Category: Class Notes

Renee Cordes, deputy editor at Mainebiz, won three Gold Awards from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers in the 2025 Editorial Excellence Awards. Her first-place finishes were for Best Feature Single Story, Best Explanatory Journalism and Best Beat Reporting, Economics and Finance. Mainebiz, part of New England Business Media, is based in Portland, Maine. Renee, who spent most of her professional career in Europe, joined Mainebiz in 2017 as a senior writer and was promoted to deputy editor in early 2025.

Carrie A. Liberante was named Vice President of Communications and Strategic Initiatives at Thriving Mind South Florida. She previously served as Senior Director of Communications for the organization. Before joining Thriving Mind, Liberante worked in communications at medical schools in Florida and as a health writer and city editor at newspapers in the Northeast.

James was selected as a 2025-2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He will be among 24 journalists spending the academic year at Harvard where he plans to study documentary theatre and how the stage can be a medium for investigative journalism and storytelling. James is also the host and reporter of the new investigative podcast Heat Listed, from Wondery and Vespucci Group. The series follows a Chicago family’s journey out of the cycle of violence and a police initiative — ripped from the pages of science fiction — that sets out to stop gun violence and help break such cycles.

Ian Douglass was a member of the creative team that received a 2025 Webby Award for “Leroy Smith: Michael Jordan’s Myth,” which was the winner in the Sports Video & Film category.

On April 1, 2025, David Jakubiak was elected to a four-year term on the board of the Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Public Library in Brookfield, IL. David is a Senior Vice President at the Chicago public releations firm Aileron Communications and lives in Brookfield.

David Plazas joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 5 as deputy managing editor, opinion, serving as an editorial board member. He is leading the esteemed publication’s opinion and engagement efforts, including editorial writing, editing opinion submissions, and conducting community conversations on topical issues.

Plazas previously worked at Gannett Co. for 25 years, most recently as opinion and engagement director for The Tennessean and the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He led the publication’s Civility Tennessee campaign, coordinated the Black and Latino Tennessee Voices initiatives, wrote nationally award-winning editorials, and moderated multiple federal, state, and local candidate political forums. He started his career as a reporter at The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida shortly after completing his MSJ at Medill. He rose the ranks, including serving as Spanish-language community editor, community conversations editor and digital engagement editor.

James was selected as a 2025-2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He will be among 24 journalists spending the academic year at Harvard where he plans to study documentary theatre and how the stage can be a medium for investigative journalism and storytelling. James is also the host and reporter of the new investigative podcast Heat Listed, from Wondery and Vespucci Group. The series follows a Chicago family’s journey out of the cycle of violence and a police initiative — ripped from the pages of science fiction — that sets out to stop gun violence and help break such cycles.

Kristin Thorne won her third Emmy award during the 67th Annual New York Emmy Awards on October 26, 2024. She won for her investigative piece on unidentified human remains at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. Missing of the Morgue can be streamed on Hulu or Disney+ under Kristin’s original true crime series, Missing.