| ST. AMBROSE UNIVERSITY
COMM ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
APRIL, 2008
KALA won first place for “Sports Play-by-Play, Student Market Radio”
in the 2007 Northwest Broadcast News Association “Eric Sevareid Awards”.
The NBNA is an organization of radio and television journalists from the
Upper Midwest, including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin. The winning entry was a St. Ambrose basketball
broadcast featuring play-by-play by Chris Hassel ’07.
Chris also won an award for WOC radio in the “Best Newscast –
Medium Market Radio” category. Chris is now a sports reporter/anchor
with WHO-TV in Des Moines. (And, guess what, WHO-TV won an “Award
of Merit” for sports coverage and first place for “Best Sportscast/Program
– Medium Market TV”.)
Many of us enjoyed the wedding of Matt Carroll ’06
and Alana Kunz ’05 on April 19. Among the alums
in attendance: Amy (Hoover) Jones ’02, Matt
Veto ’04, David Baker ’88, Anthony
Forlini ’00, Joe Zerull ’04, Kelli
(Lawless) Hughes ’91, Katie Spain ’02,
Stephanie Stapes ’05, Theresa (Hughes) Cahill
’88, and Ken Colwell ’73. Other current
and former faculty and staff included: John Madsen, Ann
Preston, Maureen (Baker) Dyer, Alan
Sivell, Jon Anderson and Carla Stevens.
St. Ambrose Marketing and Public Relations student, Abbey Curran,
competed in the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas this month. She had won
the Miss Iowa USA pageant in November.
Amy (Hoover) Jones ’02, SAU Director of Special
Events, writes, “We had a great Wine Festival Preview Dinner on April
11. St. Ambrose University raised over $20,000 that night alone! There
were many communication alums in the crowd… Dave Baker ‘88
and Dan Burich ‘86 donated their time and services!
Burich was the MC for the evening and did a wonderful job. For those that
know Dan… you can only imagine how he was with the crowd. …
We had ballroom dancing and that was fun, too. (Seeing some members of
our Board of Directors doing the meringue was priceless.) It was noted
by many that this was one of the best SAU events ever… made me proud!
Now the countdown begins to the May 17 Wine Festival. We have about 600
people come to this event, so I will stay busy for sure… but that
means more money for student scholarships!”
Anne Freda ’04 stopped in for a visit. After a stint
at KWWL-TV in Waterloo, she is now a video producer for the city of Palatine,
IL. I also received visits/e-mails from several alums, including: Clay
Sander ’92, Roger Helling ’79, Chris
Salrin ’97, Michael (Davis) McFarland ’04,
Beth Hanson ’03, Jim Seward ’82,
Angie (Pritchard) Seger ’89, Mary (Milder)
Feeney ’81 and Mike Waskowiak ’77.
Evan Goy ’02 writes, “My fiancé, Melissa,
and I are busy with our 5 month old baby boy, Mateo. He is amazing to
say the least. I would like to congratulate recent parents and parents
to be... I miss the many happenings at SAU and being in Davenport. Again
I wish my fellow Alumni and current Mass Comm Students all the best in
2008 and the years to come!’
Charlie Minnick ’84 was recently elected to serve
on the Board of Directors for the Gateway Chapter of the American Red
Cross. He writes, “They are an excellent organization that does a
fabulous job in Clinton and Jackson Counties in Iowa and Whiteside and
Carroll Counties in Illinois.” He is the Dean of the College of Business
and Professional Studies at Ashford University.
Wendy (Heithoff) Pondell ’05 is the Community Education
Director for Abilities Plus in Kewanee, IL.
Chris Bolger ’98 writes, “Sorry I haven't kept
in touch the last few years. I finally got married last December! I guess
I finally told myself it was time to settle down. Her name is Rosey and
I met her in 2005 through a friend. I’m still in good old Rockford,
IL. I am not involved in radio or TV anymore. However, I would love to
make it back and announce a basketball game on TV or radio next year.
Let me know if there are any openings. I am a sales rep for the local
Culligan dealer here in Rockford. Things are going well and I thought
I would just say hello.”
Jeff Nelson ’76 writes, “We helped Trans World
Radio Guam celebrate 30 years of shortwave radio ministry on the island.
Dr. Woodrow Kroll of “Back to the Bible” was here to speak at
five different gatherings. The final event was at a local hotel, and I
was privileged to emcee that celebration, with a supportive crowd of about
250 folks. Dr. Kroll spoke about the uniqueness of Jesus’ life and
ministry. It was an uplifting and encouraging time."
Tana Durbin ’06, Assistant Marketing Coordinator
for F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen in Chicago, will be competing in the Miss
Illinois pageant. She writes, “The competition is in June, the 17th-21st
to be exact. I am actually performing ballet en pointe to 'O Fortuna'
from 'Carmina Burana' for my talent. I'm 'going classical' and seeing
where that'll get me! So far, however, all it's gotten me are some VERY
sore feet from those stinkin’ pointe shoes... But I'm hoping that
I will do well at Miss Illinois.”
Henry Votsmier writes from Springfield, IL, “It’s
been crazy down here in the capital city. I just finished basketball season
and had a real good year. Got picked up by some D-III conferences and
was selected to referee the Junior College National Tournament. I ended
up doing the third place game so that was a blast. In February I left
Capitol Records after 4 + years. … I took a new job here at Hospital
Sisters Health System. They are a corporation that owns 13 hospitals in
Illinois and Wisconsin. I’ll be doing some traveling for them, training
for them, and product support as the technology in the hospitals advance.
Maybe one of these days I can get back to the QC and say hello… would
love to catch up and see what’s changed. I'm sure an awful lot has...”
Matt Veto ’04 writes, “I've been working as
a sports writer for the Dispatch/Argus newspaper in the Quad-Cities for
the last two years, and last year got the opportunity to write a "Cubs
blog" during the playoffs. It was good exposure for me and a lot
of fun. The paper is having me do it again, this time for the whole year.
So, for all of you Cubs fans (or other kind of fans, I know there's a
Sox fan, an Astros fan and a Twins fan lurking in this e-mail list) if
you want to have friendly Cubs conversation on my blog, join in! I really
try to keep it interactive, light-hearted and fun. The more comments the
better. Anything you want to talk about, feel free to leave me a comment
in the comment box under the blog. I'll check it often and hope to have
at least a few-paragraph blog entry every day. www.qconline.com/bloggers/sports
Steph Zoller ’98 writes, “Big news in the family
down here in St. Louis... (Twin sister) Sarah (’98)
had a baby! It's the first baby for our family and, well, she will be
spoiled rotten! (Especially by Aunt Stephanie.) Her name is Zoe Rose and
she weighed in at 7lbs and 10oz. She's a looker! But maybe I'm biased!”
CONGRATULATIONS TO:
- Ryan Wild ’03 and his wife, Sandy (Bennett)
’02 on the birth of their daughter, Grace, in March in Des
Moines. Ryan says, “Grace likes to party all night, sleep all day,
and enjoys the bottle… things that will serve her well in college.”
CONDOLENCES TO:
- Chad Denning ’94 on the death of his grandfather,
Ernest.
Thanks, again, for all of the e-mails, calls and visits.
Duke
SchneiderDonaldL@sau.edu
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