Spring 2005

The team finished the season with an 8-4 record and capped off the season Dec. 4, 2004, by winning the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo. It was the team’s first postseason win since 1986.

Coach Craig Schurig has signed 13 new players to the team’s roster, and 10 of those are high school recruits from Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. Schurig also signed three ju-

nior college transfers to the program.

“We’ve ad-dressed needs on both sides of the ball,” said Schurig. “We believe that we have signed talented players who will help

us build on the success of this past season.”

The Ichabods begin next season Aug. 27 in Golden, Colo., in a match-up with Colorado School of Mines.

By Julie Boggs

Lady Blues: National Champs

The look of Washburn University’s campus has changed dramatically in the last year. With three new buildings on campus, Washburn has more to offer students than ever before.

With the opening of the $5.45 million Student Recreation and Wellness Center students are able to address their physical needs. The facility offers an indoor climbing wall, running track, weight area, cardio machines and basketball and volleyball courts.

In addition to the recreation center, the university has also opened a chapel. It is located just east of Benton Hall in the center of campus. It was donated to address the spiritual needs of students. This non-denomi-national chapel was donated by the Menninger Founda-tion in 2003. It was originally called the Nunemaker Chapel but was renamed after Carole Bloomfield Etzel, a 1963 graduate. Etzel and her husband Tim provided more than half of the funds needed to complete renovation of the chapel.

Construction will be complete with the opening of the art building and renovations to the Mulvane Art Mu-seum. The 20,000-square- foot- art building, located just west of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, will give needed space to the art department. The building is expected to be ready for classes in Fall 2005. All studio art classes including; ceramics, sculpture, drawing and com-puter graphics will move from Garvey Fine Arts Center to the new facility.

The Lady Blues women’s basketball team finished the 2004-2005 season with a 70-53 win against No. 3 Seattle Pacific to win the first NCAA Division II title in Washburn’s history.

Juwanna Rivers led the Lady Blues with a season high 22 points. Rivers, Lora Westling and Carla Sintra were named to the all-tournament team. Sintra was also named most outstanding player. The team improved to an overall season record of 35-2, the best in school history.

The 2005-2006 Lady Blues basketball team will return nine players from this year’s national championsip team. Alumni and friends can catch the Lady Blues in conference action again next December. For a complete Lady Blues’ basketall schedule, visit www.wusports.com.

Emily Roby lifts weights at the new Washburn Recreation and Wellness Center. The $5.45 million wellness center opened in October.

The Washburn Lady Blues celebrate their National Championship win. This is the first NCAA Division II National Championship in school history

Football team wins bowl

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The Washurn football team celebrates after winning the Mineral Water Bowl in December. The team defeated Northern State University, South Dakota.

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“Art students will finally have a space designed specifi-cally for art studies,” said Ron Wasserstein, vice president for academic affairs and chairperson for the Mulvane art building committee.

The Mulvane Art Museum will add more space above the current gallery area. The basement will have room for art edu-cation and additional office space.

Over half of the $4 million project has been paid for through private gifts to the university.

Spring 2005Campus NewsMass Media

MessengerCampus News

Ichabods wins bowl 3 New buildings emerge 3Lady Blues win national title 3

Mass Media News 2005 Mass Media banquet 4Department chair moves on 52005 Scholarship winners 5

Mass Media Students Athletes compete for time 6

Mass Media Department Student Publications 7Program stands out from others 8Department notes achievement 8TV classes heat up 9Advertising class changes focus 9

Mass Media Faculty Faculty updates 10Adjunct instructor moves to Texas 11Faculty pursue doctorate degrees 12

Mass Media Alumni Mass media graduates 13Alumni provides internships 14Class notes 14

Created by MM 431 Publication Layout and Design

Julie Boggs Topeka, Kan. Junior Public Relations and Writing and Publishing

Dani Castaneda Topeka, Kan. Washburn Graduate English Susan CrooksSilver Lake, Kan.SeniorPublic Relations

Blake EdwardsColumbia, Mo.JuniorPublic Relations

Kari ErpeldingTopeka, Kan.SeniorAdvertising

Jeremy FitzgeraldTopeka, Kan.SeniorPublic Relations

Stephanie GigousTopeka, Kan.SeniorPublic Relations

Julie HoytalTopeka, Kan.JuniorPublic Relations

Kip Kraisinger Salina, Kan. Senior Public Relations

Vilay LuangrajDallas, TexasSeniorWriting and Publishing

Amy Schulz St. John, Kan. Senior Writing and Publishing Regina CassellTopeka, Kan.Mass Media faculty and Student Publica-tions Director

Contributing StaffGene Cassell,

WashburnSports Information Director

Sarah Foster,Mass Media student

Eric Meyer, Mass Media student

Jessica Ransone, Mass Media student

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Outstanding Students

By Blake Edwards

Andrew RyanElectronic Media

Michelle SimonAdvertising

Julie BoggsPublic Relations

Amy SchulzMedia Writing and Publishing

(above) Nicole Corcoran accepts the Outstanding Alumni Award from

Thimios Zaharopoulos at the Mass Media department banquet. The

award was one of two honors awarded to department alumni. (right) Jade

Hernandez gives a word of thanks to her parents and Washburn University

for supporting her and helping her to succeed in her career. Hernandez

was given the Rising Star award by the Mass Media Department.

