Ithacan Alumni

Edwards Awarded New York Times Internship

2012-01-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

At least one current senior won’t be spending the spring semester worrying about what’s going to happen to him after graduation. Ithacan Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards will be heading to the Metro desk at the New York Times on a James Reston Reporting Fellowship, covering stories for print and the Web. He’ll also have a chance to branch out to other departments at the Times, including some work in social media and video.
“I feel humbled and blessed to have been chosen for the Times’ reporting fellowship,” Aaron said. “It’s an incredible time to be a journalist, and I’m thrilled for the chance to learn from some of the best in the industry. There’s so much exciting encouragement to end the year on a high note.”
He’ll be in good company, with IC alumni Jill Agostino ’86, Nic Barajas ’08, Nick Corasaniti ’08 and Adam Ellick ’99 already on the Times staff.

Esquire Internship Turns Into Job for Libby Sile

2012-01-06T09:06:00.000-05:00

Here's more evidence that if you have talent and work hard, it pays off. After graduating last May, Libby Sile ”11 went to New York to pursue her dream of working in the magazine industry. Here’s the latest news:

“After bouncing from internship to freelance gig since moving to New York in June, someone finally hired me! I began interning for Esquire in September and at the end of my internship, I was hired full time as an editorial assistant. I'll be the assistant to the magazine's executive editor and deputy editor and will help some of my favorite writers with research and interviews. As the presidential election gains momentum over the next year, I’ll be working with our politics blogger as well. I couldn’t be more excited to be starting my first job at my favorite magazine and look forward to seeing where it takes me.”

Congratulations Libby!

Ithacan Named Crown Finalist

2011-12-22T08:21:00.000-05:00

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association has named The Ithacan a finalist for the newspaper Crown Award for both semesters of the 2010–11 academic year. The Crown Awards are the CSPA’s top honors, presented each year at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. This year’s convention is March 18–20.

Casey Lands at philly.com

2011-11-28T16:37:00.001-05:00

Casey Musarra writes:

“You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl. I think this just about every day as I travel over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia. I'm currently commuting about an hour and a half from North Jersey to the City of Brotherly Love where I'm working as a sports content producer for philly.com, an aggregate site of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, which oddly enough are housed in the same building and owned by the same company. I work on the back end of the site posting stories, writing headlines and captions, cutting photos, etc. I've only been there for four days, but I'm loving the excitement of a fast-paced newsroom that for me is all sports all the time. It's a dream come true to be in a position where working on Sunday doesn't take away from watching football on Sunday.

“I'm hoping to move down to the Philadelphia area to nom on boatloads of Philly cheesesteaks in the next month or so, but for now I'm enjoying my long car rides to have solo karaoke sessions and get my fill of Mike and Mike in the Morning.”

A Record Day for the Ithacan Website

2011-11-06T19:37:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday, The Ithacan’s website experienced 3,793 visits — a single-day record — as the result of The Huffington Post tweeting and linking on its Facebook page to Taylor Long’s story on the college’s Health Promotion Center program director’s email to faculty suggesting they assign additional work to students over Cortaca weekend in an attempt to curtail excessive drinking. A Chronicle of Higher of Education blog also picked up on the story, adding to our web traffic.

Aaron Edwards is Everywhere

2011-11-02T19:27:00.000-04:00

Ithacan Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards has been popping up all over the place as a featured student in the college’s new “Ready” marketing campaign. Advertising featuring him has turned up in The New York Times, on Pandora and in a wide range of other media, including PIX’s website in New York. (Screenshot courtesy of Liz Crowley Pontillo ’04)

The Ithacan Wins Best of Show

2011-10-31T11:22:00.000-04:00

From left: Assistant News Editor Erica Palumbo, Assistant
Photo Editor Rachel Orlow, Chief Copy Editor and Sales
Manager Marissa Smith and Managing Editor Whitney
Faber in Orlando

The Ithacan print edition was awarded first place, and the Ithacan website was awarded second place, in their categories in the Best of Show competition at the National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., October 27–30.
The paper was also presented with a Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist Award at the convention. The Pacemakers, presented each year by the Associated Collegiate Press, are widely regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” and are among the most prestigious student journalism awards in the country.
The paper has been a finalist eight times in the past 10 years, and won the award in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The website has won the Online Pacemaker Award four times in the past six years.

Ithacan Named CSPA Gold Medalist

2011-10-23T23:13:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan has been named a Gold Medalist for both the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s annual college newspaper critique.

Each year the CSPA evaluates member papers on overall content, news, depth reporting, features, opinion/editorial, sports, arts/entertainment, editing/headline writing and design/graphics based on more than 150 specific criteria. This year the paper’s scores on the critiques 1,000-point scale were 965 for each semester. The CSPA consistently ranks The Ithacan as a Gold Medalist, its highest category.

Among the judge’s comments, “You do an excellent job with this paper. Content is fresh, newsworthy, often unexpected. The look is also excellent: professional and interesting.”

Rob Bluey Swings by the Office

2011-10-23T23:04:00.000-04:00

Rob Bluey ’01 and Ithacan photo
editor Michelle Boulé in the Ithacan
office.

Former Editor in Chief Rob Bluey ’01 came to Ithaca on Oct. 16 for the Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting and stopped in at The Ithacan office. He visited with some current staff members and then took me to lunch. (I know alumni are successful when they start taking me to lunch.) Rob is currently heading up The Heritage Foundation’s investigative reporting unit. You can follow his work at Scribe: Bluey Reports.

Lisa Boyars Launches New Project at Condé Nast

2011-10-23T22:42:00.000-04:00

It’s always a pleasure to see Lisa Boyars ’01, so when she said she was coming to town for Fall Splash, I headed up to campus to visit with her and to meet her fiancé, Dave Gehrke. Lisa’s career at Condé Nast has been nothing short of stellar. Always eager to help our students, she agreed to come back the next day to meet with and advise our advertising staff. Here's what she has to say about her latest venture:

“In May 2011, I launched a new division of the organization: Condé Nast Ideactive. We are a Brand Agency built on the Condé Nast DNA of igniting culture.
“Through a partnership with Condé Nast Ideactive, consumer brands are now able to leverage the same assets & resources used to build our editorial brands (like Vogue, Glamour, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Wired, Allure, Style.com, Epicurious, etc.) and apply them to tell their own powerful stories. Current clients include Tourneau (custom online content), Cadillac (experience series with national chefs), GM (TV series with Condé Nast editors), and Swarovski (affluent database outreach).
“I specifically am the Senior Director of Client Solutions – overseeing client engagements from strategy & concepting through execution.”

From left: Ithacan sales reps Taylor Palmer, Megan Harrison, sales manger Marissa Smith, Lisa Boyars ’01 and sales rep Patrick Duprey

Weiser Joins Tech Startup

2011-10-23T22:15:00.002-04:00

Weiser back at his post.

Among the alumni who returned to campus for Fall Splash was former Sports Editor Andrew Weiser ’11, who has moved to New York and is already putting his many talents to use. He writes:

“In addition to deciphering the New York City subway system anddodging taxis, I’ve been spending my time interning for The Cools, a techstartup company, in Soho.

“The Cools is a social online marketplace that is redefining therelationship between the buyer and seller, while tailoring every users’ experience to their different tastes.

“At The Cools, I wear many hats, which is made harder by the factthat I sit on a fitness ball. I was hired as a Social Media Intern and beganlaying the ground work of our community outreach and user acquisition.Leveraging Twitter, Facebook and email, I helped spread the word about TheCools.

