best in the business how to create 21st century information projects.”

Charlyne Berens, associate dean of the college, agreed: “This kind of class will help our college take another step toward preparing our students not only to work in new media but to actually be able to make new media. Matt created and built PolitiFact, combining his journalism skills and his Web skills. In this class, he will help our students explore that same kind of creative combination.”

“I’m probably out of my mind,” Waite said, “but I can’t think of anything more fun than real world, pedal to the floor, see your idea built before your eyes kind of mayhem.”

The three-credit hour class begins Aug. 24 and runs for 16 weeks.

Waite graduated in 1997 from UNL with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and began his career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock. In 2000, he moved to the St. Petersburg Times, covering crime and city government in a suburban county. In 2003 he moved to the metro staff, and later to the investigative staff. Waite combined his reporting skills and Web experience to create an accessible and usable database of information for news consumers during the 2008 election. Launched in 2007, PolitiFact.com fact-checked the 2008 presidential campaign, then expanded to fact-check congressional and White House members in January 2009.

From 2005 to 2007, Waite co-authored a series of award-winning stories about Florida’s vanishing wetlands. That work was later expanded into a book, “Paving Paradise: Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss,” published in 2009 by the University Press of Florida. In 2009, he co-founded Hot Type Consulting, a company that builds applications for media outlets. Hot Type helped to launch a major new nonprofit journalism entity at the Texas Tribune and has produced award-winning websites for other clients.

Erin Balderson is working for Honeybaked Ham as office manager and in-house marketing coordinator.

Katelyn Bierman is an on-call crew member for NET sports remotes.

Rachel Bruss will attend graduate school at UNL this fall.

Andrew Ciaccio has relocated to Los Angeles where he works for Kastner & Partners Advertising Agency.

Marianne Cicmanec, former member of the Husker women’s tennis team, is attending the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles.

Justin Dahlke is doing an internship with the Willmar Stingers of the Northwoods League. He is production manager for the Wilmar, Minn., baseball team’s 35 home games.

Sarah Davis will be a full-time middle school language arts teacher at St. Joseph’s School in York this fall and will begin work on a master’s degree in secondary education.

Lindsay De Marco works for R5 Productions in Philadelphia, Pa.

Lauren Garcia is serving as a Catholic missionary for the next two years.

Nicole Gatz is an executive sales associate at Broadcast House in Lincoln.

Elise Hernandez works at Archrival ad agency in Lincoln.

Johnna Hjersman is a copy editor with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock.

Ivanna Jackson will attend graduate school to earn a master’s degree in media management and corporate communication.

Janelle Keeler is studying abroad in Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand.

Adam Kiser joined Bailey Lauerman as an interactive developer in the agency’s digital department.

Jennifer Larson is a media relations intern at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill., this summer, and will return to UNL for graduate school in the fall.

Bryce McLeay has been accepted into the masters of fine arts program at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, Calif.

Lauren Piller is working for the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa as a girls service manager.

Brady Potthoff is working at the Grand Island Independent.

Katelyn O’Rourke is working at Pine Cove Christian Camps in Texas this summer and will travel with Up With People next spring.

Natasha Richardson has joined the Seattle Times for a copy editing internship.

Kelli Sajevic is interning for Christ in Youth church camp this summer and will move to Kearney, Neb., this fall to intern with Christian Student Fellowship at UNK.

Michael Sammons has an art director internship at Bozell in Omaha.

Mike Schaefer has joined the sports department of the Columbus (Neb.) Telegram. His prior work experience includes free-lancing for The Advocate, a Louisiana newspaper, and UNL’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Nebraskan.

Alina Selyukh is interning with Thomas Reuters in Washington, D.C., this summer.

Spencer Shute is the operations manager for Staples in North Platte, Neb.

Erin Sorensen will attend graduate school in marketing, communication and advertising at UNL this fall.

Tyler Thomas is studying abroad in Southeast Asia and will be an interactive project coordinator at Swanson Russell in Lincoln when he returns.

Steven Treat plans to teach English in Asia and then return to the states to study documentary film studies in graduate school.

Anthony Troester is a communications specialist for CEDARS, a non-profit child care organization in Lincoln.

Jessica Williams is director of marketing for DiVentures, a full-service scuba and swim facility in Omaha.

Joan Wortmann is working on an account team for Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago, Ill.

2009

Brent Atema started a website called Global Football Today in April. He and co-founder Matthew Martin hope to provide worldwide coverage of soccer. The site is at http://www.globalfootballtoday.com .

Scott Koperski of St. Paul joins the Beatrice Daily Sun where he is the new city and business reporter. Koperski worked as an intern for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and has written for Lincoln 55+ magazine and The Daily Nebraskan.

Lindsey Smith and her husband, Bob O’Brien, also a UNL graduate, began teaching English to schoolchildren in Busan, South Korea, at the Corem Language School at the end of June. They will teach for one year. Prior to leaving for South Korea, Smith was the marketing manager for an Omaha-based, online childrens clothing company called www.sophiasstyle.com where she was in charge of writing and maintaining the company blog and creating the content for weekly e-mail promotions.

Nicole Steier joined Crossroads of Western Iowa in February as its development director. Her duties include increasing public awareness about Crossroads’ programs and services and organizing and implementing foundation events and campaigns.

2008

Brittany Jeffers has been promoted to morning and midday news anchor at KLKN Television, Lincoln’s ABC affiliate, in March. Jeffers joined Channel 8 Eyewitness News as a reporter in June 2008. Crowned Miss Nebraska in June 2009, she finished in the top 10 in January’s Miss America pageant.

Michele Kaiserman is an associate executive with Mechanical Contractors Association of Omaha, a professional association representing contractors in the mechanical construction industry.

2007

Stephen Hermann has been named managing editor of the Hastings Tribune. His previous newspaper experience included working on the news, sports and or photo desks at the Lincoln Journal Star, Omaha World-Herald, the Storm Lake (Iowa) Pilot-Tribune, the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel, the Arcadia (Wis.) News-Leader and the Curry Coastal Pilot in Brookings, Ore.

Mark Mahoney received the Outstanding Young Journalist Award from the Nebraska Press Association at its annual convention in April. Mahoney joined the Missouri Valley Times-News and Washington County Pilot-Tribune/Enterprise in Blair, Neb., in February.

Nels Sorensen was promoted to director of marketing for Lambert Vet Supply, a distributor of animal health care products. He began as a creative services specialist with the company in 2007.

Brad Young is an audio/video production coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs. He creates animations for Arrowhead Stadium’s big screens. Young writes, directs and produces content for KCCHIEFS.COM, the official website of the Kansas City Chiefs.