Banquet has ‘The Right Stuff’

The banquet for the Mass Media department was April 19 in the Washburn Room of Memorial Union.

The “New Media Kids on the Block” theme set the mood for the mexican feast.

Nicole Corcoran, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, was the speaker. She spoke on the fields of government and media relations and also received the Outstanding Alumni Award.

At the event each em-phasis — Electronic Media, Public Relations, Media Writing and Publishing and Advertising — celebrated the seniors and award win-ners from the Mass Media department.

Jade Hernandez won the Alumni Rising Star Award. A recent graduate of Washburn University, Hernandez is now a broad-cast reporter for KSHB-NBC Action News.

Thimios Zaharopoulos, department chair, enjoyed his final banquet. Zaharo-poulos is leaving Washburn and to be a dean at Park University, Parkville, Mo.

The Mass Media Department awarded scholarships to students on Tues. April 19 at the banquet. Julie Hoytal, Julie Boggs, Crystal Sinclair, Louis Bourdeau, Janea Gadelman and Jacob Phelps were among those awarded scholarships.

Scholarships Zula Bennington Greene Endowed Scholarship:

Julie Hoytal, Topeka, Kan.Michelle Simon, Mayetta, Kan.Sarah Van Dalsem, Silver Lake, Kan.Crystal Sinclair, Topeka, Kan.

David C. Beeder Mass Media Scholarship:

Karli Davis, Topeka, Kan.Corey Jones, Topeka, Kan.

Thad M. Sandstrom Memorial Scholarship:

Janea Gadelman, Topeka, Kan.Anastasia Patterson, Topeka, Kan.Morgan Rockhold, Lindsborg, Kan.Adam Runyan, Topeka Kan.

Oscar S. Stauffer Scholarship:Louis Bourdeau, Tulsa, Okla.Jacob Phelps, Topeka, Kan.

Topeka Branch of the National League of American Pen Women Scholarship:

Julie Boggs, Topeka, Kan.

Robert A. Hentzen Memorial Athletic Scholarship:

Jake Lebahn, Salina, Kan.Brandon Walker, Topeka, Kan.

by Kari ErpeldingDuring his eight-year stay at

Washburn University, Thimos Zaharopoulos has created a lega-cy that will be hard to replace.

He leaves his position as the Mass Media department chair, to be a dean at Park University in Parkville, Mo. He will be the first person to hold the position.

When Zaha-ropoulos came to Washburn, the depart-ment was struggling. But Dr. Z, as he is known to many students, will leave a solid de-partment that is looking toward the future.

“Dr. Z is going to be hard to replace. I am thankful to have him as my adviser. He was always there to help me,” said Stephanie Gigous, current stu-dent of Zaharopoulos.

Zaharopoulos would often joke about his reputation with others. Some students and even faculty, recall fearing him at one time.

“Like a few others, I was a bit

intimidated by Thimios when I first met him,” said Regina Cas-sell, faculty member. “I realized upon receiving my first compli-ment from him that Thimios is a man who means what he says.”

This spring, at the Mass Media Banquet, Zaharopoulos was honored with a slide show and a personal-ized coffee maker from the faculty in memory of his morn-ing routine.

In keeping with the New Kids on the Block theme of the banquet, students from the Public Relations Campaigns class presented Dr. Z with a platinum

record. “Dr. Z. was a great men-

tor and leader for anyone who joined the mass media program,” said Mary (Hammel) Napier, 2004.

He will be greatly missed by the faculty in the department.

“Dr. Z is absolutely the best boss I have ever had,” said Kathy Menzie, faculty member. “He manages to be a supervisor, men-tor and friend. Though that is a difficult balance, he does all three superbly.”

Zaharopoulos leaves department

Thimios Zaharopoulos

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Kris Castillo, senior tennis captain and mass media major, returns a serve during a match.

BasketballJennifer Harris

CheerleadingJulie Boggs

Football John HoytalJake LebahnDavid BeckerKip Kraisinger

SoccerMcKinley Rainen

SoftballDanielle R.White Katie Schmidt

TennisBlake EdwardsKris Castillo

VolleyballSusan Crooks

By Dani Castaneda and Blake Edwards

Mass Media Students in sports*

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Susan Crooksvolleyball

Katie Schmidt softball

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The challenge of going to school full time is enough for most students. But student athletes have the combined challenge of competing in their sport as well as in the classroom. Toss in a part-time job just to make ends meet and suddenly these student athletes find themselves in a competition for time. Athletes enrolled as mass media majors learn the value of time very quickly.

Susan Crooks, a fifth year senior mass media student was a four-year letter recipient on Washburn’s successful volleyball team. Crooks balanced the rigorous demands placed on her from her teachers and coaches and came out on top.