“I’ve transitioned into a role where I work with our differentenvironments, testing functionalities and making sure the user experience isthe best it can be. With a background in Journalism, I also assist in the copywriting, which is different experience considering many of my coworkers areFrench.

“ It’s a combination of my passion for technology and writing, andI gladly shoulder the expenses to be able to say I get out of bed excited to goto work. C’est la vie.”

Fall Splash Brings Back Ithacan Alumni

2011-10-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

From left: Rich Morris ’81, Jeff Selingo
’95, Mike Nagel ’04 and Alyssa Gardina ’08.

From left: Jill Kirtland Hughes ’03,
Kelli Grant ’04 and Rob Engelsman ’10

Fall Splash brought quite a few Ithacan alumni back to campus to participate in activities and hang out with friends. Among the weekend’s events were two panel discussions sponsored by the Park School on Oct. 14. Former Ithacan Editor in Chief Jeff Selingo ’95, now vice president and editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and former News Editor Kelli Grant ’04, senior consumer reporter at SmartMoney.com, participated in “Using Social Media to Your Professional and Personal Advantage” at 2 p.m. Then former staff writer Cole Louison ’00, now at GQ magazine and the author of the recently published “The Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding,” currently the #1-selling book on skateboarding at Amazon.com, participated in “The Future of Communications: How Do We Reinvent Our Media Industries and Audiences” at 4 p.m. (Photos by Jacob Lifschultz)

From left: Doug Weisman ’78,
Cole Louison ’00 and Mike Nagel ’04

A Facelift for The Ithacan

2011-09-29T01:47:00.000-04:00

The redesigned Ithacan website is now live. Check it out. And take a look at this video of the editors discussing the changes.

Makes You Want to Move to the Berkshires

2011-09-24T06:07:00.000-04:00

The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle is reaching out to potential readers through a promotional campaign that includes our own former editor in chief Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10.

Redesigned Website On the Way

2011-09-19T16:11:00.002-04:00

Get ready for this to change.

The Ithacan has a major website overhaul in the works! Our new webmaster, Honest Charley Bodkin, is hard at work revamping the site to make it better looking, more user-friendly and better able to showcase our multimedia. What we've seen so far looks great. And the good news is, Charley's only a freshman, so we'll have him around for a while.

The redesigned site will launch on Thursday, Sept. 29. Mark your calendars.

Ithacan Named 2011 Pacemaker Finalist

2011-09-13T17:15:00.001-04:00

The Ithacan has been named a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist for 2011 by the Associated Collegiate Press. The winners of the award — widely regarded as the “Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” — will be announced at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., on October 29.
The Ithacan won the Newspaper Pacemaker in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, and was a finalist in 2009 and 2010. The Ithacan Online won the Online Pacemaker in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and was a finalist in 2009.
The Associated Collegiate Press is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college journalists in the country. This year's Newspaper Pacemaker competition was judged by professional journalists in the Washington, D.C., area.

Libby Sile at Esquire

2011-09-12T07:22:00.001-04:00

Here’s the latest from last year’s editor in chief, Libby Sile ’11: “After moving down to New York in early June, I started working at a start-up politics website, but left to work for the summer at Inc. Magazine doing research for the print publication, and writing stories and slideshows for the web. I was applying for jobs in the meantime, but got offered an internship at Esquire that I couldn't refuse. I just started, but it looks like I’m going to be doing a lot of research, fact-checking and maybe even some writing.”

Another Brew Fest Reunion

2011-09-11T22:25:00.000-04:00

From left, Rachel Heiss, Max
Steinmetz, Andrew Lovell,
Erica Hendry and Whitney
Faber in the Ithacan office.

In what has become an annual tradition, Ithacan alumni returned to town in force for Ithaca Brew Fest September 3.
Max Steinmetz ’08, Erica Hendry ’09 and Andrew Lovell ’08 came by campus the day before and stopped in at the office, where they had the chance to meet current Sales Manager Rachel Heiss and Managing Editor Whitney Faber. Later on I had the opportunity to introduce Lovell, who as sports editor created the first Ithacan Sports Preview section back in Fall 2007, to Harlan Green-Taub, our current assistant sports editor, who had just finished working on this fall's preview section.
Then on Sunday, a bunch of us got together for brunch at Mahogany Grill. Sadly, the photos didn't turn out very well, but we had Steinmetz, Hendry and Lovell, Sara Bempkins ’09, Erin Geismar ’09, Casey Musarra ’11 and her brother Blair, Tahleen Ovian ’09, Colleen Shea ’09 and Andy Swift ’09 around the table.

The Ellsworth-Connelly Wedding

2011-09-11T21:24:00.002-04:00

Charlie Ellsworth ’04 and Caitlin Connelly ’05 returned to Ithaca to be married August 27, with a ceremony and reception at the Ithaca Farmers' Market. It was a perfect summer evening for it. The ceremony was held down by the water, with the reception following in the market space itself.

Caitlin had been managing editor and Charlie sports editor in 2003–04. Joe Geraghty ’04, who had been their editor in chief that year, came up from Brazil for the wedding. He checked into Casa Serino for the weekend, so we had plenty of time to catch up.

Joe Geraghty covers the wedding.

Former editor in chief Anne Walters Custer ’05 and husband Roger Custer ’04, and former managing editor Natalie Lyons Silver ’04 and husband Steve Silver ’04, were also in town for the ceremony. Charlie's boss, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), was also in attendance.

Of the many weddings of alumni my wife Stephanie and I have attended, this was the third in which both the bride and groom were former Ithacan editors (the two previous ones being Rob and Melissa Bloomrose Bluey in 2003, and Michael and Melissa Thornley Bloomrose in 2004). Relationships that can survive a year of Wednesday nights at The Ithacan can probably survive anything.

Despite worries about Hurricane Irene, which passed up the East Coast that weekend, the couple took off for their two-week honeymoon in Spain. Stephanie planned the trip for them, so I trust all went well. Charlie and Caitlin are very special people to us. It was a joy to be there with them.

From left, Roger Custer, Anne Walters Custer, Nora Silver, Natalie Silver and Steve Silver at Purity Ice Cream

In a final treat that weekend, the next day I met up with Steve and Natalie Silver, along with Anne and Roger Custer, at Purity so I could meet Steve and Nat's daughter Nora, who spent the wedding night in the care of her grandparents. A beautiful and sweet-natured child, as one would expect coming from solid Ithaca College stock.

Catching Up With Alex Leary

2011-09-06T13:05:00.003-04:00

One of the good things to come out of this summer's D.C. trip was reconnecting with Alex Leary ’97. Alex was one of the best journalists from the first group of students I worked with at The Ithacan, but we lost touch after he graduated. From time to time I'd hear about the good work he was doing at the St. Petersburg Times, and would check his stuff out, but our paths never crossed. Then this summer I heard he was now in Washington covering politics for the paper. I dropped him an email, and he stopped by our dinner at the Old Ebbitt.
It was great seeing him again and catching up. He spent time talking to the others at the dinner, sharing what he'd learned through the years. We won't lose touch again.
How satisfying to see one of our best writers land one of the best beats at one of the best papers on the country. You can check out his work here.

This Summer's D.C. Trip

2011-08-30T11:34:00.000-04:00

Time to catch up with some long-overdue blog posts.
At the end of July, Stephanie and I made our annual trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the alumni. As usual for that time of year, it was miserably hot (one day it was 104, without the heat index). Nevertheless, we managed to get together with a number of people while we were there and had a great time.