2006

Joey Lomicky is a communications consultant in corporate communications with Xcel Energy in Minneapolis. He previously worked for several public relations agencies in the Twin Cities, developing award-winning public relations campaigns for clients such as Jim Beam, General Mills and the National Marrow Donor Program. Xcel Energy is a U.S. electricity and natural gas company with operations in eight states.

Alyssa Schukar, photographer, and Ben VanKat, designer, of The Omaha World-Herald, each earned an award of excellence in the 31st annual Society for News Design Best of News Design contest. A multiple-page sports section titled “Formula for Success” won in the Special News Topics/Sports category.

2005

Sarah Johnson has been appointed manager of the Greater Omaha Young Professionals (YP), a group formed in 2004 to draw the next generation of leaders into the city’s business life. She comes to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce from The Reader & ABM Enterprises, also of Omaha. Prior to that Johnson was director of agency operations for Archrival.

Robert Jorgenson joined Steel Quill Writing Services of Lincoln. He brings 10 years of experience as a writer, producer and director of local television stations.

Patricia Vannoy has joined Mattson, Ricketts, Davies, Stewart & Calkins, a full-service law firm in Lincoln. Vannoy received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2009. Her primary areas of practice include investor rights, natural resources law and general civil litigation. She is admitted to practice in Nebraska and Colorado.

Jerry Widhelm is with ESPN in Bristol, Conn. He programs commercial content for ESPN’s international channels.

2004

Dirk Chatelain, a sports staff writer with The Omaha World-Herald, earned an award of excellence in the 31st annual Society for News Design Best of News Design contest. He was a reporter for a multiple-page sports section titled “Formula for Success” that won in the Special News Topics/Sports category.

Sarah Wootton Rider is with the Creighton University Office of Alumni Relations.

2003

Anna Jo Bratton is a regional editor for the Associated Press, working with reporters in 13 Western states. She’s based in Phoenix and leads the region’s immigration reporting team. Bratton moved to Phoenix in May 2009 from Omaha, where she covered Nebraska politics for AP.

Serena Carpenter, Arizona State University, has been named the recipient of the 2010 Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) New Faculty Research Grant. An assistant professor at the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, she specializes in newer media and media sociology. She has a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

Carrie Myers joined the Nebraska Alumni Association staff in 2010 as director of special events. A native of Lincoln she is seeking a Master of Arts degree from the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications’ MCA program. Prior to working at the Alumni Association Myers was an event and promotion coordinator at Union Bank & Trust.

2002

Lincoln Arneal received a Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law in May. As class president, he spoke at the 110th Law School graduation ceremony.

Brad Davis is a foreign exchange reporter for Dow Jones & Co., Inc., in New York City. His stories appear on Dow Jones Newswires and in the daily Currency Trading and weekly Forex Week Ahead columns of The Wall Street Journal.

Emily Hurd Davison was recently promoted to account director for the Coca-Cola account at Leo Burnett office in Chicago, Ill. She married last July to Matt Davison, a 2001 UNL communications grad.

Katie Kemerling has been promoted to a director position at Ervin & Smith Advertising in Omaha. Her duties will include strategic planning and overseeing product development and sales. Kemerling is a member of the Omaha Creative Institute Advisory Board, American Advertising Federation Omaha and the American Marketing Association.

Amanda McGill became the managing director of the YWCA Lincoln in January 2010. The Omaha native was elected to the Legislature in 2006 serving in Nebraska’s 26th legislative district. She was a television reporter for KOLN-TV and communications director for the Nebraska Democratic Party.

2001

Karissa Armstrong, of Omaha, organizes events for All About Omaha, a charitable and social organization aimed at keeping young professionals engaged in the city. Her most recent event was to raise money for the Winners Circle Educational Program at the Torchlight Ball held April 30. A broadcast journalism major, Armstrong previously worked in media planning and buying for an advertising agency in San Diego, Calif.

Danaria Farris McCoy, of Greenwood Village, Colo., has received a Gold U.S. MAXI Award in the ICSC U.S. Global Awards competition. McCoy, who is the director of marketing, helped ServiceStar Development Company win its award for a public relations campaign titled “We Are Making History” at its Freedom Crossing retail real estate property in Fort Bliss, Texas. ServiceStar was a finalist in ICSC’s Global Awards competition held in Las Vegas in May 2010.

Neal Obermeyer displayed a collection of his artwork in April at the Handmade Modern Studio & Gallery, a part of the Parrish Project, in Lincoln. The exhibit included editorial cartoons from the last 10 years. Obermeyer, who got his start at the Daily Nebraskan, draws for the Lincoln Journal Star, the Omaha Reader and the San Diego Reader.

2000

Doug Carr is a partner and vice president at Snitily Carr, a Lincoln- and Omaha-based full-service advertising agency. He co-founded the agency in 1992 with Dave Snitily.

Tina Reeves has joined Snitily Carr as an account director. In her new role she will lead the day-to-day team that provides full-service marketing communications and client relations support.

1999

Scott Claypool has been promoted to art director with the Pickering Creative Group in Lincoln. He has more than 10 years of experience in graphic design, including creating iconic brand identities, designing websites and developing print and emerging media applications.

1998

David Abele has joined Snitily Carr as the company’s director of design. He most recently was director of creative and strategic development with NeuLion Inc./JumpTV Inc.

Jina Paul has been named director of marketing at Clarkson College in Omaha. Prior to joining Clarkson, Paul was vice president of marketing and communications for Great Western Bank in Sioux Falls, S.D. Her experience also includes work for Nelnet and Union Bank and Trust of Lincoln.

1997

Tera Norris has been promoted to president of Junior Achievement of Lincoln. She was its director of marketing and events. Prior to that Norris worked for an accounting firm and the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.

Matt Waite received a Young Alumni Award from the Nebraska Alumni Association on May 7, 2010. He is the news technologist for the St. Petersburg Times/Tampabay.com, and is principal developer of Politifact, a data-driven website that checks the accuracy of claims by politicians and government officials. In 2009, Waite won a Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for Politifact. He has also won awards for reporting on Florida’s vanishing wetlands.

1996

Amy Schweitzer has joined The Grand Island Independent as a regional reporter. She will cover news and feature stories in central Nebraska. Schweitzer previously worked as the regional reporter and regional editor at the Kearney Hub.

1995

Rhonda Gerrard, general manager of NRG Media-Omaha, is a Midlands Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winner. The awards are given to entrepreneurs, business owners, managers and professional men and women under 40 years of age.

Rainbow Rowell returns to The Omaha World-Herald as a full-time columnist and feature writer for the Living section and Omaha.com. She was a World-Herald columnist in the Midlands section for nine years. Rowell left the newspaper in 2006 for a job with Bailey Lauerman, an advertising agency. She has completed her first novel, “Attachments,” due out next April.