“Being able to take a lot of hours during your season made it difficult to keep up with your homework and tests while traveling and playing,” said Crooks. “Coach Herron made sure we did well in school by placing us in study hall if we did not meet and maintain a specific GPA for the semester and especially during the season.”

The demand of athletes to do well in the classroom and on the playing field has caused many student athletes to reconsider their options.

“There have been many times that I have wondered if I should continue being a student athlete,” said Kris Cas-

tillo, Washburn tennis senior captain. “There seems to be a lot of pressure that professors put on athletes. At times that can really build up.”

Many stu-dent athletes find that the pressure of getting up sore every morning from the previous day’s workout cannot only be physically drain-ing but mentally draining as well. Having a coach who wants noth-ing but success for an athlete is another added

pressure. When the

women’s softball season was finished, Katie Schmidt found more time to devote to her academics.

“Once I used up all of my eligibility for softball, it has made life so much easier in the classroom. I don’t feel the pressure from coaches, and the pain from all of those practices. It’s nice to know I can go home after class and just lie on the couch and be worthless. It’s a nice feeling for an athlete,” said Schmidt.

Blake Edwards has been playing tennis for Washburn for three years. This year he has taken on the role of captain. Edwards is a classic representative of a student athlete competing for time. He is a junior mass media major, teaches tennis at the Topeka Country Club every other day, and his chosen sport at Washburn continues year round. Edwards admits to the difficulty of juggling the academics with the athletics. Washburn’s requirement for pass-ing is a 2.0 GPA but the athletes are held to a 2.5.

Being involved in a specific sport is one thing, but anoth-er top student finds herself busy cheering on Washburn’s teams.

“It’s hard as a mass media major, because I have a lot of projects to do outside of class, but most of the professors understand that I have things for cheerleading to do in ad-dition to school work and they try to help me get every-thing done,” said Julie Boggs.

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* Not all athletes are current athletes

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Each year, more and more mass me-dia students gain valuable experience by working for Student Publications.

This year, those students have even more to be proud of.

At the Kan-sas Associated Collegiate Press conference in Wichita, the Washburn Review received the All Kansas newspa-per award in the four-year public university divi-sion, which is the highest honor a paper can receive from KACP. The KAW yearbook earned a silver rating for the 2004 yearbook.

Mass media students work alongside stu-dents from across campus to make Student Publications successful.

The yearbook’s staff includes sev-eral majors, including Kerrice Mapes, a spring 2005 graduate.

“I’m involved, and I see the stu-dents put out a lot of effort and really care. But, there are not a lot of us who are majors,” said Mapes, who worked as the Greek editor of the 2005 book.

Regina Cassell, director of Student Publications, continues to recruit and encourage students from the mass me-dia department to give the newspaper or yearbook a try.

“I know we have busy students, and that many of our students have to work. However, I don’t think we have anything in our program that can offer students the same experience as working in publications,” said Cassell. “The internship is another great op-

portunity, but it’s generally for one se-mester or summer. Add student pubs to your resume and you have likely practiced leadership and management first-hand. The two experiences are re-

ally different, and smart students will experience both.”

Karli Davis, who worked this year as business manager for the Washburn Review and promotions director for the KAW yearbook, said she likes working for student publications because of the hands-on experience.

“It’s nice having the experience related to a job that I do. It’s also nice working with peers who go through about the same stuff as I do,” said Davis, who has been selected as the 2005-06 editor in chief of

the yearbook.Pursuing an advertis-

ing emphasis through the department is Lydia Becker, who will serve in

her third year as advertising manager of Student Publications. During her two years, Becker has tripled and then almost doubled again revenue for the newspaper. She has had experience managing a staff, working with national advertisers as well as mak-ing plenty of contacts in a variety of professions.

Cassell believes future employers will notice Davis’ and Becker’s accomplish-ments, which is one more reason why both women earned Outstanding Service Awards for their work with Student Publications this year.

“Some of the things I’ve done here, outside of class have really put my

portfolio up a level,” said Mapes.Cassell not only encourages

students to get invovled in Student Publications, but she also makes con-nections between her writing students and the newspaper or yearbook.

“I think it provides students with a good experience. When I did it for a class last year, it was cool to have my articles published and for people to read them,” said mass media major Kip Kraisinger.

Other students find ways to be involved at different levels.

“I’m very involved in other things on campus,” said Carrie Babb, a senior mass media minor. “I volunteer on

the Student Publica-tions Board because I don’t have much time and the board only meets once a month. I’m really only able to give that time commit-ment.”

Cassell said the

board is a wonderful place for mass media students to have a positive impact on student publications and its future.

Student Publications mass media majors gain experience

“Some of the things I’ve done here,

outside of class, have really put my

portfolio up a level.”-Kerrice Mapes

By Jessica Ransone

karli Davis and Lydia Becker have earned Outstanding Service Awards for their work with Student Publications this year.

The Washburn Review received the All Kan-sas newspaper award from the Kansas Associated Collegiate Press in the four-year public university division.

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Department offers unique opportunitiesBy Eric Meyer

Evaluation draws positive reviewsBy Sarah Foster

As good as the Mass Media depart-ment is, it always has room to im-prove. This year, the department did just that.

