The Party's Over Once Again

The Ithacan wrapped up another academic year with the traditional Ithacan Banquet. About 75 staffers attended the April 30 event, along with guests Dean Dianne Lynch, Associate Dean Virginia Mansfield-Richardson, faculty members Vadim Isakov, Matt Mogekwu, Adam “Iron Man” Peruta and Todd Schack, as well as Associate Director of Media Relations Dave Maley.
There was plenty to celebrate this year, including being named the #2 weekly in the country by SPJ, winning the ACP Pacemaker and Online Pacemaker, the CSPA Silver Crown and Online Gold Crown, and numerous other honors.
In an updating of a decades-old Ithacan tradition, instead of producing an end-of-banquet slideshow, Online Media Editor Andy Swift ’09 produced a video of interviews with graduating seniors. It’s called “Senior Moments,” appropriately enough, and you can watch it on YouTube. It’s a nice way to get a look at some of the people who made the paper so great over the past four years.
And last but not least, we actually had entertainment at this year’s event. Aaron Edwards, our incoming assistant Accent editor, and Casey Musarra, our incoming sports editor (shown in photo above), performed “Anyone Else But the Ithacan,” with lyrics by Casey written to the tune of “Anyone
Else But You” from the film “Juno,” accompanied by former editor in chief Erica R. Hendry on the tuba. (No, I’m not kidding. You had to see it to believe it. It was hilarious.) Sadly, there’s no video record of the performance, but we may get them to recreate it someday.
In any case, we had a great year and are saying goodbye to an incredibly talented group of seniors, who now become part of our vast network of Ithacan alumni.

Nevins Wins National SPJ Award for Feature Writing

Senior journalism major Jen Nevins' story "That's How They Roll" has been awarded third place in the country for feature writing in the Society of Professional Journalists' annual Mark of Excellence competition.
The story, which profiled The SufferJets, an area women's roller derby team, appeared in the October 23, 2008, issue of The Ithacan.

Diane Gayeski Named Interim Park School Dean

Diane Gayeski has been named interim dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, succeeding Dianne Lynch, who leaves at the end of May to take over the presidency at Stephens College. Gayeski will serve in the position for the 2009–10 academic year while a search is conducted for a permanent dean. An excellent choice by the provost, and good news for Park.
You can read the official college announcement here.