1994

Kiley Cruse took over as Community Connection editor at The Omaha World-Herald in January. She replaces Veronica Daehn Stickney (’02), who is managing the World-Herald’s new momaha.com website. Cruse has been the chief photographer for the weekly Community Connection section and will continue to handle many of those photo assignments.

Kevin Kugler, of Omaha, has been awarded the title of 2009 Nebraska Sportscaster of the Year for the sixth time by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He is the host of Unsportsmanlike Conduct on 1620AM The Zone.

Ronald Ng has been named executive vice president and executive creative director of BBDO’s headquarters in New York City. BBDO is one of the world’s largest marketing communications networks, comprising 287 offices in 79 countries.

Shannon Uehling is a marketing communications manager at Stepping Stone School of Austin, Texas. Stepping Stone School provides early care and education programs for young children.

1993

Jon Vanderford, and his wife, Taryn Gilster Vanderford, became KOLN/KGIN-TV’s morning anchor team beginning Feb. 15. Jon had co-anchored the station’s evening newscast since 2003. Taryn began a career in radio, which grew to include work at a variety of local radio stations. She currently hosts “Design Time,” an interior design show that airs on 1240 KFOR AM Radio.

1991

Darran Fowler, a Hastings Tribune managing editor from 2001-2009, has been named publisher. He has been with the newspaper since May 1995. He was named president of the Nebraska Press Association during the organization’s annual convention in April 2010.

Monte Olson, a veteran marketer with 20 years experience, has been hired as president of Thought District. Thought District is a brand strategy and design agency located in Lincoln. He is president of the Lincoln Children’s Museum board of directors, a member of Rotary Club No. 14 and is on the board of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra.

1990

Jeff Carney has been promoted to managing editor for digital development at The Omaha World-Herald. The newly created position reflects the company’s increasing emphasis on Omaha.com and affiliated digital products such as Big Red Today, Momaha.com and Omaha.com mobile. More recently he has served as an assistant managing editor and headed recruiting efforts for the newsroom. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

1989

Lori Griffin is a sports clerk and reporter with the Lincoln Journal Star.

1984

Al Carl has been hired as news director at KMTV Action 3 News in Omaha. He comes to KMTV from FOX and NBC affiliates in Kansas City, Mo., where he served as executive producer for news for the past five years. Before that he ran newsrooms in Alabama and Georgia and was a newsroom manager at television stations in New York, Michigan and Iowa.

Doug Hindman is the author of an article, “Mass Media Flow and Differential Distribution of Politically Disputed Beliefs: the Belief Gap Hypothesis,” that appeared in the Winter 2009 edition of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Hindman earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and teaches at Washington State University.

1983

Tad Stryker signed copies of his new book, “Historic Photos of Nebraska,” at Nebraska Bookstore in Lincoln on June 12, 2010. The book is a collection of rarely seen black-and-white photos that document Nebraska’s evolution from its first settlers to the 1970s. He is editor at NebraskaPedia, a contributing writer at Huskers Illustrated and a corporate journalist at News Link.

1981

Kimberly Cuda has been named director of the Fremont Area Medical Center Foundation. She most recently served as the director of alumni affairs for the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Cuda holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

1979

Rob Barney of Gering, Neb., is the recipient of the 2010 Alumni of the Year Award from the University of Nebraska Panhandle Alumni Chapter. He is the sports director for KNEB Radio in Scottsbluff, Neb.

Steve Chatelain, and his wife, Mary Jo, have purchased Home Instead Senior Care in North Platte, Neb. Established in 1990, the office serves 13 counties in southwestern Nebraska. Chatelain continues to work as the publisher of the Kearney Hub.

1978

Lynette Staroska of Omaha manages the Corrigan Senior Center. She is an adjunct professor, part-time travel writer and tour host at Metropolitan Community College. Her most recent tour was to Pella, Iowa, in April.

1977

Doug Dohmen is a vice president of sales and marketing for Osiris Entertainment, a full service film distribution company in Chatsworth, Calif. He oversees the television, home entertainment and digital distribution of independent filmmakers’ projects. Dohmen began his career in 1989 as Midwest regional sales manager for Republic Pictures Home Video and was promoted in 1993 to national director of sales/home entertainment. In 1994, he was vice president of sales with Hallmark Home Entertainment. In 2007, he was recruited by Porchlight Entertainment to serve as director of sales for home entertainment.

Sue Weidner is a managing partner of Leopard Inc., of Omaha. In 2009, the company launched a website for entrepreneurs who want to start businesses in Nebraska. Weidner co-founded the company in 1987.

1976

J.D. Hansen is a director with the NFL Network in Culver City, Calif., a network he helped to create in 2004. He has directed Total Access, NFL Redzone, as well as the last five Superbowls. Hansen’s past experience includes directing and producing for Sports and Entertainment and NBC Sports in New York City for 13 years and CBS sports for six years. He has won a national EMMY Award four times and was nominated 25 times. He has directed television concerts for the Foo Fighters, B 52’s, Stevie Wonder, Travis Tritt and Cash Money Millionaires as well as the Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica.

1975

Ivy Harper of Lincoln won the Democratic nomination for the 1st District congressional seat in April. She is a contributing writer to American Politics magazine; author of a manuscript housed at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Mass., titled “A Change for All Seasons: A History of the Special Olympics,” and “Waltzing Matilda: The Life and Times of Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey.”

1974

Bill Bennett is a special projects/events planner with UCLA Athletics. For 32 years he worked in the collegiate sports information field at Nebraska, University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Dan Dillon, with KFDI News (KFDI 101.3 FM) in Wichita, Kan., is part of a news team that has won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. KFDI News will compete nationally against winners from 12 other regions.

1972

Deanna Sands was inducted into the Omaha Press Club Journalists of Excellence Hall of Fame in April. Sands started her newspaper career at her hometown Nebraska City News-Press. She joined The Omaha World-Herald in 1974 and retired in 2006 as the paper’s managing editor.

1970

Bob Thacker received an Alumni Achievement Award from the Nebraska Alumni Association on May 7, 2010. After retiring in 2004, he signed on as the new senior vice president for marketing at OfficeMax in the fall of 2005. He has earned national kudos at Target where he successfully redesigned the brand during his 12 years there and at the famed BBDO ad agency in the Twin Cities where he served as president and CEO for four years, starting in 1999, and has frequently consulted for some of America’s best-known retail brands.

1969

Richard Holman of New York City, N.Y., has been promoted to senior vice president at HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. He is a supervisory analyst in global research at the Americas Investment banking unit of London-based HSBC Holdings, one of the world’s biggest banking companies.

1954

Kristin Johnson Styers has published her second book, “Tea Pie, Love and Reality,” a collection of memoir essays she wrote over the last half century.