The mission statement of the Mass Media department states that, “through teaching, research, creative activities, and service, mass media faculty strive to continuously improve teaching and advising.”

To ensure that the department is holding true to its mission statement, it is evaluated by themselves and the university every five years.

When the Mass Media department undergoes an evaluation, it focuses on its mission, goals and objectives, statistical information, outcome mea-surement, strengths and weaknesses and changes for the future. Coming up with several strengths and weaknesses helps the department determine what types of short and long term goals it

needs to have.One identified weakness was not

having enough faculty members with a terminal degree. Thimios Zaharo-poulos, professor and department chair said that the department has already begun working on turning it into a strength. Lecturer Maria Raicheva-Stover has recently earned her doctorate degree and lecturer Kathy Menzie is expected to earn hers by the end of the next academic year.

In addition to obtaining more terminal degrees within the department, another long term goal is to become accredited.

“We have taken the first step by inviting a member of The Council of

Education in Journalism and Mass Communication to visit our depart-ment and begin the process,” said Zaharopoulos.

After the visit, the faculty agreed that accrediation is a realistic and attainable goal for the Mass Media

department.“Accrediation places

us in a stronger position when you compare us to other neighboring journal-ism departments,” said Menzie.

Zaharopoulos said the department also works on making sure that the stu-dents coming out of the Mass Media department are well prepared for the

real world. “We try to see if students are learn-

ing what they are supposed to learn,” said Zaharopoulos.

Washburn agrees that the depart-

“Through teaching, research, creative

activities, and service, mass media faculty strive to continuously improve

teaching and advising.”- Mission Statement

Mass media students at Washburn can celebrate the fact that the program

has many unique aspects that set it apart from other institutions.

From the courses offered to its loca-tion in the capital city, the mass media department at Washburn has a lot to offer.

One of the most unique things is the requirement of an internship. And when it comes to getting jobs, Thimios Zaharopoulos, depart-ment chair, said media professionals consider internships very important. Being located in the capital city gives students internship opportunities in a governent and a diverse media market. In addition to the internship requirement, all mass media majors must submit a portfolio of their work during Senior Seminar.

“The portfolio serves a dual purpose,” said Zaharopoulos. “It is useful for graduates when they are applying for jobs as well as assess-ment for ways to showcase their talents in the final portfolio.”

Washburn is the only school in the

state to have a TV station right on campus. KTWU offers an up-close view at what happens at a station and provides internships.

Yet another uniqueness is that Regina Cassell, a lecturer from the department is also the director of Student Publications.

“Besides our internships, Student Publications offers a wonderful hands-on opportunity for our majors,” said Cassell. “In fact, it is one of my goals to increase the number of majors who work for the newspaper or yearbook..”

Cassell said the program is a great way to build leadership skills and practice the day-to-day schedule, deadlines and pressure of working the various mass media fields.

Like all good things there is always room for improvement, Zaharopoulos said that the department could use more video technology equipment as well as a full-time advertising faculty member, which are both things that the department is striving to obtain.

Mass Media students at Washburn have additional opportunities, being in the capital.

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Future advertisers: class resembles real life

Students familiar with the old student news production, “Washburn Edition,” decided a change would be good for the old style “magazine” show, which is taped, edited and then aired. They felt that to make it in the broadcasting industry, one needed the real life training of doing a live news show and going out and finding the story.

“The students voiced to me they wanted to do something different, and doing a taped news show defeats the whole purpose of a broadcast news show,” said Charles Cranston, the new broadcasting professor in Washburn University’s mass media department.

Cranston, brings a bundle of broadcast production experience to Washburn University from his 16 years of teaching and real world experience of writing, producing and directing for shows in Texas and California. Cranston helped produce a live news show at another university, and he believes a live show better prepares students to find jobs and internships in televised news. He said it is more important for broadcast production students to be able to report and find news, than run a machine.

“Most of our news stories come from here on campus, but I want the reporters to also become familiar with contacts in our community that they can use if they work for a local station,” said Cranston.

Producers of the new production learned quickly of the stress involved with a live newscast.

“When we go live at 5:30 on Thursdays, everything has to be ready,” said Ingrid Robinson, a field reporter. “It’s just like what you would find in the real world.”

Keeping up with changing technology is also crucial for young adults entering the job market. A college graduate expects to be prepared to enter their field competitively after they graduate. The use of non-linear editing equipment is quickly taking over. Even smaller

news markets have made the change. “Final Cut Pro” is the non-linear weapon of choice for students. The JVC digital tape cameras available to mass media students are on target with industry standards, but Cranston is pushing for more funding to purchase new Panasonic cameras.

Washburn’s Mass Media department plans on striving to keep up with today’s ever changing media technology to best prepare its students for their future careers.

Lights, camera, action and roll ‘emBy Jeremy Fitzgerald

Frank Hernandez Trevor Kirkwood Chrissy Polk show off their Tom Brokaw skills preparing for a show that starts in 5-4-3-2-1.