Henry and Melissa Bloomrose

On Thursday the 28th, we had dinner with Erica Hendry ’09 and Max Steinmetz ’08 at Das Ethiopian Cuisine (formerly Zed's — same restaurant, with a confusingly German-sounding new name), one of our favorite Ethiopian restaurants in the city.
The next day we drove down to Woodbridge, Va., to have lunch with Michael and Melissa Thornley Bloomrose (both ’02) — and their son, Henry, whom we were meeting for the first time. And what an adorable little guy he is.
Then that night we had dinner with the Ithaca D.C. alumni group at our regular venue, the Old Ebbitt Grille.

In attendance were Anne Walters Custer ’05, Charlie Ellsworth ’04, Erica Hendry ’09, Alex Leary ’97 (more on him later), Archana Menon ’10, Jackie Palochko ’11, Beth Quill ’06, Max Steinmetz ’08, and Nate Weixel ’08. Sophomore Megan Devlin (currently the Ithacan's opinion editor) who was in Washington this summer interning at the The American Prospect and the Institute for Policy Studies, was able to join us as well.
That day also happened to be my birthday. I can't imagine better people to spend it with

Buy This Book! Cole Louison Chronicles the History and Culture of Skateboarding

2011-07-19T15:58:00.004-04:00

Cole Louison ’00 has just published a new book. The Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding, was released today by Lyons Press. You can read an excerpt from it in GQ.
Here’s what he had to say about the concept behind the book:
“The original idea was to write two long stories and put them together a la Franny and Zooey [by JD Salinger], where readers follow two people whose stories eventually overlap. Ryan Sheckler was the young wild prodigy, and Rodney was the older wise mentor. But Rodney Mullen is about Tony Hawk's age, and like Tony he's been around for so long, and his influence is so great, that his story really is the story of skateboarding. Rodney was born in 1966, the year skateboarding first officially "died" That's how the Fantastic History of Skateboarding came into play.”
Cole’s work has appeared in McSweeney’s, The New York Times, The New Yorker book blog and GQ, where he is on staff. He is also the author of the U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills field manual.

Tabloid Time

2011-07-13T15:03:00.000-04:00

Aaron Munzer ’08, who is, among other things, a correspondent for the Ithaca Jourrnal, picked up a byline in the New York Post today with his story on the Ithaca couple who jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge yesterday. Check out “Naked Death Plunge” (ah, the Post, a classy headline as always).

Great Moments in Ithacan History #1

2011-05-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan went online in April 1996, when it hired its first online editor, Tim Lynch.

Yes, There Are Jobs Out There

2011-05-17T13:26:00.000-04:00

Margaret Moran ’10 has accepted a position as a staff reporter at the Lake Placid (N.Y.) News. Her new job begins June 13. A job as a journalist in a beautiful environment — what more could you ask for?

Connecting Across a Decade

2011-04-30T10:36:00.002-04:00

Last night Stephanie and I spent a pleasant evening at Madeline’s with former Ithacan editor in chief Rob Bluey ’01, who was in town for an Alumni Board of Directors meeting. We were later joined by our current editor in chief, senior Libby Sile. It was fun getting these two together — both strong editors, and exactly a decade apart. Rob is still with The Heritage Foundation, the D.C.-based conservative think tank.

Sorry, We Can't Talk About It

2011-04-25T00:06:00.000-04:00

A partial reunion of the legendary 2008–09 Ithacan Fight Club took place Saturday night at Cafe Mogador on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. Stephanie and I met up with Edon Ophir (in for a two-week visit from Israel), Erin Geismar and Andy Swift for an evening of great food and conversation. Byard Duncan, Erica Hendry and Jen Nevins were absent, and very much missed.

More Awards for The Ithacan

2011-04-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan was awarded the Second Place Mark of Excellence Award for Best All-Around Non-Daily Newspaper by the Society of Professional Journalists, Northeast Region, at the SPJ Region 1 Convention on April 9 in Providence, R.I.

In addition, junior Whitney Faber received a Second Place Mark of Excellence Award for feature writing at the convention for her story “Behind the Lens,” which appeared in the Sept. 2, 2010, issue of The Ithacan.

On the same day, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., The Ithacan staff was honored with half a dozen awards in the New York Press Association’s annual Better College Newspaper Competition.
Senior Allison Usavage (shown above) won first place for photography for her photograph “Standing Strong,” which appeared in the March 4, 2010, Ithacan.
Senior Michelle Skowronek won third place for feature writing for “Gay Enough?” which appeared in the paper’s April 15, 2010, issue.
In addition, the paper won second place for design, second place for sports coverage, third place for editorial and third place for general excellence.

Vadim!

2011-04-15T13:07:00.003-04:00

Our good friend Vadim Isakov, late of the Ithaca College journalism department and now working for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (not Geneva, N.Y., as you might expect), was recently quoted in a piece on “Attacks on the Press” on the Committee to Protect Journalists website.

Edwards Named 2011-12 Ithacan Editor in Chief

2011-04-14T22:34:00.001-04:00

The Ithacan has a new editor in chief! Tonight the Board of Student Publications selected junior Aaron Edwards to serve as the paper's top editor for the 2011–12 academic year. For those of you who don't know him, Aaron is a journalism major/theater minor with three semesters experience on the editorial board as assistant Accent editor, assistant news editor and news editor. In addition, his internships include some of the most prestigious news organizations in the business: CBS News in New York, the Associated Press in London, and — this coming summer — the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Last summer he attended the New York Times Student Journalism Institute as well. This semester he is studying in London.

Margaret Moran Now at Twist Magazine

2011-04-12T15:07:00.000-04:00

From the class of 2010: Former Chief Copy Editor Margaret Moran writes “I recently started interning for Twist Magazine, a teen publication, and it has given me the chance to write some blog posts and do some research. I've also been freelance reporting for the past nine months for a paper in my area called The Advertiser-News. Until recently, I was covering town meetings for the paper, which gave me the chance to cover a variety of topics."

De los Rios Launches New Orleans Film Project

2011-04-11T17:30:00.007-04:00

Alex de los Rios ’07, our former sports editor and columnist, is part of an ambitious project in New Orleans: “to chronicle the history, people and culture surrounding contemporary New Orleans brass band music.” The documentary, to be called “Brass Roots, ” is an outgrowth of a series of interviews of local brass bands. You can find out more at the Brass Roots blog.
Alex writes:
“I moved to New Orleans in 2007 the fall after graduation. It was a complete shot in the dark — I had no job, no money and knew just three people in the city — but thankfully it worked out. Really, I have The Ithacan to thank for it. It was through my work at IC that I got an internship at ESPN the Magazine, when I moved to New Orleans I used that as an in to work for the local alt-weekly Gambit (www.bestofneworleans.com) covering the Hornets and Saints. That wasn't enough to be fully employed, though. We started the brass band documentary because a friend — who photographs sports — and I decided we were sick of not having anything to do in the summer. The rest was just putting in work getting to know the bands and honing the techniques we learned doing short videos for Gambit and adapting them to a documentary format. More than two years later and we're raising money to finish the film and have real dreams to premiere at film festivals. Not bad for a guy who once counted this as his greatest journalistic achievement: Bombs Away.”
The project is now in the kickoff stage, and it needs your support. Go to the Brass Roots Kickstarter Page and pledge your support.