1951

Marlin Bree, Shoreview, Minn., won a first-place award in the annual writing contest of Boating Writers International. Bree’s story, “The Last Battle of the Grampa Woo,” appeared in the May-June 2009 issue of The Ensign, the magazine of the United States Power Squadron. His website is at www.marlinbree.com .

ENGAGEMENTS

2008

Metta Cederdahl and Andrew West are planning a July 17 wedding at First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln. She works at Meredith Corp. in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kristin Jirovsky and Nathan Knisley are planning an Aug. 7 wedding in Lincoln. Jirovsky is employed by Gallup in Lincoln.

WEDDINGS

2009

Mallory Hyland and Mitch Connelly were married June 4, 2010, in Lincoln. She is employed at KOLN-TV.

2007

Amanda Pohlmann and Steven Holzwarth, both of Lincoln, were married June 19, 2010, in Lincoln. She is employed as a production specialist with HuskerVision.

2006

Abbi Groteluschen and Benjamin Hellbusch were married Nov. 28, 2009, in Columbus, Neb. She is currently a marketing representative for Ernst Auto Center and Ernst Toyota in Columbus.

2005

Lindsay Geist and Seth Jonas were married June 26, 2010, in Fort Collins, Colo. She works for Yahoo! as an associate account manager.

2004

Elizabeth Garber and Richard Bastman were married May 15, 2010, in Omaha. She is a marketing specialist in the retirement plans division at Mutual of Omaha.

Lindsey Johnson and Brent Marr were married June 5, 2010, in Omaha. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in recreation administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

2003

Heidi Nelson and Jeremy Moore, both of Omaha, were married June 26, 2010. In 2007 she earned a Bachelor of Science in early childhood education from Peru State College and teaches  preschool for Hamilton Heights Child Development Center in Omaha.

DEATHS

1954

Francis “Frank” Scott, Alexandria, Va., died May 11, 2010. After a brief acting career, Scott rose through the ranks at radio and TV stations in Omaha, Tucson, Ariz., and Denver, Colo. He was pivotal in the creation of the Omaha Press Club and in 1984 was inducted into the Nebraska Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame. In 1976, he served as an NBC Radio vice president. In 1982, he was named director of programs for Voice of America and later became the director of VOA Europe headquartered in Munich, Germany.

Marjorie “Marj” Walsh of Ft. Collins, Colo., died March 1, 2010. She earned a Master of Public Relations degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and was a stay-at-home mom for 16 years before becoming executive director of CARE-A-VAN, a non-profit transportation service for the elderly, poor and physically or mentally disabled. She also oversaw RSVP (the Retired Senior Volunteer Program) and SAINT (Transportation by Volunteers).  For two years, she administered the bus system of the City of Ft. Collins and during that time secured grants for the combined city and Care-A-Van transportation maintenance facility.

1953

Donald Pieper, a veteran newspaperman, died Dec. 20, 2009. He was 78. Pieper wrote for publications across the United States. He was a columnist and reporter at The Omaha World-Herald; a columnist and assistant managing editor of the Lincoln Journal Star; a reporter for the Norfolk Daily News; a reporter, Omaha bureau manager and regional executive for United Press International; a columnist for the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune; and contributing editor for the Lincoln Forum Bulletin.

1950

Nancy Sayre Somermeyer, of Nebraska City, died March 9, 2010. In the 1960s and 1970s she served as the award-winning editor of the Osceola Record newspaper. In the 1980s she worked as an event coordinator for the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City.

1943

Barbara Rehberg Fox, 86, died Dec. 19, 2009. She was the founder of the Self Help Information Center of Nebraska, co-founder of Houses of Hope of Nebraska and co-owner of Antlers Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program.

1938

Betty Jayne Hill Knigge died Aug. 24, 2009, in Walnut Creek, Calif.

File photo: Professor Scott Winter teaches at KIJAC

Ten years ago, Kosovo was in the news every day. Today, many people have probably forgotten about the conflict that ripped the Balkans apart in the late 1990s.

But two J school faculty members have thought frequently about this small country. Barney McCoy and Scott Winter have traveled to Kosovo multiple times to teach students at the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication, known as KIJAC.

Naser Miftari, a 35-year-old Ph.D student at UNL, also has taught students at KIJAC. Before moving to Lincoln, Miftari was a reporter and editor from 1997 to 2006 at Koha Ditore (Daily Time), the largest independent newspaper in the country.

Kosovo is in the process of change. A new democracy, a new kind of journalism and efforts to repair ethnic and race relations are just a few of those changes.

McCoy said he has seen attitudes shift since his first visit to Kosovo in 2006. Before Kosovo officially declared its independence in 2008, “there was a lot of anxiety and hope that Kosovo would become a democracy and free standing country,” he recalled.

When McCoy returned to the country the same year, he encountered an air of freedom and exuberant emotion.

“At that point, there was a tremendous amount of hope and euphoria that the people of Kosovo finally had control of their destiny as a people and a nation,” he said.

File photo: Professor Barney McCoy teaches at KIJAC

When he returned to Kosovo in March 2010, McCoy noticed yet another shift.

“Some of the jaded attitudes have crept back into the picture (with regard to their government) because the new administration hasn’t done the things that many people expected or had hoped they would do,” he said.  “Sometimes you wonder if the expectations were too high and if anybody could meet those expectations, but they have great challenges.”

Memories still influence journalists

McCoy said Kosovar journalists still sometimes face the challenge of self-censorship. Some journalists remember not so long ago when they were threatened by mobs in a war-torn country.

“The greatest temptation when worried about retribution is to censor yourself, and that’s also the most effective form of censorship,” he said.

McCoy believes the people of Kosovo truly understand what a democracy is and how a free press should operate, but there is more to it than just understanding the concept.

“Understanding and making a democracy function are two very different things, and that’s the process that is still unfolding over there,” he said.  “It takes time.”

Media continue to struggle for freedom

Although the country has gained independence, Winter agrees that media outlets have not gained much freedom.

“Some are owned by the government, which can work, but even the independent media outlets (particularly the newspapers), are so dependent on the government for advertising,” he said. “The economy is so shot there that the only advertising revenue is through businesses and NGOs (non-government organizations) that are funded through the government.

“If the government doesn’t like your newspaper, they can pull funding, and you’ll be out of business.”

Kosovar journalists are learning how to cover news in a democracy, Winter said, “but there are too many obstacles right now, whether it’s government pressure through advertising or direct government pressure.  But I think they get it. They know what they want and are trying to get there.”

Women play a new role in Kosovo

Women’s role in Kosovo is also changing, Winter noted. In the past, few women had both children and careers. Today, though, many women are getting into journalism because they can see how important it is to their nation’s future, Winter said.