By Keri ErpeldingBefore this spring, students enrolled in Advertising:

Copy & Design will recall completing one huge advertising campaign developed by the American Advertising Federation. In the past, these campaigns have included the Toyota Matrix, Bank of America, DaimlerChrylser and the state Florida.

This semester, Phil Grecian, teacher of both Advertising I and Advertising II, and Thimios Zaharopoulos, department chair, decided to drop the AAF project and extend the class into different projects that would teach the students how to create advertising as well as how to develop ideas.

“I thought we were spending too much time putting together the final project and not enough time learning how to create advertising,” Grecian said. “It was like trying to win an auto race before you’ve finished building your car.”

Throughout the semester the students will produce two mini campaigns and will also be responsible for a multi-media campaign, employing at least three media. They must be willing to answer questions from Grecian and the class about their choices.

“This class has been very hands on and what you would see in real life. We have had virtually no book work,” said Vilay Luangraj, a senior.

Using these projects and methods, the students will be able to use products or clients that they are interested in, and they can choose which direction to point their campaign without having to fit the guidelines that the AAF had set. It also gives the students free reign on how to control their projects and ideas and how far they can take them.

“I think they will benefit in knowing more about how advertising is created and knowing how to do it themselves,” said Grecian.

To be able to participate in the original campaigns that the former classes did, there is a projected class design just for developing advertising campaigns. Having this class as an option, students will be fully prepared to fulfill the objectives required of the campaigns class.

“This way we actually teach the students more about advertising,” said Grecian.

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Story by Amy Schulz and Brian Ice

Faculty members update Gooding challenges students By Kerrice Mapes

Velma Gooding will be missed as an adjunct faculty member.

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“I am excited about [Crans-

ton] joining the team because of his experience.”

-ThimiosZaharopoulos

Faculty, continued

Charles Cranston

Regina Cassell

Frank Chorba

ThimiosZaharopoulos

Ginny Falk

Each mass media faculty member at Washburn University seems to participate in interesting things with each pass-ing year. This year the faculty members are doing an array of activi-ties inside as well as outside the classroom.

Perhaps the most exciting year came for Charles Cranston, the new profes-sor of electronic media and said he has enjoyed working with the students at Washburn this year.

“I am excited about [Cranston] joining the team because of his experi-ence,” said Thimios Zaharopoulos, mass media department chair. “He brings in professionalism, an experi-mental approach and a fresh start in the [electronic journalism] area.”

His journalism career began in the Lone Star State when he earned degrees from Texas A&M University. His involvement over the years has spanned from being an industry pro-fessional to being a teacher.

For many years, Cranston’s pas-sion has been in the television aspect of journalism. The early days of Cranston’s television career consisted of working on regional and national commercials in Dallas, where he also produced daily news programs.

“Experience in television is reward-ing for me because I am able to draw on that experience in other jobs later on, including teaching,“ Cranston said.

He is using his vast amount of experience at Washburn, serving as the professor of production and writing classes. During the spring broadcast

writing course, he plans to

do some-thing different by incor-porating broad-cast jour-nalism into the curricu-lum.

Also at Washburn, Cranston is currently working on developing a program with KTWU which will be a film-style project relating to Territorial Kansas and ethnic cultures.

“I hope to involve students on the crew of the production,“ Cranston said. The potential production date is May 2005.

Although Cranston had a busy year adjusting to Washburn’s students and environment, he wasn’t the only faculty member with his hands full.

Perhaps Professor Regina Cassell has the most exciting news of the faculty taking place outside the walls of Washburn. She and her husband, Washburn Athletic Sports Information Director Gene Cassell, are expecting their second baby in May 2005.

The 2004-05 school year was the second year for Cassell to teach and advise Stu-dent Pub-lications at Washburn.

“A large focus of mine is on student pub-lications,” Cassell said,

“It’s a big part of my

job.” Cassell is the Director of Student Publications and is excited to see stu-dents getting more enthused about the

yearbook, newspaper, and journalism in general. “Fourteen students traveled to Nashville for a [student publica-tions] fall conference in November, “ Cassell said.

She also pointed out that for the first time in several years, the KAW yearbook will sell all copies of the 2005 book. The Washburn Review newspa-per doubled its revenue last fall and the newspaper itself keeps improving and generating positive feedback from its readers..

Cassell summed up student publica-tions and the mass media students as “great students doing a lot of great things.”

Frank Chorba, professor of mass media stepped down as the editor for the Journal of Radio Studies (JRS) after completing the December issue. Chorba founded JRS here at Washburn University in 1994. It is the world’s first scholarly journal exclusively dedi-

cated to radio research and has brought Washburn international recognition. JRS was adopted by the Broadcast Education Association as it’s scholarly publication in 1998 and

is distributed to more than 2,000 aca-demic institutions in North America and Europe.

Chorba is looking forward to taking a break and relaxing after 12 years as editor of the JRS. He teaches a number of classes in the Mass Media program including Media Management, Broad-cast Performance and Programming & Sales.

In addition to Zaharopoulos’ normal duties as the mass media department chair, he attended a faculty seminar for the International Radio and Television Societies in New York and developed further study on his Summer Olympic

research endeavor.In August, he traveled to

Athens, Greece, to obtain informa-tion and gather data on specific information about the Olympic games and how they have affected Greek citizens.