An Update from Liz Crowley Pontillo

2011-04-04T17:44:00.000-04:00

When we saw her in New York last month, I asked Liz Crowley Pontillo ’04 for a life-update. Here it is:
“I’m about to enter my fifth year at Facts on File, working as a copywriter and proofreader in the publicity department. It’s an academic and school library reference publisher, but with the push for eBooks, the company is slowly moving into doing more Web-based products. With that, I’m about to start classes in HTML and design, so I can be ready when ‘print’ refers only to the computer function.
“I just got married five months ago to a wonderful guy. We live in Oyster Bay on Long Island, the post-presidential town of Theodore Roosevelt, and after several years of living in New York City, I’m still adjusting to life with a yard, cars and no building superintendent.”

Flinn Publishes Third Novel

2011-03-29T19:32:00.000-04:00

Kevin Flinn ’01 has just published his third novel, “Ghosts,” which resets Henrik Ibsen's classic moral drama in northwest Pennsylvania in 1910. It is available in paperback or as a file download here. Kevin's first two novels, “Because” (2007) and “Through Night and Wind” (2009) are still available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other outlets.

An Update from Emily Paulsen

2011-03-21T13:40:00.000-04:00

I've now been at the College Board almost five years. I just moved into a new role as the product manager for ReadiStep, an 8th grade assessment program that launched about a year ago. Previously, I had been managing publications and other communications projects for the PSAT/NMSQT program. And though it seems that much of my life is spent at the College Board, I'm also working on an MBA at Fordham and training for my future career as a professional runner (ok, not exactly, but I am preparing to run my first half marathon in a couple weeks and, assuming I survive, I'll also be running the NYC marathon this fall).

Kelli Grant: "Life is Good"

2011-03-19T10:45:00.001-04:00

I've asked our alumni to provides updates on their recent activities. Here's the latest from former News Editor and Special Projects Manager Kelli Grant ’04:

"I'm still the senior consumer reporter at SmartMoney — June marks my third year in that position, my sixth at the site, and my seventh with Dow Jones. My crazy list of weekly duties includes writing my Deal of the Day column (2-4x), a column for The Wall Street Journal Saturday, a spot with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, a SmartMoney segment on CBS, a video for the site and, now, a handful of posts for our new blog Paydirt. The site pitches me out as a personal finance expert, so in any given week I'm on Fox, CBS, ABC or other networks talking about my stories and other finance news. On top of all that, I still freelance — Real Simple, Good Housekeeping and Family Circle are the big three. And every once in a while, I get to sleep in. Still living out in Park Slope, dating a wonderful guy — life is good."

The Art of the Revku

2011-03-16T23:56:00.001-04:00

Former Accent editor and Buzzsaw Haircut co-founder James Sigman ’98 just returned from L.A., where he was attending a “Freaks and Geeks/Undeclared” reunion at the Paley Center for Media's 28th Annual PaleyFest at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, and visiting Sarah Wright-Killinger ’00.

He is currently a copy editor at John Wiley and Sons in Hoboken, home of the Cake Boss. His latest project is is a series of “revku” — haiku about books — which can be found on his blog, Tinsel and Rot. He is eagerly anticipating the 15 –year anniversary of Buzzsaw (Haircut) in 2014.

Alumni March Madness

2011-03-16T22:54:00.000-04:00

Our annual alumni dinner at Heartland Brewery on 43rd St. in conjunction with the spring National Student Media Convention drew a great crowd this year. Twenty alums showed up to see old friends and meet the eight current students attending the conference.
Alumni in attendance were Nic Barajas ’08, Michelle Barrie ’10, Stephanie Belsky ’06, Lisa Boyars ’01, Mike Cagnazzi ’98, Stacey Coburn ’06, Paul Colombo ’00, Jennifer (Quinzi) D'Agnes ’00, Bill Earl ’09, Erin Geismar ’09, Kelli B. Grant ’04, Vanessa Leong ’00, Cole Louison ’00, Emily Paulsen ’05, LIz (Crowley) Pontillo ’04 along with new husband David, Matt Quintanilla ’07, Deepa Shah ’06, James Sigman ’98, Andy Swift ’09 and Kiersten Timpe ’10.

Bill Earl with current students Molly Apfelroth, Megan Devlin and Michelle Boulé

Paul Colombo, Lisa Boyars, Jen Quinzi D'Agnes and Vanessa Leong

Andy Swift, Matt Quintanilla and Stacey Coburn

Kiersten Timpe, Deepa Shah, Michelle Barrie and Erin Geismar

Another Apple for the Orchard

2011-03-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

At the closing ceremony of the spring National College Media Convention in New York, The Ithacan Online walked away with the Apple Award for first place in the Best of Show competition and the print edition with second place.
Back row, left to right: freshman Assistant Photo Editor James Earl, sophomore Assistant Design Editor Molly Apfelroth and sophomore Photo Editor Graham Hebel; front row: sophomore Photo Editor Michelle Boulé, freshman Assistant Accent Editor Megan Devlin, sophomore News Editor Alexandra Evans and junior Assistant Sports Editor Kevin McCall.

Word is Out

2011-03-16T21:52:00.002-04:00

Overheard at a Tuesday morning conference session:
Male Student: Are you going to the Apple Awards later?
Female Student: No, are you?
Male Student: Yeah, we're nominated for best print weekly, but The Ithacan is nominated too. It's probably worth going anyway, though.

Ithacan Website Wins Online Crown Award

2011-03-13T15:43:00.002-04:00

The Ithacan Online, the Ithacan's website, was presented with a Silver Online Crown for overall excellence by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association this afternoon at the National College Media Convention in New York City. The Ithacan was the only weekly publication to win a Crown Award in any category.
At the awards ceremony, left to right: freshman Assistant Photo Editor James Earl, junior Assistant Sports Editor Kevin McCall, sophomore Photo Editor Michelle Boulé, sophomore News Editor Taylor Long, freshman Assistant Accent Editor Megan Devlin, sophomore Assistant Design Editor Molly Apfelroth, sophomore News Editor Alexandra Evans and sophomore Photo Editor Graham Hebel.

The Legendary Sami Khan

2011-03-13T15:31:00.000-04:00

In New York for the National College Media Convention, we had Sunday brunch with Sami Khan ’02, who’s living in Brooklyn and “still causing trouble.” After two years with the Toronto Film Festival, he moved to New York to earn a master’s in film at Columbia, and now works as a producer for the StyleCaster Media Group, producing fashion editorials and video content.

The Ithacan Named SPJ Region 1 Finalist

2011-03-10T22:16:00.004-05:00

In addition, junior Whitney Faber's story "Behind the Lens," which appeared in the September 2, 2010 issue of The Ithacan, was named a finalist in the competition's feature writing category.

The winners will be announced at the SPJ Region 1 Spring Conference in Providence, R.I., April 8–9. First-place winners from SPJ's 12 regions go on to compete for the national Mark of Excellence Award in their categories.

Bouncing Back

2011-03-05T10:23:00.001-05:00

The Ithacan has just posted the third in a series of four in-depth multimedia packages. Check out “Bouncing Back: Local Dairy Farmers Recover After Milk Prices Plummet” by Raechel Kenealy and Laura Gallup. The first two were “Big Red Greek Policy: Cornell Makes Changes to Greek System” by Sarah McCarthy and Tori McClurg, and “Step Up Your Game: Improvements and Deficiencies in IC Athletic Facilities” by Nate March and Zachary Tomanelli.

Aaron King!

2011-03-04T02:16:00.000-05:00

Former Opinion Editor Aaron King ’09, now a grad student at Villanova, returned to the Opinion pages of The Ithacan this week with a commentary on the longterm implications of the political antics in Wisconsin.