“They understand this is an opportunity to reshape history.  They’re just out of a civil war, they’re trying to build their economy, they’re trying to build their government.

“Journalism is one way they can make a difference in their country.”

McCoy said he also observed other differences on his most recent trip. He did not hear as many howling dogs in the streets at night nor did he see any armored personnel carriers with 30-caliber machine guns. The euro is now the currency of Kosovo, except in many Serbian villages. Infrastructure is improving, and some highway projects are underway. But the electrical grid still fails at random times and fairly often, McCoy said.

This fall McCoy hopes to finish a documentary focusing on where Kosovo was two years ago and where the country is today. The documentary examines the challenges and expectations for the country going forward.

Working toward a plurality of opinion

Miftari said he and his colleagues at the newspaper in Kosovo always wanted to get the story right. The paper exposed misdeeds not only by Serbians but also by local Albanians, and this didn’t always go over well in the society.

“What we hoped to achieve was plurality of opinion within society so that society doesn’t think all Serbs are bad or all Albanians are good,” he said.  “We wanted to remove those stereotypes.”

Miftari knows a lot has changed Kosovo since 1997 when he started reporting.

“Society itself has been more democratic and more accepting of different norms and cultures,” he said. “It strives toward multi-ethnicity. There were terrible crimes committed against Serbs right after the conflict, but that has changed.  For at least three years there haven’t been any serious incidents involving minorities.”

On his last trip, McCoy had an encounter that also speaks of progress. He visited a Serbian village in southern Kosovo where, a year ago, there had been rioting. He was accompanied to the village by an Albanian photographer, a Serbian interpreter and Tim Collins, a Bellevue, Neb., native who has lived in Kosovo for much of the past 10 years.

“We’re driving down the street, and all of a sudden a car comes speeding up the street and slams on the brakes,” McCoy said.

At this point McCoy wondered what was about to happen.

“A guy jumps out of his car and yells, ‘Tim Collins!’” McCoy said.

“Tim had lived in this village five years ago and used to coach the Serbian kids’ basketball team. The young man yelling at Collins had been one of his former basketball players. That’s a pretty good breakthrough.

“It’s (times like these) when you begin to understand that the dynamic isn’t the color of your skin or your nationality, but it’s how do you relate to people and how do you trust them? How do you learn to communicate on the commonalities that you share, as opposed to saying, ‘These are our differences.’”

Learning to know the Kosovars

Winter has been to Kosovo four times, one of those times as part of a student trip also taught by photojournalism teacher Bruce Thorson.

“My visits to Kosovo have been the best part of my professional career,” he said.

Winter admires the strength and character of the Kosovar people who’ve withstood so much.

“It’s obvious to me with what I see in the coffee shops, what I see in the bars, what I see from these people when they are working or unemployed, eating or anytime, is that they are savoring every day,” he said.

“Even being 10 years out of a civil war and the fact they have 44 percent unemployment and incredible corruption in their government, they (know they) can survive that. They’ve had worse. I could definitely embrace that attitude toward life.”

Winter said he hopes international connections will continue to be important for students at UNL.

“Every year it’s more and more clear to me that our students need to have more diversity and more of a global experience at UNL,” he said. “I think our global approach to media is really important, and I hope it continues.”

The benefits of a school of journalism in his country are evident to Miftari. He is glad his colleagues around the world are assisting with the journalism school during this period of change in Kosovo. Norway’s Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication sponsors the Nebraska-KIJAC connection, with in-kind contributions from UNL.

“This is precisely what one should shoot for in terms of long-term investment in journalism,” he said.

Miftari believes that the international connections benefit the society as a whole as they shed light on critical issues in Kosovo. This investment will in turn help Kosovo become more of a functioning democratic nation as it continues to evolve.

Computer screen shows the parties who are participating in the town hall meeting in KIJAC's studio

If one goal of higher education is to make students’ world bigger, the journalism college has found an efficient and cost-effective way to do that:  Get students from UNL talking in real time with college students in Kosovo, Norway and South Africa via an international town hall meeting.

“It’s really empowering to share ideas with people from around the world,” said professor Barney McCoy, who has led the J school’s involvement in the meetings. “By engaging in these meetings, we find that we have more in common and wish to do more than we imagined to make this world a better place.”

The college has been part of seven such meetings since the gatherings began in 2008. Discussions have focused on topics that matter to people around the world with specific attention to how the media have dealt with those topics.

Technical assistance for the hour-long, real-time meetings has come from professor Mike Goff, staff members Luther Hinrichs and Vance Payne and graduate assistant Belita Kalala.

Other participating universities are:  Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication in Kristiansand, Norway; the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication in Pristina, Kosovo; University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; and the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.

UNL students who attended the Feb. 24 town hall meeting about press censorship and press freedom wrote about their reactions to the process.

The technology was amazing

Marie Brew: I thought it was so neat how the set-up was and that you can actually connect with people across the world in a press conference online. I was very surprised and so impressed with this. I thought the meeting was very interesting, and it was really neat to hear the different opinions of the students and faculty members from the different institutes.

Jana Schneider: The video conference connecting Gimlekollen University in Norway, Wits University in South Africa, the University of Mississippi, the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communications and UNL is honestly what I found the most impressive about the international town meeting on Wednesday.  Technology has come such a long way, and to be able to accomplish this kind of interaction between students from all over the world is astounding.

The discussion of press freedom was fascinating

Nicol Woody: Knowing very little about this subject myself, I found the conversation quite interesting and wish there would have been a little bit more time.

Jana Schneider: Freedom of press varies greatly around the world today, and I found it really interesting when the professors from Norway stated that their journalists self-censor because the audience is very critical.  Even though they are not bound under any kind of law or procedure, they find it necessary to censor their work because of the citizens.  It’s similar in Kosovo and South Africa, while the professor from Kosovo explained that they have “no clear cut forums of censorship, journalists receive a lot of complaints and pressure from the government” and also backlash from their own people.

Press freedom is a complicated topic

Lauren Peterson: More than a third of the world’s people live in countries where there is no press freedom.  This statistic blew my mind.  I believe that many people in America, along with myself, take for granted the fact that we, as citizens of the United States of America, have the right to publish newspapers, magazines, and books without government interference or prior censorship.  It was particularly interesting to hear about the differences in degrees of censorship in countries right across the Atlantic Ocean.