Zaharopoulos first conducted a survey in December of 2003 to get any idea on how citizens of Topeka and surround-ing areas were going to watch the Olympics, he was surprised at the degree of positive feelings toward the games. The second part of the study was a content analysis of the Olympic games during the games and people’s reactions to them.

“It is always educational when I go back to Greece and I had the op-portunity to be there when major events took place. I write about Greek media, and it’s important for me to consume it,” said Zaharo-poulos.

The faculty continues to be ap-preciative of the numerous tasks secretary Ginny Falk does for the

depart-ment each year. Now in her 10th year at Washburn, Falk is al-ways busy behind the scenes, either helping students or keeping the depart-

ment running smoothly.

As “Head Honcho and Creative Crusader” of Synergy Public Rela-tions and Advertising, Velma Gooding knows the value of having your own slogan.

Synergy Public Relations and Advertising is one of the few ethnic marketing and research firms in Kansas and primarily works with Af-rican American and Latino consumer markets.

“Integrative markets are lucrative and they’re shared value,” said Good-ing, “You just have to show people the value and that people are valuable.”

Showing value segued into Good-ing’s teaching career. As an adjunct professor at Washburn for the last two and half years, Gooding “brought energy and creativity to her classes,” said Kathy Menzie, another profes-sor in the mass media department.

“Usually we try to find people like Velma who bring in professional experience with the abil-ity to teach,” said Thimios Zaharopou-los, depart-ment chair. “One doesn’t predispose the other and we look, but we don’t always find both.”

Both qualities were found in Good-ing, as the CEO of Synergy, she has worked as a reporter, editor, public re-lations specialist, advertising manager and researcher.

Gooding said it would be easy to stay here, but, “synergy is really moving and I’m in a comfy zone. But when you get to cushy, comfy, then it’s time to move on. It’s time to challenge yourself. You’re good for it in the

end,” said Gooding.Challenging herself is what Good-

ing did in December as she moved with her family to San Antonio, Texas, to pursue her doctorate and relocate her company.

“Moving to Texas will add to the company by being around so many people with different cultural back-grounds and having more resources available,” said Gooding.

Gooding, who considers herself to be a very positive and spiritual person, knows that her life has become much better through new challenges. “Even when you’re faced with challenges or meet negative people, you’ll come out a stronger person in the end.”

Gooding’s positive attitude was also exemplified during her classes. “Students were grateful and we never heard a complaint,” said Zaharopou-los.

Gooding’s teaching approach in-cluded asking students to scratch under the surface, ask questions, be perceptive, use many sources and don’t take things as they are laid out. “See what’s behind the question, don’t be cynical, but don’t be a sheep,” said Gooding.

Gooding’s assignments in-cluded having students get “out of their comfort zone,” and “pres-ent creatively,” said Alicia Garcia. “She would ask a question, and if no one answered, she wouldn’t go on or just answer the question,

she would wait. She pushed you to answer.”

During Gooding’s chal-lenges she would never give her opinion and she fostered

self-guided studying and learning. “I’ll miss watching the students grow, becoming more critical thinkers and their questions,” said Gooding.

As Gooding enters her next chal-lenge, she urges students to “venture into the unknown so that you can prosper. You’ve got to live your life because you only have one.”

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Menzie, Raicheva-Stover

reverse roles after classTwo teachers in the mass

media department really un-derstand what being a student is all about.

This past fall, Maria Ra-icheva-Stover completed her dissertation and earned a doctorate degree from Southern Illinois University while Kathy Menzie passed her compresen-sive exams and will work this next year to finish up her dis-sertation from the University of Kansas.

Raicheva-Stover joined the mass media depart-ment in fall 2003. Originally from Bulgaria, Raicheva-Stover attended high school in Bul-garia and began col-lege at the Ameri-can University in Bulgaria, a branch out of Maine.

“The education in Bulgaria was very strict and rigid,” Ra-icheva-Stover said. “You had no say on what classes to take, what profes-sors to have or anything.”

She transferred to SIU to pursue her undergraduate degree in January 1997. She was close to graduation at Southern Illinois when she attended a Global Fusion conference and was placed in the same section with the chair of the mass media department, Thimios Zaharopoulos.

Raicheva-Stover now teaches two sections of Introduction to Mass Media, as well as Basic Media Writing, Publication Technology and Online Publishing.

She enjoyed working on her master’s degree, and some professors told her she had the potential to get a doctorate. She really loved the interac-tion with the students and she decided to go for it.

Raicheva-Stover’s adviser warned

her about the time and effort it would take to complete her doctorate in mass communi-cations, but she assured them that she was up for the chal-lenge.

She admits there were brief moments and

feelings of weakness, but she never acted on the thought of giving up.

“It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, juggling family, teaching more than 100 students and writing and being constructive,” said Raicheva-Stover. “It’s more an aspect of endurance than capability, and if that means having to get up at 2 a.m. to write, so be it.”

In December, after two years of writing, Raicheva-Stover finished her dissertation.

