Category: Featured Class Notes

Sports journalist Christine Brennan was awarded the 2020 Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award, presented annually to an individual who has made “major contributions to sports journalism,” on March 4.

“This is such an honor,” said Brennan, who joined USA TODAY in August 1997. “I’ve been so fortunate to know or work with quite a few of the Red Smith Award winners over the years. They have been my role models, my editors and my mentors, so to join them is very humbling.”

Brennan is a sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator on ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour, NPR and a best-selling author.

Karen Entriken recently began a new role as Marketing Manager at Franklin Energy Services. The company designs and implements energy efficiency programs for utility, state, and municipality clients nationwide. Karen manages a team of marketing professionals to support energy companies in the mission to achieve energy efficiency and sustainability goals for industries and households.

Mauricio Pena, a news reporter for Block Club Chicago, was named one of the Chicago Scholars 35 under 35 on March 10.

Mauricio Peña covers Pilsen, Little Village, West Loop and Back of the Yards.  Before joining Block Club Chicago, Peña was an Associate Digital Editor at Chicago magazine. He previously worked as a breaking news reporter at DNAinfo, and an investigative reporter covering immigration and equality at the Desert Sun for the USA Today Network. His investigative, data-driven series on heat deaths and illnesses among farmworkers won state and regional awards for highlighting the plight of California farmworkers.

Peña was a Staff Research Associate at the UCLA School of Nursing where he managed a research laboratory before getting his master’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Chicago Scholars 5th annual 35 under 35 Awards recognizes a group of diverse, talented young professionals making an impact in Chicago. Chicago Scholars is a mentoring and leadership development organization that helps first-generation college students and students from under-resourced communities navigate the complex transitions into college, through college, and beyond to a career.

After six years as an Editor at LinkedIn, Lorraine joined visual communications platform Prezi in October as its first Managing Editor. At Prezi, Lorraine leads the Editorial team, leveraging the top Prezi content to educate, inform and inspire people all over the world.

Lorraine also had the honor of joining the Council of 100, a prestigious invite-only organization of Northwestern alumnae. Membership selection is based on factors including career trajectory and achievements and commitment to mentoring/service.

Most recently, she attended Poynter Institute’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media, a highly competitive week-long program focused on the skills and knowledge needed to rise to the highest levels of media leadership. The program receives hundreds of applications each year; Lorraine was accepted into the 2020 Winter Cohort alongside 29 other women.

Bartlit Beck Founding Partner Mark Ferguson was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The special induction ceremony took place before an audience of 561 during the 2020 Spring Meeting of the College in Tucson, Arizona.

Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship.

Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. There are currently approximately 5,800 members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, including active Fellows, Emeritus Fellows, Judicial Fellows (those who ascended to the bench after their induction) and Honorary Fellows. The College maintains and seeks to improve the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice through education and public statements on independence of the judiciary, trial by jury, respect for the rule of law, access to justice, and fair and just representation of all parties to legal proceedings. The College is thus able to speak with a balanced voice on important issues affecting the legal profession and the administration of justice.

Ferguson is resident in Bartlit Beck’s Chicago office, and has been practicing law for 36 years. He received his B.S.J. from Medill and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as Executive Note Editor of the Michigan Law Review.

Minnesota Public Radio named Duchesne Drew as its next president April 8, 2020.

Drew most recently an executive at the Bush Foundation and spent many years at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where he rose through the ranks from a summer intern to managing editor of operations.

The MPR division within American Public Media Group includes MPR News, Classical MPR, The Current and digital services.

While at the Bush Foundation, Drew served as community vice president, in charge of creating networks across the region. He also sits on the boards of a number of organizations, including the African American Leadership Forum and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce.

“Charles Whitaker was a central part of my Medill experience,” Drew said. “Even though he focused on magazine journalists and I was heading toward a career as newspaper reporter, he made time for me and it mattered greatly, from conversations in his office to dinner at his house. I felt seen, valued and supported.”

He serves on the Leadership Council of Make It. MSP., an effort to attract “people from around the world” to live and work in the Twin Cities.

Photo courtesy of MPR.

Evan Hill, a member of the New York Times Visual Investigations team, was lead reporter on an investigation into the Russian bombing of Syrian civilians that won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting on May 4 and a George Polk Award for international reporting on February 19. The Pulitzer jury recognized the Visual Investigations team for two stories that proved, for the first time, that the Russian Air Force was responsible for a series of attacks on hospitals and other civilian sites in opposition-held Syria. The investigation has been cited during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Syria and during a congressional hearing on protecting civilians during armed conflict. Hill and his team relied on traditional reporting, contacting dozens of sources, and new open source techniques, such as geolocation and metadata, to carry out their investigation.

Local news publisher Justin Kerr announced that grants from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and the Chicago Headline Club will power local journalism for the McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The McKinley Park News, Kerr’s micro-local news outlet that covers a single Chicago neighborhood, will use these funds to power a new journalism initiative to support the community.

“We are honored and humbled by this critical support for our publication,” Kerr said. “The pandemic has upended the already-battered news industry. This funding for Chicago journalism ensures our communities stay informed with reliable, high-quality news and information.”

The McKinley Park News is one of 48 recipients of the McCormick Foundation grant, which were awarded to both commercial and non-profit community news publications. The Chicago Headline Club disbursed grants of up to $500 each to help local journalists with their news reporting expenses.

Bill Healy (MSJ09) and Alison Flowers (MSJ09) met while studying at Medill. They recently co-produced a 7-part investigative podcast called “Somebody” for the Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. The podcast follows the story of Courtney Copeland, who was shot and killed in Chicago in 2016. “Somebody” is narrated by Copeland’s mother, who believes police are hiding something about his death. The series explores questions of police accountability and public trust.

Natalie and Michael Tomko (MSJ 12) welcomed a daughter, Amelia Grace, on April 29. Go ‘Cats!