Nicol Woody: I thought it was a good question South Africa posed to Kosovo about having parallel circumstances in a newly freed society and wondering what similarities they were experiencing.  It seems to be all about financial pressure to not print or report the truth at times because the government and interest groups are heavily involved financially

Marie Brew: From the professor in Kosovo, I learned that regular newspapers started functioning after the Second World War and that often many of the homework assignments given to students pertain to advertising in the media and how that creates a marketing issue. When discussing with the faculty from Norway I learned that they experience a lot of controversy. … In South Africa, the professor explained how they have a solid constitution guaranteeing freedom of media and speech but still experience problems with it and how the press is used as a weapon of struggle.

Lauren Peterson: I learned that in countries without freedom of the press, the government actually believes that the media exists to benefit them. As I listened to the students in other countries and even those sitting around me share stories of how they put themselves in danger to fight for the freedom to express themselves without government interference, I wondered if someday I would have the courage to do the same.

(l to r) Larry Walklin and John Bender

College of Journalism and Mass Communications professors John Bender and Larry Walklin served as chairs of two major university committees in 2009-10. Coincidentally, their offices are next door to each other on the third floor of Andersen Hall.

Bender, professor of news-editorial, was the chair of the Academic Planning Committee, a group that reviews and advises the chancellor about university budget and program cuts. Walklin, professor of broadcasting, headed the University Curriculum Committee, which must approve new courses or course content for undergraduate courses and determine which courses apply toward the general education requirements.

Interim dean Charlyne Berens said it’s unusual to have two members of the same faculty at the helms of two important campus committees.

“The UNL Curriculum Committee and the Academic Planning Committee are two of the most prominent and influential faculty groups on campus,” she said. “While our college is regularly represented on university committees, I think this is the first time our faculty members have been chairs of these important committees at the same time.”

Bender said the APC wants what’s good for the university, has a commitment to the university and is in a position to do good work because the members bring a many perspectives.

Walklin said that, in a way, the Curriculum Committee is the most important committee on campus because “the most important thing to any faculty member is the courses and overall curriculum.”

Bender and Walklin said both committees require major commitments, but both said they were happy to help UNL.

“John Bender and Larry Walklin are both good campus servants, willing to give their time and expertise to help the university function as it should,” Berens said. “We appreciate their willingness to serve.”

Sean Powers

Assisting with emergency deliveries of humanitarian relief aid to Haiti and Chile after the devastating earthquakes in early 2010 was something UNL Journalism graduate Sean Powers didn’t expect when he took a job with WTDC, a supply chain management company in Miami, Fla. WTDC handles shipments to and from the Americas and is a US Customs bonded warehouse for clients such as Bacardi USA. Powers, WTDC’s Marketing Coordinator, never thought he would be taking calls from federal and philanthropic organizations wanting advice on how to get relief supplies overseas.

Within 72 hours of the first quake in Haiti, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the FFA (Federal Aviation Administration) called upon WTDC to serve as a hub in helping store and organize the transportation of major relief supplies. Generators, diesel fuel, trucks, food, water and a 40-foot mobile Air Traffic Control Center were just some of many FFA shipments to Haiti. Shortly after learning of the earthquake and in the days that followed, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) such as Save the Children called wanting to help in sending relief.

“The real story here is that there were a lot of people and organizations that worked together selflessly, stepping outside their normal comfort zone. It was my task to let our contacts know we were able to process their relief cargo,” Powers said about his personal involvement in the relief. “People put their regular business on hold to help handle the humanitarian aid efforts.”

“With the overwhelming interest in sending relief to Haiti, Government and NGOs were at the top of the airport’s priority landing list,” mentioned Powers. “It just wasn’t possible for anyone to send cargo because when it arrived there were no workers or infrastructure on the ground to process it. Closures at the port and along the road from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince further complicated the situation. “At the end of the day, our management team was able to lean on its contacts to not only find out who was in charge, but to actually get the cargo to its final destination,” stated Powers.

Long-term rebuilding efforts in Haiti are just beginning, requiring a constant movement of cargo and machinery. President and CEO of WTDC, Ralph L. Gazitua stated, “The rebuilding of Haiti will continue for years even after the publicity subsides. The strength of NGOs will not only facilitate the physical rebuilding of Haiti, but its spiritual rebuilding as well.”

It’s a tough time to go into journalism. Many newspapers and broadcast networks are cutting staffs. Internships are harder to find. Online markets are cutting into the demand for professional news coverage.

But that’s not stopping some University of Nebraska–Lincoln students from transferring into the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

In 2009, 156 students from other colleges became journalism or advertising majors, according to Michael Goff, who advises students in the journalism college.

“We get good transfer students,” Goff said. “We are fortunate that we have a good reputation around the university, and as a result of that, the transfer students who come here are pretty darn good students.”

The decision is not all about money

Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson has fleeting thoughts of what her life could have been had she stuck with engineering, but she doesn’t regret her decision to transfer to the journalism college.

“I knew that even though I could make more money and get a job easier, I just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t worth it,” she said. “My heart just wasn’t in engineering.”

When Richardson decided to leave engineering, she transferred to English for a short time during her sophomore year. She quickly realized that English majors usually end up teaching English either in high school or college, which did not appeal to her. So she transferred again, starting her junior year as a news-editorial major. It took some hard work and a lot of summer classes, but Richardson is set to graduate in four years.

Richardson’s situation is rare, Goff said. The college doesn’t get many students transferring in from engineering, and those who do usually find themselves taking at least an extra year to graduate. Engineering, art and architecture students tend to have the hardest time transferring to the journalism school because many of their credits are major-specific and sometimes won’t count toward a journalism major. Most of the transfers come from areas more similar to journalism or advertising such as marketing, English or education, Goff said.

Students who transfer late in their college careers also have a harder time finishing in four years, Goff said.

“If somebody waits until they’re a junior — and many do — then they probably are not going to look at a four-year program anymore,” he said.

Students want to do what they’re good at

Bethany Hebert

Bethany Hebert is another former engineering major who has become a journalism major. But for her, the problem wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy engineering; she just didn’t like the extreme workload and some of the required classes.

“I really did like engineering; I just wasn’t very good at physics,” Hebert said. “My next favorite thing is writing, so I’d rather do that if I can’t build things.”

Seniors Megan Wirth and Carissa Rose both transferred to advertising from the College of Business Administration, and both are glad they came to the journalism college.

“Classes are smaller here. You actually get to know your professors,” Rose said. “They’re with you through the whole process. … It’s a more personal experience and they really care about you.”

Students polish their talents at CoJMC

Wirth switched because advertising matched her personality and goals better than business.

“I like the J school because it fits me better. It’s a lot more creative,” she said. “I can use more of my talents, and I’ve been able to discover more of my talents.”

This may be a tough time for journalism, but Richardson recommends that anyone who is passionate about the field and willing to work hard should consider transferring.

“Honestly, I don’t really know what I’m going to do after I graduate, after my internship,” Richardson said. And while she’s been thinking about pursuing other interests, she said, “I just can’t imagine doing anything else.