“It’s done,” she said. “I will of-ficially graduate in May.”

While Raicheva-Stover has been of-fered an official tenure-track position at Washburn, Menzie works to finish her own dissertation.

Menzie began her career at Washburn in 1996. She attended Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.,

where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s in journalism.

In addition to her studies, Men-zie has a full load at the university. She has taught Editing, Publication Technology, Introduction to Mass Media, Public Relations, Public Rela-tions Campaigns, Senior Seminar and has served as part-time internship coordinator.

She has also spent the last three years in classes, 14 hours of comprehen-sive exams, two hours of oral exams and is currently writing her dissertation to get her doctorate in communica-tion studies from KU.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but I hadn’t had the opportunity until I started teaching,” Menzie said.

Trying to keep up on her personal studies and grading her students’ work can be a challenge all of its own, but Menzie seems to keep those parts of her life separate from each other.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say I was sane all the time,” Menzie said. “I spend days on my Washburn stuff and evenings and weekends on studying.”

After reaching her goal and being able to call herself Dr. Menzie, she plans on staying at the university.

“I just wish there were more hours in the day to learn more, to prepare more and to come up with more activi-ties, but teaching is a terrific career,” said Menzie. “I feel very fortunate to have found it and extremely fortunate to be working in the best department at Washburn University … mass media.”

By Laura Stillings

Maria Raicheva-Stover finished her dissertation and earned her doctorate from Southern Illinois Univer-sity this spring.

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Kathy Menzie passed her comprehensive exams this fall and will work to finish her dissertation next year.

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“It’s more an aspect of

endurance than capability and if

that means having to get up at 2 a.m. to write, so be it.”

- Maria Raiche-va-Stover

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Mass media students are eager to complete their college education and move on to the next phase of their lives.

After years of hard work and overcoming many chal-lenges, students graduate and receive their degrees. It was an exciting time in their lives, but before the excite-ment there were frustra-tions, concerns and fears of not graduating.

For Jayme Adkins, the challenge was passing mass media law.

“I thought I would fail mass media law miserably, but did OK,” said Adkins, media writing and public rela-tions major.

Another struggle for most students was to learn to use the AP Stylebook.

“You have to learn it early and use it the rest of the way through your classes,” said Summer Broeckelman, public relations major.

The AP Stylebook is one example of how writing for the media differs from other types of writing. Learning to use AP style can be a tedious task, but it’s an important aspect of media writing.

“The most challenging thing is to go from writing in English classes to writ-ing ad copy, news writing and feature writing,” said Travis Brown, public relations major.

Though some students were concerned about not meeting all the requirements such as passing media law and completing 192 hours of in-ternship to graduate, Kathy Menzie said graduating was not a concern for her students.

“[Students’] biggest concern is that Washburn is going to find some-thing that keeps them from graduat-ing,” said Menzie.

Those who complete all the re-quired courses with a passing grade can look forward to the working world. It will be quite different from

the school schedule they are used to. They can look forward to not doing homework and studying for exams. Instead, most will trade in their school attire for suits and ties.

Jeremy Fitzgerald hopes that there will be nothing keeping him from graduating. After coming back to school to finish his degree, he is ready to move on.

“I’m looking forward to moving on to a different chapter in life, going to work full-time and planning a good future,” said Fitzgerald, public rela-tions major.

While some are still job searching, others already have a job waiting for them after graduation.

David Conklin, electronic media

major, who graduated in December, was eager to leave and begin a career.

“I have been at Washburn since the fall of 2002 and I am not going to miss school. It was fun at Washburn but I am ready for a career,” said Conklin.

For Conklin, his internship with KTWU was an exciting start to a ca-reer. His internship experience helped him land a job as a Creative Services Producer at KTKA, Channel 49, in Topeka.

Kerrice Mapes would like to go to Kansas City and pursue a career there.

“I would really like to work in a public relations firm in Kansas City,” said Mapes. “I am excited about the education I have received, and I am ready to use it.”

World welcomes graduatesBy Alicia Garcia andVilay Luangraj

David Conklin (2nd from left) and John Hoytal (2nd from right), mass media majors, receive their degrees in December 2004.JS

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GraduatesJayme Lynne Adkins

Stephanie Nicole Auguste

Jesse Antonio Bernal

Michael Breneman

Summer Broeckelman

Travis R. Brown

David M. Conklin

Brian P. Ice

Floyd Anthony Lee

Jessica Deane Nelson

Brooke Rochelle Rhoden

Kara Lynn Sack

James F. Breneman

Kristina R. Castillo

Elizabeth A. Davis

Steve M. Dillion

Kari A. Erpelding

Jeremy Daniel Fitzgerald

Sarah E. Foster

Alicia A. Garcia

Stephanie R. Gigous

Nicole E. Haibon

Beau M. Harkness

Parrish A. Harsch

Nicole D. Hayes

John M. Hoytal

Arthur Lee Hur

Heather M. Jones

Jared D. Keller

Jamie L. Kennedy

Kip A. Kraisinger

Kerrice Mapes

Matthew D. Miller

Jason T. Owen

Andrea Lee Pennock

Ingrid E. Robinson

Katie L. Schmidt

Timothy Michael Scholtz

Lucas L. Thompson

Terasina m. Tobler

Sunny J. Trosper

James Wilper

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Alumnus providesBy Blake Edwards andAmy Schulz

One Washburn alumnus in the community is helping current students earn their degrees.

