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USU journalism/comm department graduates largest-ever class By
the USU department of journalism and communication
The Journalism/Communication Class of 2000 is twice the size of last year's graduating class, said department head Ted Pease. A total of 99 students were awarded bachelor's degrees in journalism, and about 78 of them were on hand to walk across the stage. The J/COM graduates were led into the Dee Smith Spectrum by Professor Michael Sweeney, and Pease served as one of four faculty marshals for the ceremonies, as Dean Stan Albrecht of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences conferred degrees on some 870 new graduates of the college. "We are very proud of these students, and a bit stunned by the size of this graduating class," said Pease. "The department has tripled in size in recent years, and this big jump in the number of graduating seniors represents the leading edge of that growth coming through the program." Pease said the department now enrolls about 270 majors and almost 200 pre-majors -- freshmen and sophomores who are completing prerequisite requirements before being formally accepted as majors. The graduation ceremonies on the USU campus were at the end of a week of events honoring J/COM students and faculty. The previous week, at the annual Journalism and Communication spring cookout, the outstanding students, graduating seniors and faculty of the year were announced, and winners of more than $38,000 in scholarships for next year were named. Pease said the dollar amount of scholarships and other assistance to students in 2000-01 is unprecedented. Twenty-one new and returning undergraduates and graduate students will share the scholarship support. In addition to announcing the scholarship and fellowship winners for 2000-01, the outstanding graduates, students and faculty were honored as some 100 students and faculty gathered around picnic tables and charcoal grills on the lawn in front of the USU Animal Science Building, which houses the department. Outstanding seniors, outstanding continuing students, and scholarship winners are selected by the J/COM faculty on the basis of both academic achievements and their professional experience and service to the department. • Outstanding Graduating Seniors: Nicole McLean of Salt Lake City - both overall outstanding graduating senior and outstanding graduating senior in broadcast journalism; Tara Sorensen Bone of Swan Lake, Idaho - outstanding graduating senior in public relations/corporate communications; Dan Chase of North Logan - outstanding graduating senior in print journalism. • Outstanding Graduate Student: Ann Bluemlein of Vincennes, Ind. • Outstanding Faculty: Teaching - Brenda Cooper; Research - Michael S. Sweeney; Service - Penny M. Byrne. • Outstanding Students, 1999-2000: Jen Aikele, Lucy Boone, Amanda Butterfield, Leah Culler, Robert Davis, Wade Denniston, Heather Fredrickson, Andrea Pickett, Adam Roundy, Scott Teichert, Sally H.N. Wright. Scholarships and grants for 2000-01: • Tuition waivers: Becca Blackford, Emily Jensen, Andy Morgan, and James Wolverton. • Hubbard Scholarship: Laura Bellamy ($3,000). • Seely-Hinckley Scholarship: Heather Fredrickson ($2,300). • Jay W. Glasmann Family Scholarships (print journalism, $1,000 each): Jamie Baer, Lucy Boone, Brook Cox, Jeremiah Stettler, Sally H.N. Wright. • Glacus and Marie Merrill Scholarship (broadcasting, $500 each): T. Kris Nielson, Marcie Young. • John Morris Scholarship (print journalism, $850): Leah Culler. • Lane M. Palmer Scholarship ($350): Nancy Heiner. • Edward C. Pease Scholarship (print journalism, $500): Julie Grosshans. • Wilford D. Porter Scholarship ($350): Steven Paul Edwards. • Josey Barnes Wayman Scholarship ($1,500): Tammy Ruth Barben.
In addition, Pease said, senior Lucy Boone is recipient of a Jay W. Glasmann Family internship with the Ogden Standard-Examiner this summer, funded by the Glasmann scholarship endowment and the newspaper. Graduate students in the department's master's department will share about $11,000 in assistantships, plus a special university fellowship of $12,000 awarded to new master's student Suzie Mao, currently working for China Central Television in Beijing. During the event, students also honored Robyn Kratzer, who has taught at USU for two years as professional-in-residence, and Dayna Rust, who is leaving her job as department secretary to return to being a full-time student next fall. Kratzer's replacement on the faculty will be John B. Taylor, a USU alumnus who has spent the past 18 years chief public affairs officer for the NASA Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Ala. In addition, Pease announced the formation of student-run media relations agency, Com/USU, which will begin operations in the fall and will serve both as the senior capstone course for students in the public relations sequence, and will give students professional experiences working for paying clients. The officers are Andy Morgan, executive director; Chris Huntington, internal relations director; Becca Blackford and Gina Nielsen, external relations directors; and Ky Oday, chief financial officer.
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