Aaron Edwards Reports from London

2011-02-24T14:59:00.002-05:00

Alumni aren't the only ones getting stories out there. Last semester's news editor, junior Aaron Edwards, is interning at the Associated Press in London this spring, and has seen his work picked up by the Washington Post, Forbes, the Boston Globe, the Huffington Post and MSNBC, among others.

Fennessey's Freelancing, Coast to Coast

2011-02-24T09:36:00.001-05:00

Sean Fennessey ’03’s freelance work has been popping up in some impressive publications recently. This week alone, “The ‘Bold, Crazy’ World of Adult Swim” was published in the Los Angeles Times, his review of Gil Scot-Heron and Jamie Smith's “We’re Still Here” ran on Pitchfork and “Adele Goes Deep” appeared in the Village Voice. Sean is director of merchandising at eMusic.

Hendry's Back in the Smithsonian Magazine

2011-02-24T09:19:00.000-05:00

Erica R. Hendry ’09's story about a small African-American community's preservation of African traditions on Georgia's tiny Salepo Island has just been published in the Smithsonian Magazine. Erica runs the Patch.com site in Vienna, Va.

Anna Uhls Heads to Law School

2011-02-20T22:25:00.000-05:00

After four years as a multimedia journalist at The Washington Post, Anna Uhls ’07 is moving on to go to law school.
“The decision took a lot of thought, but I think it's right for me,” she writes. “Law has always been a favorite beat for me, my greatest interest in a post-grad degree and where most of my community service hours have fallen.”
During her time at the Post she produced “Divine Impulses” with Sally Quinn, covered the 2008 presidential election, Obama's inauguration, the Metro Crash, Holocaust Museum shootings, last year's “Snowpocalypse” and — a personal favorite of mine — the National Zoo’s celebrity panda, Tai Shan.
Her last day at the Post will be March 2.

Ithacan Named Online Crown Finalist

2011-02-20T22:01:00.001-05:00

The Ithacan Online has been named one of seven finalists for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's 2011 Online Crown Award.

Founded in 1925, the CSPA is owned by Columbia University and operated as a program affiliated with its Graduate School of Journalism. The Crown Awards, first presented in 1982, are the organization's highest honor. The Online Crown recognizes overall excellence in newspaper websites. The Ithacan Online was awarded the CSPA Gold Crown in 2009 and 2010.

Winners will be announced at the Spring National College Media Convention in New York City, March 13–15.

Once again we’re in elite company. The other finalists in the national competition are the websites from:
·      The Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University)
·      The Iowa State Daily (Iowa State University)
·      The OU Daily (University of Oklahoma)
·      The Miami Hurricane (University of Miami)
·      The Daily Pennsylvanian (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia)
·      The Shorthorn (University of Texas at Arlington)

A Visit from Beth Quill

2010-12-27T12:40:00.000-05:00

Beth Quill ’06 (EIC 2005–06) was home in Auburn, N.Y., for the holidays and was nice enough to drive down to Ithaca and to have lunch last Thursday. It was great to see her, as always. We discussed her trips to Turkey and Iceland, as well as her work at Science News in Washington, where she is now Deputy Managing Editor for Features. You can find her stories and reviews for the magazine here.

More Thanksgiving Weekend Fun

2010-11-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

Our Thanksgiving weekend in New York continued with brunch with Edon Ophir and Erin Geismar, both ’09, at the Cookshop in Chelsea (which I highly recommend, by the way).

Edon was town in for a brief visit from Tel Aviv, where he is living and working as the broadcasting and new media coordinator at fashiontv, an international television channel devoted to fashion and modelling. Erin is now settled into her new job as a multimedia journalist at Newsday on Long Island.
That evening we had a chance to catch up with Nic Barajas ’08, who continues his work in print and web design at a little place he likes to call The New York Times, and also had the pleasure of meeting Meghan Peters, a community assistant at Mashable.
A pleasant trip all around.
In photo, Edon Ophir and Erin Geismar.

Black Friday with Alumni

2010-11-27T11:29:00.000-05:00

Stephanie and I had dinner last night near Union Square in New York with Matt Quintanilla ’07, Vanessa Schneider ’07 and Wes Siler.
Matt recently relocated from Minneapolis to New York, where he's working at Disrupto, an interactive design and development studio that counts Mike Potter and Jason Roos, both class of 2007, among its cofounders. Vanessa recently accepted a position as community manager with Google (about which, more later); she's based in New York as well. Wes is founder and editor of the online motorcycle magazine Hell for Leather.
It was great seeing Matt again, and it's always a pleasure to see Vanessa and Wes. With the job market being what it is, it's great to see these three doing so well. Altough given who they are, it shouldn't be that surprising.

Liz Ties the Knot

2010-11-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

Former Ithacan managing editor Elizabeth Crowley ’04 married David Pontillo on October 30 in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Best friend Kelli Grant ’04 served as maid of honor. Among other Ithacan-related people in attendance were Anne Walters Custer ’05 and husband Roger Custer ’04, and Wendi Dowst ’04.

Nadolny in the News

2010-11-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

Tricia Nadolny ’09, who has been interning at the Chicago Tribune, was interviewed on Chicago's CLTV concerning her coverage of a city alderman's withdrawal from the Chicago mayoral race for health reasons. You can watch the interview here.

Still Setting the Pace

2010-10-31T21:09:00.001-04:00

The Ithacan was presented with the 2010 Online Pacemaker Award for overall excellence in online journalism on Oct. 30 at the fall National College Media Convention in Louisville, Ky. This is the fourth time in the past five years The Ithacan's website has won the national award.
The Ithacan's print edition was also presented with a Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist Award at the event.
The Pacemakers, presented each year by the Associated College Press, are the widely regarded as "the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism," and are among the most prestigious student journalism awards in the country.
In addition, the paper won second place in the newspaper category in the convention's Best of Show awards; The Ithacan's website received third place in the Web category.
Shown above, left to right: Assistant photo editor Kelsey O'Connor, assistant news editor Taylor Long, editor in chief Libby Sile and assistant news editor Alexandra Evans with the awards at the convention.

Patrick Doyle Moves Up at Rolling Stone

2010-10-24T23:36:00.001-04:00

Patrick Doyle, who was Ithacan assistant Accent editor before transferring to New York University in 2008, has since graduated and gone to work for Rolling Stone in New York, first as a reporter and now as an assistant editor. He’ll be writing stories for the Rock and Roll section in the front of the magazine and helping with headlines, reporting on other stories and editing. He writes, “I’ve gotten to go to a lot of great festivals like Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Eric Clapton’s Crossroads festival and gotten to interview my heroes, including Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Pete Seeger, Willie Nelson and others. It’s been a lot of fun.”

“This wouldn’t be possible without The Ithacan,” he said. “It gave me my first real taste of being in a newsroom.”

You can find an archive of his stories here.

<http://www.rollingstone.com/home/search?cat=All&searchText=patrick+doyle&x=0&y=0>

Above: Patrick interviews Conan O’Brien backstage at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in June.

Erica's Patch Site Is Live

2010-10-12T16:28:00.000-04:00

Erica Hendry's Vienna, Va. Patch.com site is up and running. Go there now!

Ithacan Named Gold Medalist

2010-10-12T16:22:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan has been named a Gold Medalist for both the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 semesters in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s annual college newspaper critique.

Each year the CSPA evaluates member papers on overall content, news, depth reporting, features, opinion/editorial, sports, arts/entertainment, editing/headline writing, and design/graphics based on more than 150 specific criteria. This year the paper’s scores on the critique’s 1,000-point scale were 981 for fall and 985 for spring. The CSPA consistently ranks the Ithacan as a Gold Medalist, it’s highest category.