“I can’t imagine my life without journalism.”

Kirstin Wilder

Kirstin Swanson Wilder was inspired to go into journalism because a writer spelled her name wrong in the school newspaper in eighth grade. When she stormed down to the after-school program to correct them, the student journalists asked her to help improve the quality of the paper.

From then on, she was a journalist.

“I kind of got bit by the bug there,” she said. “I knew from that moment that I wanted to work on newspapers.”

Now, years later, Wilder is managing editor of the weekly Variety magazine, an entertainment news publication in print since 1905, and Daily Variety, a five-day-a-week newspaper that was founded in 1933.

Learning to love the newsroom

Wilder, who graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1989, took her first college journalism class during the summer before her sophomore year. The class was all day, she said, which made the experience more like a real newsroom.

“That was really great because it showed me the camaraderie that goes on in a newsroom,” she said. “I just wanted to be part of that.”

The J school emphasized the importance of professional experience, and the faculty were dedicated to helping students get summer internships.

Wilder said the help was invaluable. By the end of her junior year, despite applying to papers all over the country, she didn’t have an internship nailed down for the summer. Then Bud Pagel, one of her professors, called and asked her if she would be interested in working for the summer as a copy desk intern for the Raleigh Times in Raleigh, N.C. She happily accepted.

“That’s what really showed me that it was OK to move away from home, get out of Nebraska,” Wilder said. “I was miserable that summer, but looking back that was really good for me.”

The next year, Wilder secured an internship at the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Fla. There she learned about different newsroom jobs, which only solidified her desire to work as an editor and designer.

After graduation, she worked at the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., then followed a cute boy out to California, she said. At the time, Variety was looking for a layout editor who knew the business side of publications. Wilder interviewed and got the job.

Wilder came to Variety at just the right time. Four years before she started working there in 1992, a larger company had bought the magazine. With the new company came a lot of change, and Wilder was able to move up the ladder very quickly. That, and her willingness to work hard and be nice to people, brought her to the managing editor position in just 18 years.

“This kind of Midwestern work ethic … it sounds incredibly basic, but that was crucial here,” she said.

Wilder recruits for Variety at UNL

The Midwestern work ethic is one reason Wilder continues to look to UNL for talent. She has recruited about five Nebraskans to work at Variety, and she comes back to Lincoln every year to interview students for the summer internship program.

Last summer, she chose Shannon Smith, a senior journalism major, as an intern.

Smith remembers staying up late perfecting her portfolio the night before her interview, making sure everything was perfect.

“I was expecting to be really intimidated,” Smith said. “Then I went in there, and she was very nice and conversational.”

When Smith was searching for housing in Los Angeles for the summer, Wilder suggested some places. When those fell through, Wilder connected Smith with her neighbor, and Smith ended up living in the same duplex as Wilder. Because they were so close, the two got to know each other well — Smith babysat for Wilder’s two young daughters, and Wilder lent Smith a bike for the summer.

“She pretty much took care of me,” Smith said.

But even though they got to know each other well, when they were at work, Wilder was still the boss.

“She’s very nice. She’s conversational. She’s easygoing. She would help you through anything,” Smith said. “But she’s not your best friend; she’s your editor.”

Staying in touch and giving advice

After Smith returned to Nebraska in the fall, she and Wilder stayed in touch. Wilder has offered advice and support. For example, when Smith was worried about her career path, she said she called Wilder, who reassured her that she would succeed and offered to help in any way she could.

“She’s a career woman … but she balances that and is still a good friend and a good person,” Smith said. “The main things to know about her are that she’s fun, she’s smart, she knows what need to be done, but also just that she’ll go out of her way for anyone, I think.”

Even though Wilder graduated more than two decades ago, she still feels connected to UNL’s J school. The support she felt from her professors is one of the reasons she is where she is today, she said.

“They didn’t just disappear out of your life once they hand you a degree. I’m just always telling people what a great education I got there at Nebraska.

“I’m incredibly appreciative,” she said, adding, “My heart will always be in Lincoln, Nebraska.”

Courtesy photo, Mary Fastenau

Mary Fastenau lives where many people dream of being.

It took love, a big move to Hawaii and a career change for Mary Fastenau to find her passion.  Perhaps a little humor was involved, too.

Fastenau is the president and co-founder of StarrTech Interactive, a Web and strategic communications company based in Honolulu. The business she operates is basically a digital powerhouse, an interactive and Web development company that emphasizes creative Web design, strategic planning, consulting, interactive media and technology planning.  StarrTech Interactive, founded in 1995, is a division of Anthology Marketing Group, the largest communication company in Hawaii.

Fastenau received earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UNL in 1980 when most graduates went into newspapers.   “I started my career as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, where I was a Pulliam Fellow,” Fastenau said.

She then moved to The Lafayette Journal and Courier. “I was the education and police reporter at the time and had a publisher who suggested that I might be good at promotions.

“We made a deal that I would try promotions for a year, and if I didn’t like it, he would help me find a reporting job.  I soon found out that doing promotions was a good fit for me.”

Reporting and promoting in Indiana

Fastenau worked as a reporter and promotion manager for The Lafayette Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Ind., from 1980 to 1986, and later as the director of marketing support at The Marin Independent Journal in the San Francisco Bay area from 1986 to 1989.

She credits the move to Hawaii to John Flanagan, now her husband. “We both worked in newspapers in northern California until he was offered an editor position for The Honolulu Star-Bulletin,” Fastenau said.

Flanagan was the executive editor at the newspaper from 1987-1993, then editor and publisher until 2001.

“After he took the position in Honolulu, I stayed in California for two more years and then moved to Hawaii because of love.  It’s still kind of shocking, but it’s the smartest decision I’ve ever made,” Fastenau said.

In addition to common career interests, Fastenau and her husband also share a taste for adventure.  In 1989, they sailed from Seattle to Honolulu.  Once they arrived in Hawaii, the 37-foot sailboat became their home for a little more than a year in the Waikiki harbor, an experience that she calls “wonderful.”

Making the move to advertising

The move to Hawaii prompted Fastenau to explore working in advertising, and she worked for agency Starr Seigle McCombs in Honolulu from 1989 to 1997. She was promoted to vice president at the agency in 1990.

“I ended up going back to get my MBA at the University of Hawaii,” Fastenau said. “This is where I really saw the Internet for the first time and just loved what I saw.”

She saw potential for broader marketing philosophies, advertising and public relations opportunities through use of the Internet. The idea of keeping people up-to-date by using the Internet soon developed into a successful career. But it looked like a drastic step at the time.

“In 1995 people told me that I was committing career suicide,” Fastenau said. Turned out, they were wrong. Starrtech Interactive now has 25 employees; 120 total employees work for Anthology Marketing Group.