Jamie Overocker knows what it is like to need an internship for college credit and experience. He is now giv-ing back to the university he attended by providing internships for students.

Overocker is responsible for producing and marketing informa-tional materials, assisting the media in coverage and reporting on events for Heartland Park of Topeka. He also acts as a liaison between the business and the community.

“Internships give the best hands-on experience to prepare you for almost any profession that is out there in today’s fast-paced world,” Overocker said. “In today’s world it is important to have interns. They really do a great job when tasks are delegated to them.”

It is important for students at Washburn to participate in an intern-ship for graduation. Overocker said his internship prepared him for the real world more than any other college experience.

“I really learned that ideas and tech-nology are ever-changing. One has to adapt to that or they will have a tough

time becom-ing successful,” Overocker said.

As students at Washburn find themselves working for local businesses, Overocker no-tices a correlation between students and their success in the commu-nity.

“I feel very strong about giv-ing opportunities to Washburn students. It opens up their world and the possibil-ity of maintain-ing a professional relationship with the business that gave them an internship,” Overocker said. “It’s great to see students branching out in their community.”

Kathy Menzie, mass media faculty at Washburn, also serves as the intern-ship coordinator.

She helps students set up their in-ternships and then keeps in touch with

them as they complete it, making a visit to their place of work once during the semester.

“Internships are an incredible experience for students,” Menzie said. “There really aren’t any limits to what you might be able to do.

Julie Hoytal works with Washburn alumnus Jamie Overocker during her internship at Heartland Park of Topeka.

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lDavid Conklin, 2004, is a creative services producer at KTKA, Channel 49, in Topeka.

Brooke (West) Connell, 2004, is an assistant account executive at Glynn Devins Marketing/Advertising in Kansas City.

Lyila Devlin, 2001, works at the Central Illinois Foodbank in Springfield, Ill., as development director.

Cassandra (Mullinix) Fisher, 2003, is a graphic artist at Feist Publications.

Emily (Friedstrom) McGee, 2001, is the special events coordinator for the Stormont-

Vail Foundation in Topeka.

Tim Gassmann, 1999, is working as the engineering department and master control operator at Fox Broadcasting O&O KMSP-TV.

Brenda Hanrahan, 2000, is now working as the editor of special sections for Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles, Wash.

Amy Hendrickson, 1993, is the special events and fund manager at the Capper Foundation.

Christina Jamis, 1999, is the office manager at Bergkamp Chiropractic in Wichita.

Erin (Younkin) Kaberline, 2003, is the marketing specialist at Murphy-Hoffman Co. in Kansas City, Mo.

Maureen (McKay) Kamprath, 1998, is project specialist at the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc.

Jennifer Kirmse, 2002, is working at Western National Bank as the downtown branch manager.

Seeking AlumniThe Mass Media department at Washburn welcomes alumni

news. The department also wishes to say a special thank you to those alumni and friends who have donated money for student scholarships. As the price of tuition continues to rise, scholar-ships will become increasingly important to our students. The department strives toward excellence in all that it does, which is why opinions and observations from alumni in the field of mass media are appreciated and taken to heart.

We don’t want to lose touch. Take a moment and send an e-mail to massmedia@washburn.edu or simply fill out and return the following form.

Name:

Graduation year:

Address:

Degree:

Job title:

Company:

Company address:

E-mail address:

Your news:

Mail to:Washburn UniversityMass Media Department1700 SW College Ave.Topeka, KS 66621

Curtis Kitchen, 2002, is the public relations manager at Sports Car Club of America Inc.

Amanda Millard, 2000, is the assistant director of University Relations at Washburn University.

Jade (Hernandez) Murphy, 2000, is working as a Reporter at KSHB-NBC Action News, Channel 41 in Kansas City, Mo.

Mary (Hammel) Napier, 2004, is the communication/membership specialist at the Kansas Motor Carriers Association.

Michele Nikkel, 2002, is an account manager at Allen Press in Lawrence.

Michael Perkins, 2003, works as a branch manager at Columbian Bank.

Keri Renner, 2003, gave birth to Grace Elizabeth Renner August 2, 2004.

Debra L. Scott, 1995, is the layout and advertising designer at Parade of Homes Real Estate Magazine in Hollister, Mo.

Kristen Trapp, 2003, is the social coordinator at Topeka Blueprint Co. Inc.

Beth Warrington, 2004, is the publication coordinator at the Kansas Bar Association.

Kacie Wessel, 2004, is attending graduate school at the Patterson School of Diplomacy at the University of Kentucky.

Denise White, 1998, is a language arts teacher at Dodge City High School.

The Mass Media department collects notes from alumni letters, newspaper clippings and e-mails. The department encourages all alumni to keep in touch.

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