Among the judge’s comments, “Everything about this paper is well done. I can’t say enough about your strong ‘watchdog’ role, your outstanding coverage and your excellent design.”

More Alumni Updates

2010-09-27T16:26:00.001-04:00

ERIN GEISMAR ’09
After more than a year at the East Hampton Press, Erin Geismar ’09 has reached one of her career goals by moving to Newsday, the 11th-largest-circulation newspaper in the country. She writes, “As a community journalist at Newsday, I'll be covering community events and telling local people stories across media platforms. I'll be working from my car equipped with a laptop, video camera, smart phone, etc (thank you Digital Journalism Workshop) to file multiple stories, photos and video each day. It's a brand new venture for Newsday as they try and amp up their ‘hyperlocal’ presence around Long Island. As a born and raised Long Islander, I'm really excited to be part of that effort.”

ERICA R. HENDRY ’09

After a six-month internship at Smithsonian Magazine, Erica R. Hendry ’09 (editor in chief 2007–08) has joined the team at Patch.com, a startup network of local news sites backed by AOL. As editor of the Patch site for Vienna, Va. (a suburb just 15 miles outside of Washington, D.C.), she says she’s “like the EIC of The Ithacan again … but this time for the town of Vienna.” She’s in charge of finding, editing and scheduling stories; writing them; hiring training and managing a team of freelance writers, photographers and videographers; editing and producing videos; managing the site’s social media networks; building the site’s community directory (“like Yelp, but better”); and “trying to keep the adventure under budget.” The site goes live October 11 at Vienna.Patch.com. She continues to freelance for Smithsonian Magazine.

ANDREW LOVELL ’08

Andrew Lovell ’08 has been hired as an associate news editor for ESPN.com. As night-time editor on the ESPN.com news desk in Bristol, Conn., he’ll handle everything from editing staff and AP stories to writing headlines, checking facts and posting articles. ESPN.com is one of the premier sports websites in the country, drawing roughly 20 million unique visitors per month. The job comes after a two-year stint with the New Britain Herald in New Britain, Conn., as a local sports writer/copy editor.

Laluk Works Across Platforms in Rochester

2010-09-21T09:26:00.001-04:00

Kathy Laluk ’10 is working as an associate producer at 13WHAM-TV News, the ABC affiliate in her hometown of Rochester, N.Y. She’s working the night shift, helping put together the 11 p.m. broadcast and keeping the website up to date. She’s doing a lot of writing and has helped out on video on occasion. As if that weren’t enough, she’s also a part-time writer and photographer for the City Newspaper, Rochester’s alternative weekly.

Back for Brew Fest

2010-09-06T16:49:00.001-04:00

The 4th Annual Ithaca Brew Fest brought Ithacan alumni back to Stewart Park this Labor Day weekend. Among those who rolled in were Kara Cusolito ’08, Lydia Dimitriadis ’08, Erin Geismar ’09, Erica Hendry ’09, Andrew Lovell ’08, Aaron Munzer ’08, Max Steinmetz ’08 and Andy Swift ’09.
In photo, from left: Munzer, Cusolito, Swift, Lovell, Steinmetz and Hendry.

We're Pacemaker Finalists Again!

2010-09-02T23:37:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan has been named a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist for 2010 by the Associated Collegiate Press. Earlier this year it was also announced that The Ithacan Online, the paper’s daily website, was named an Online Pacemaker finalist.

The winners of the award -- widely regarded as the “Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” -- will be announced at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Louisville, Ky., on October 30.

The Ithacan won the Newspaper Pacemaker in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, and was a finalist in 2009. The website won the Online Pacemaker in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and was a finalist in 2009.

The Associated Collegiate Press is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college journalists in the country. This year's Newspaper Pacemaker competition was judged by professional journalists in the Washington, D.C., area.

Laura is Racing to Save Lives!

2010-09-02T10:12:00.000-04:00

Laura Bauman ’06 has joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training to raise money to fight blood cancers by running the Miami half marathon. Go to her fundraising page to support her efforts.

Some May Grad Updates

2010-08-21T10:34:00.000-04:00

Last year’s editor in chief, Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10, is now the online editor at the Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. In addition to performing daily maintenance to the website, she is also in charge of the newspaper's social media presence, including Facebook and Twitter. She produces multimedia stories for the web, and writes stories and takes pictures for the print edition. She is also in charge of the newspaper's transition to a new mobile application that will be going live by the end of the month, and a major social media campaign that will increase readership and advertising revenue online.

She is known in the Berkshire online community as the "Baby Eagle" and blogs at http://blogtheberkshires.com/out_of_the_nest.

Former design editor Michelle Barrie ’10 is working as a marketing assistant for Psychology Press, a New York textbook and academic publisher owned by Taylor and Francis. Next month she will be traveling to England with the company’s marketing team.

Facebook Buys Hot Potato

2010-08-21T10:28:00.001-04:00

Hot Potato, the social networking website that Vanessa Schneider ’07 joined as community manager earlier this year, has been bought by Facebook. Here's Vanessa's blog posting on the subject.

Barajas Goes Full-Time at the Times

2010-08-19T23:34:00.000-04:00

After working at The New York Times part-time for just over two years, Nic Barajas ’08 has been hired at the paper full-time. He’ll continue as a designer and paginator for print, with stints in web design and production.

Is There Nothing She Can't Do?

2010-06-25T18:13:00.000-04:00

Melissa Bluey ’00, assistant art director at The Atlantic magazine, has made her Atlantic writing debut in a piece suggesting that members of Congress be given iPads in an effort to bring them into the technological loop. Check out "Give Congress iPads."

Vanessa Schneider Moves from the Times to Hot Potato

2010-06-16T13:04:00.001-04:00

After two and a half years at The New York Times, Vanessa Schneider '07 has recently joined tech start-up Hot Potato as Community Manager. Working on a team of eight in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Vanessa's job involves a variety of responsibilities, from product development to working with users to make sure they're getting the most out of their Hot Potato experience.
A little about Hot Potato: While Twitter asks users 'What's happening?' and Foursquare asks users 'Where are you?', Hot Potato asks 'What are you doing?', aggregating audiences around shared interests and events — what you're watching, reading, eating, playing, etc. HP is especially focused on interests that happen at certain points in time with large audiences — tv shows, concerts, art openings, sporting events — and connecting people during those events.
To learn more, visit www.hotpotato.com, or shoot Vanessa an e-mail at vanessa@hotpotato.com.
(Above: Vanessa with Hot Potato coworker Petey the French bulldog.)

Cusolito's Work Appears in The Nation

2010-06-03T13:56:00.001-04:00

Former news editor Kara Cusolito ’08's story on the controversial process of “fracking” to remove natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, "The Next Drilling Disaster?" will appear in the June 21 issue of The Nation and is already available online.

Uzbekistan's Favorite Son Moves On

2010-05-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

After three years as Scholar in Residence in the Park School journalism department, Vadim Isakov has accepted a position with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva, Switzerland. His Digital Journalism, Issues and the News and other courses influenced many of our students. Plus he introduced us to Dancing Sasquatch. He'll be missed as a teacher, colleague and friend.

Another Year Comes to an End

2010-05-21T14:16:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan staff wrapped up another successful year for the paper and website with the annual Ithacan Banquet in Emerson Suites on May 5. The outgoing editorial board gathered for a photo at the end of the event.

