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1980s 1990s Class Notes

Renee Cordes (BSJ89, MSJ90)

Renee Cordes, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, received a first place award in the 2022 New England Better Newspaper Competition for racial, ethnic or gender issue coverage by a specialty publication. The award, from the New England Newspaper & Press Association, was for a feature article about female entrepreneurs overcoming obstacles to raise capital. Cordes is a senior writer at Mainebiz.

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Neil Foote (MSJ84)

Neil Foote has jumped from the classroom to the administration of the University of North Texas New College, which is expanding its footprint with a brand new standalone campus in Frisco, Texas, one of the nation’s fastest-growing community colleges located just north of Dallas. He has worked as Associate Dean, Research, External Affairs, and Community Engagement. He now leads the internal and external marketing outreach as well as builds partnerships with local businesses and organizations to create more enriching, project-based, experiential research and learning. He was also elected as Board Chair of Forefront Living, a Dallas-based organization that provides active independent and assisted living, long-term care, Alzheimer’s and memory care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation therapies, hospice, and palliative care.

 

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Kevin Reece (MSJ87)

Kevin Reece is a 51-time Regional Emmy winner, currently at WFAA-TV in Dallas, where he recently received repeat Emmys for Reporter, Writer, and Video Journalist. Choosing to pick up a camera again late in his career, he has received the Lone Star Emmy for Video Journalist every year since 2015. And most of the credit goes to that sweltering camera-toting summer with Medill in D.C.

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1980s Class Notes

Mark Dillon (MSJ86)

Mark G. Dillon ’86 MSJ of Minnetonka, MN was named Chair of the Board of Directors of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI), a 2,000-member group dedicated to genealogy research, history and the advancement of Czech, Slovak and Carpatho-Rusyn culture. Dillon also serves on the Scientific Council of Kasigarda, the Museum of Emigration from Slovakia to North America, Tahyna, Slovakia.

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Steve Scully (MSJ85)

SiriusXM announced the launch of a new daily news and information program. Veteran journalist and Medill alum Steve Scully will host ‘The Briefing with Steve Scully’ – weekdays from 12-2 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. channel 124. On his new SiriusXM show, Scully – Senior Vice President at Washington, D.C.’s Bipartisan Policy Center – will take listeners inside the stories and conversations that are shaping the day in the nation’s capital.

In addition to his radio show, Scully will host regular events in collaboration with the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he currently serves as Senior Vice President. In his three-decade career at C-SPAN, Steve Scully served as C-SPAN’s political editor and a primary host. He also spent nine years on the White House Correspondents’ Association Board of Directors, including as president from 2006-07.

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Charles Pekow (MSJ80)

If you’re covering this year’s mid-term congressional elections, it might be worth a look at the spring Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists. Charles Pekow compiled advice from a variety of knowlegeable veterans, including Medill Professor Larry Stuelpnagel and alum Susan Page, among others. To find the sidebar on fact checking, you need to download the whole issue.

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1970s 1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Laura Washington (BSJ78, MSJ80)

Laura Washington (BSJ78, MSJ80) is starting a new job at the Chicago Tribune after 20 years at the Chicago Sun-Times. Her weekly column, featuring her reporting on race, politics and urban issues, will appear in the Tribune’s opinion section starting June 6.

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Michael Smith (BSJ82, MSJ82)

Mike Smith has been appointed to the board of governors of the National Press Club in Washington. He is also a member of the society of environmental journalists. Mike’s environmental reporting for Coastal Point newspaper has been honored by the MARYLAND, Delaware and Washington, DC (MDDC) Press Association.

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Deborah Douglas (BSJ89)

Deborah D. Douglas (BSJ89) is co-editor in chief of The Emancipator, which launched on April 25, 2022. The multimedia newsroom is dedicated to reframing the national conversation on race and presenting potential solutions toward an antiracist future. Douglas and co-editor in chief Amber Payne will build on the tradition of nineteenth-century antislavery newspapers to hasten racial justice in the twenty-first century.

Learn more at www.theemancipator.org.

Photo credit: Ven Sherrod.

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1980s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Neil Foote (MSJ84)

Cornelius “Neil” Foote (MSJ84) was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame, selected by the board and his peers, as a part of the 2021 class of Inductees. Foote is one of eight inductees to receive the prestigious honor.

Since graduating with a master’s degree from Medill, Foote’s career has spanned all corners of the world of journalism and public relations. Foote’s expertise ranges from his time as a journalist with The Miami Herald and Washington Post to teaching at University of North Texas to serving as principal for the integrated communications, marketing and public relations firm Foote Communications LLC. He has also contributed to promoting inclusivity within publications and spearheaded digital  strategy and new media efforts.  Foote currently serves as the president of the National Black Public Relations Society.