“The Internet is rapidly changing our thought processes and how we gather news and information.  Now, social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook are influencing how we gather information to an even greater extent,” Fastenau said.

Her large client base includes Marriott Hawaii, Bank of Hawaii, Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani, Hawaiian Telcom, Farmers Insurance, Symantec and Microsoft.  StarrTech Interactive also has a partnership with an agency that has offices in Seattle and Oakland, which will increase the opportunity to bring in more national clients.

Fastenau was named “Advertising Woman of the Year” for Hawaii in 2000 by the Honolulu Advertising Federation.

Fastenau puts the client first

Dean Fujitani, director of corporate marketing and strategic partnerships at Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani, first worked with Fastenau and StarrTech Interactive in the mid-‘90s, on what was Halekulani’s first website.  “Our website actually won Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Max Award in Technology in 1997,” Fujitani said.

Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani has worked with Fastenau on multiple Web development projects since the creation of that first site. “With Mary, it is never about her company — it is about us, the client,” said Fujitani. “More importantly, Mary has always had an extraordinary talent of attracting similar dedicated staff members who have added to StarrTech’s success, expanding her company beyond Hawaii and becoming one of the most effective online marketing firms found anywhere.”

Fastenau credits UNL with teaching her the fundamentals about journalism, things she uses every day. “I appreciate the basic, fundamental, education that Nebraska provides.”

And she has stayed  connected to her alma mater as a member of  Nebraska’s Alumni Association since 1980 and a member of  the Alumni Association’s Cather Circle, a mentoring and networking program for women, since 2004.

Shelley Zaborowski, associate executive director for the Nebraska Alumni Association, helped develop and launch Cather Circle in 1999.

“When I first met Mary, I was amazed that someone from Hawaii had come back for Cather Circle,” Zaborowski said. “She keeps coming back and rarely misses a meeting. She is a great role model for students, and her warm personality makes her very approachable. She is very positive and energetic.”

Courtesy photo, Todd Baer

After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, in November 2008, journalist Todd Baer searched for the untold story. He found out that a fisherman from Gujarat, India, was one of the first people killed. And he told that man’s story.

“That fisherman’s life is just as valuable as a wealthy businessman who was shot at the Taj Mahal Hotel,” Baer said. “That’s what journalism is about. Journalism is all about giving a voice to the people who can’t get a voice.”

Baer has traveled all over the world, finding people whose stories need to be told. He’s reported in Gaza, Lebanon, Kenya, Pakistan, Haiti and Iran, covering conflicts, wars, bombings and presidential assassinations. Baer has followed big international stories from country to country, no matter how dangerous.

In April, the 1997 J school grad visited Lincoln when the journalism college gave him the 2010 Will and Susan Norton Award for International Journalism. Baer was the featured speaker at the J Days honors convocation.

Growing up caring

Baer grew up in New York City, part of a Lebanese American family. From the time he was a child, he was a news junkie, his mother, Judy Baer, remembers:

“While other children his age were playing video games and listening to rock music, Todd was watching the evening news with Walter Cronkite and listening to a 24-hour news radio station.”

Judy Baer remembers when Anwar Sadat was assassinated in October 1981 and Todd woke his parents to tell them the breaking news.

As a teenager, Todd idolized Peter Jennings, who inspired his passion for international news, Judy Baer said.

Although his life-long dream has been to be an international reporter, Baer’s first job was as a desk assistant in New York with ABC News.  While he was there, ABC sent Baer, who had been a wrestler at UNL, to Iran to cover a wrestling competition. It was the first athletic exchange between the U.S. and Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution — and Baer’s first opportunity to report internationally.

When he left ABC, he worked as a reporter for local news stations in Austin, Texas, Hartford, Conn., and Minneapolis, Minn.

Baer received the Will and Susan Norton Award for International Journalism at the college's Honors Convocation April 8

In 2007, his contract with KSTP-TV in Minneapolis was about to expire, and Baer had two choices:  to accept an offer to renew his contract or take an opportunity to help start a television network in Pakistan.

“I took the biggest risk of my life. I traded in a three-year contract for a guarantee of 10 weeks of work in arguably the most dangerous city in the world, Karachi, Pakistan,” Baer said. “I was quite nervous, but I knew that this was a hot place, and if you’re going to be a foreign correspondent you have to be in the hot places.”

After training the staff at GEO-TV in Pakistan and  helping to launch TV news networks — in India and in Nairobi, Kenya — Baer freelanced for six months for CNN and ABC News, covering the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the suicide bombing outside the High Court in Lahore, Pakistan. He also was the first American reporter to interview the family of U.S. President Barack Obama in Kogelo, Kenya.

In 2008, Baer joined Al Jazeera English, the 24-hour English-language news channel based in Doha, Qatar. He worked primarily in the New Delhi bureau and later in Beirut, Lebanon.

Finding the important, interesting stories

Rick Alloway, a broadcasting professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, remembers Baer as a student andh ow he would stop by frequently to talk about journalism opportunities. Since he graduated, Baer has sent Alloway some of his work online, and Alloway said he has been impressed.

“Todd is willing to go wherever the big story is,” Alloway said. “There are certainly safer places to go, but Todd knows that’s where the interesting stories are. Some of the most important stories to tell are from the most dangerous places in the world, and Todd goes to seek those.”

To learn tips for survival when reporting, Al Jazeera sent Baer to a one-week training course conducted by former British military soldiers in London. He learned basic first aid, he learned how to spot land mines and he learned that he should often wear a Kevlar bulletproof vest.

“A lot of people don’t realize that when you go into a war zone, it is extremely serious,” Baer said. “The reality hits you when your boss asks you for your blood type and an emergency phone number. There’s a chance you’re going to be killed, and that’s the reality that we deal with.”

Baer said his team takes many precautions and talks about security constantly. When reporting, Baer can take two approaches:  high profile with armed security and cars or a low profile without protection. Baer often takes a low-profile approach in order to blend in and report the story fairly. He rarely has been embedded with a military unit.

Baer said journalists today are targets of terrorists or militant groups. Because many reporters have been killed or injured, news companies are reluctant to send people into a conflict zone. He appreciates Al Jazeera’s commitment to “fearless journalism,” and while the news organization knows that reporting is risky, it also knows the stories need to be told.

Judy Baer knows her son’s work takes him to some “scary places,” but she understands the motivation.

“My feelings can be summed up in two words: fear and happiness. Fear of his working in challenging places balanced with happiness that Todd is doing what he loves most.”

Reporting those stories is his way of helping the people he reports on, Baer said.

“My contribution is that I can tell this story,” he said. “If I do my job, other people will find out about it.”