Uhls Over America

2010-05-13T17:27:00.000-04:00

Proving that the life of a Washington Post reporter is never dull, Anna Uhls ’07 took to the air with Air National Guard Lt. Colonel John Klatt to preview the air show at Andrews Airport Base this weekend. She got it all on video in "Parachute? Check. Vomit bag? Check."

A New Role for Rob Bluey

2010-05-07T14:26:00.001-04:00

Former editor in chief Rob Bluey ’01 is leading a new journalism project at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. After spending the past three years developing the organization’s online strategy, Bluey shifted paths in March when the redesigned Heritage.org launched. His reporting will complement Heritage’s policy research by focusing on storytelling and investigative journalism. Politico and the Washington Examiner recently published two of his stories.

Tricia Nadolny Awarded Pulliam Fellowship

2010-05-07T14:20:00.001-04:00

Tricia Nadolny ’09 has been awarded a prestigious Pulliam Journalism Fellowship for summer 2010. She will be spending two months working at the Indianapolis Star as a paid member of the newsroom staff, as well as attending writing workshops and other mentoring opportunities with the Star's seasoned reporters and editors.
Previous Ithacan staff members to receive the Pulliam include Jeff Selingo ’95, now editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Adam Ellick ’99, now a reporter with the New York Times.

Here Comes the Bride

2010-05-02T23:26:00.001-04:00

Bride-to-be Liz Crowley ’04 and bridesmaid-to-be Kelli Grant ’04 were recently featured in a New York Times story, "Brides Magazine Hosts a Newlywed Nest." The wedding is scheduled for the end of October.

Anne and Roger Return to Ithaca

2010-04-24T12:47:00.000-04:00

Former editor in chief Anne Walters Custer ’05 and husband Roger Custer ’04 came to town Wednesday night and stopped by the Ithacan office to meet the current crew. In addition to meeting students, Anne also got to meet some of the journalism faculty who have come on board since she graduated. Roger was here to spend time with politics professor Marty Brownstein before his retirement at the end of the semester. Anne is a reporter and editor with Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Washington, D.C., and Roger is a conference director with Young America's Foundation.

Treasures from Overseas

2010-04-22T11:23:00.001-04:00

Our own Adam Ellick ’99 was featured in a "Talk of the Town" piece in the April 19 issue of The New Yorker magazine. "Show-and-Tell" described a "Tchotchke Night" meeting of the Overseas Press Club of America, during which members shared items they've brought back from war zones. Ellick, who is a New York Times reporter, brought a "burka bottle cover" from Afghanistan: "a miniature green burka, about the size of a fifth of vodka." Another correspondent countered that what Ellick had was not a bottle cover at all, but a burka for a Barbie.

Design Across a Decade

2010-04-18T14:45:00.002-04:00

Former Ithacan design editor (and later managing editor) Melissa Bluey ’00 (left) stopped in the office Saturday to sit down with current design editor Michelle Barrie ’10 to discuss magazine work and careers. Missy is assistant art director at The Atlantic magazine. She and her husband, former Ithacan editor in chief Rob Bluey ’01, were in town along with 1-year-old baby Ben so Rob could attend the college Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting.

Ithaca College in the Times

2010-04-17T11:18:00.001-04:00

Check out this article from yesterday's New York Times, "At Upstate Campus, Saving Energy is Part of Dorm Life," which quotes Ithacan sustainability blogger Becky Webster, among others. Apparently we're "a campus known for its embrace of all things sustainable."

Libby Sile ’11 Named Ithacan Editor in Chief

2010-04-13T21:38:00.002-04:00

The Ithaca College Board of Student Publications has selected Libby Sile ’11 to serve as the 2010–11 editor in chief of The Ithacan. The board met Tuesday night and conducted the candidate interview with Sile, who is currently studying in Dublin, via Skype.

Sile, a Park Scholar, is a junior with a double major in journalism and politics. She has worked as an Ithacan reporter, assistant news editor, news editor and opinion editor. In addition, she has interned at the Hartford (Conn.) Courant and the Ithaca Journal, and has been awarded a prestigious American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) internship for summer 2010. She was recently named a winner of the 2010 Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.

Ithacan Named Best in the Northeast

2010-04-13T13:41:00.002-04:00

The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan the Best Non-Daily Newspaper in the Northeast region for 2009.

The paper received the First Place Mark of Excellence Award on April 10 at the SPJ's Region 1 spring conference at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York. It now goes on to compete against the winners in the other 11 SPJ regions for the national Mark of Excellence award, which will be announced at SPJ's national conference October 3–5 in Las Vegas.

This is the third year in a row The Ithacan has been named best in the Northeast by SPJ; two years ago the paper was ranked number two in the country.

In addition, the following students received awards for work published in The Ithacan in 2009:

Allison Wassink ”09: Second place, sports photography

Andy Swift ’09: Third place, feature story

Allison Usavage ’11: Third place, photo illustration

Shown in photo (from left): Ithacan Editor in Chief Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10 and Ithaca College SPJ Chapter President Jackie Palochko ’11 with the award certificate.

Behind the Scenes with Vanessa at the Times

2010-04-06T15:06:00.003-04:00

Vanessa Schneider ’07 made her New York Times video debut in today's segment of "Times Cast," the Times Web site's feature offering an look inside the newsroom and some of the stories being covered. Vanessa is a Social Media News Assistant at the Times. She comes in around minute 4:50, discussing reader reaction to a leaked video showing an American helicopter firing on Iraqi civilians.

Gleason Comments Quoted by Times

2010-03-31T21:42:00.001-04:00

Former Ithacan photo editor Connor Gleason ’08 was quoted yesterday in the follow-up to a New York Times story on the problems professional photographers are facing as the newspaper and magazine businesses decline. “Pros and Amateurs Debate: Is Photography in Trouble?” included comments by five photographers, including Connor. You can find his new Web site here.

Ithacan Named Online Pacemaker Finalist

2010-03-31T14:38:00.000-04:00

The Ithacan Online — The Ithacan's daily Web site — has been named a finalist for the 2010 Associated Collegiate Press Online Pacemaker Award.

The winners of the award — widely regarded as "the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” — will be announced at the fall ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, at the end of October.

The Associated Collegiate Press is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college journalists in the country. The contest was judged by a panel of professionals with extensive online media experience. Judges noted that the most successful sites displayed excellence in multimedia storytelling, writing and editing, site design, in-depth and complete coverage, interactivity, and graphics and photography.

The Ithacan won the Online Pacemaker Award in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and was a finalist in 2009.

Diane Gayeski Named Dean of Park School

2010-03-31T14:08:00.001-04:00

Interim Dean Diane Gayeski has been named dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Read the official announcement here.

Ithacan Named Best College Newspaper in State by the New York Press Association

2010-03-27T13:39:00.009-04:00

The Ithacan has been named the Best College Newspaper in New York State for 2009 by the New York Press Association. This is the ninth time in the past 11 years that the paper has received the award.

The paper was also awarded:

First Place for General Excellence
First Place for Design
Third Place for Editorial
Third Place for Sports Coverage

In addition, the following individuals won awards for their work in The Ithacan in 2009:

Erin Geismar ’09, First Place, News Writing
Byard Duncan ’09, Second Place, News Writing
Allison Wassink ’09, First Place, Photography
Allison Wassink ’09, Third Place, Photography
Lilly Miller ’13, Second Place, Column Writing

The awards were for work published during the 2009 calendar year. The editor in chief for Spring 2009 was Erin Geismar ’09; the editor in chief for Fall 2009 was Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10. The awards were presented at the NYPA’s 2010 Convention on March 27 at the Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Both editors were in attendance at the convention, Hollenbaugh representing The Ithacan and Geismar representing the Easthampton (N.Y.) Press, where she currently works as a reporter. Accent Editor Michelle Skowronek ’11 and adviser Michael Serino also represented the paper at the convention.

Photos: Top: Michelle Skowronek, Lindsey Hollenbaugh and Erin Geismar with the Ithacan's awards; bottom: Lindsey and Erin with the Best Newspaper award.

Aaron Edwards to Attend New York Times Student Journalism Institute

2010-03-25T21:31:00.002-04:00

Ithacan assistant news editor Aaron Edwards has been accepted to attend this summer’s New York Times Student Journalism Institute, to be held May 16–31 at Dillard University in New Orleans.
The institute offers student journalists an opportunity to work with prominent professionals in a newsroom environment. All expenses are paid, including transportation, and the student receives a stipend. Edwards, a sophomore journalism major, is the third Ithacan editor in as many years to be accepted to the institute. Nic Barajas ’08 and Erin Geismar ’09 were previous attendees.

Ithacan Named Finalist for SPJ Award

2010-03-22T15:33:00.004-04:00

The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan a finalist for the Mark of Excellence Award for Best Non-Daily Newspaper in the Northeast region. The paper is consistently ranked among the top three papers in the Northeast, and two years ago was ranked number two in the country by SPJ.
In addition, three students were named finalists in their respective categories for work published in The Ithacan in 2009: Andy Swift ’09 (feature story), junior Allison Usagave (photo illustration) and Allison Wassink ”09 (sports photography).
The winners will be announced at the SPJ Region 1 Spring Conference in New York City, April 9–10. First-place winners from SPJ's 12 regions go on to compete for the national Mark of Excellence Award in their categories.

Mellman Goes to Philly.com

2010-03-19T12:55:00.000-04:00

Josh Mellman ’09 has accepted a position as a web producer intern at Philly.com in Philadelphia. He'll be updating stories, photos and other content, as well as developing pages and projects for the site.

Tricia Nadolny Wins Award for Young Writers

2010-03-19T10:35:00.003-04:00

Tricia Nadolny ’09 has been named the recipient of the Walter Spearman Award for young writers for her work at the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record during an internship last summer. The award, which recognizes outstanding writing by a journalist with two years or less experience on daily newspapers, is named for a longtime journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was announced last night at the North Carolina Press Association winter meeting in Chapel Hill.

Look at the Size of This Thing

2010-03-18T15:49:00.002-04:00

Construction on the college's new A&E center is moving ahead. If you haven't been to campus lately, you've missed the steady growth of this structure, which fills the space between the Gardens and Boothroyd. Here's the view from behind the East Tower.

Current Students Meet NY Alums

2010-03-18T11:07:00.009-04:00

New York Ithacan alumni met with current staff members Monday night at our annual dinner gathering, held in conjunction with the spring National College Media Convention. The evening always proves to be a great networking opportunity, and this year was no exception. Professional contacts and job referrals were made, and at least one internship offer came across the table. Current students Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10 (Editor in Chief), Aaron Edwards ’12 (Assistant News Editor), Michelle Skowronek ’11 (Accent Editor), Whitney Faber ’12 (Assistant Accent Editor), Casey Musarra ’11 (Sports Editor) and Colleen Lowery ’12 (Assistant Design Editor), Melanie Breault ’11 (Staff Writer) shared a meal and conversation with alumni Paul Colombo ’00, James Sigman ’98, Emily Paulsen ’05, Laura Bauman Shalem ’06, Deepa Shah ’06, Vanessa Schneider ’07 and Andy Swift ’09 at the Heartland Chophouse on E. 43rd St.. We also had a chance to see former Editor in Chief Erin Geismar ’09 while we were in town.
Top photo: Andy Swift, Melanie Breault and Whitney Faber; bottom: Stacey Coburn and Emily Paulsen, with Vanessa Schneider in the background.

Libby Again!

2010-03-17T14:23:00.003-04:00

This has been quite a year for junior Libby Sile. Last spring she received the Park Scholar Rising Junior Award. Last semester she served as Ithacan opinion editor before going off to study in Dublin this spring. Earlier this month she was awarded an ASME internship.
And now she has been selected as a winner of the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition, which comes with a nine-day international study tour of Japan. This is the second consecutive year an Ithacan staffer has won: Last year Tricia Nadolny ”09 toured Korea and Japan as a competition winner.
Libby has an exciting summer ahead of her. We look forward to her return to The Ithacan in the fall.

Ithacan Wins Best in Show

2010-03-16T11:29:00.003-04:00

The Ithacan finished the 2010 Spring National College Media Convention in New York March 16 by winning the Apple Award for Best in Show. This is the seventh time in the nine years the award has been presented, and the fifth consecutive year, that the paper has won the award in its category.
Shown above: 2009–10 editor in chief Linsdsey Hollenbaugh with the award at the convention.

Ithacan Wins Second CSPA Online Gold Crown

2010-03-14T14:30:00.010-04:00

For the second consecutive year, The Ithacan Online, the Ithacan’s Web site, has been awarded an Online Gold Crown Award for overall excellence by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or online medium. The CSPA has recognized excellence in journalism with Gold and Silver Crown Awards for student newspapers, magazines and yearbooks since the early 1980s. The award for online publications was added last year.
The award was presented March 14 at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. Only five college newspaper Web sites in the country received 2010 Gold Crowns. The other four were the Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University), the Iowa State Daily (Iowa State University), OUDaily.com (University of Oklahoma) and The Daily Pennsylvanian (University of Pennsylvania).

Libby Sile Awarded ASME Internship

2010-03-08T17:57:00.005-05:00

Libby Sile ’11 has been awarded an American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) internship for summer 2010. Libby has served as a reporter, assistant news editor, news editor and opinion editor at The Ithacan, and last spring was awarded the Park Scholar Rising Junior Award. This semester she is studying in Dublin.
ASME interns are placed at prestigious magazines in New York or Washington. Previous Ithacan editors to be awarded the internship include Kelli Grant ’04 (Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine), Michelle Theis Cuthrell ’04 (Smithsonian Magazine), Elizabeth Quill ’06 (National Geographic), Vanessa Schneider ’07 (InStyle) and Erin Geismar ’09 (Smart Money).

Where's Alex?

2010-02-14T16:47:00.001-05:00

After graduating from Ithaca College in 2002, Alex Morrison spent three years in Hollywood working in the art department for "The Island," at a major advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day and as a salesman at Alan Gordon Enterprises. Since beginning graduate work at American University he has won awards for filmmaking including Best Documentary Storytelling, Best Environmental Film, a Gold Peer Award for Best Non-Dramatic Student Production, and is currently screening a film on public television called "Ecoviews: Reclaiming the Bay."
Currently Morrison is a Fellow at the Center for Teaching, Research and Learning, and has created a Social Networking site for environmentalists called "DIY: What Can I Do?" (www.diywcid.com) which encourages users to post videos and photos sharing the good news of environmental activism on popular media sharing sites.

Class of 2009 Update

2010-01-26T12:07:00.001-05:00

Here's what some of last year's graduating class is up to:

Former editor in chief Erin Geismar writes, “After graduation I enjoyed a summer on Long Island with family and friends. In September, I was hired as a reporter by The East Hampton Press (www.27east.com) and in February will move to the swankiest small town in the world. One of two reporters, I'm constantly writing. I cover village government and the school board and am responsible for most of the paper's feature stories.

Former managing editor Joshua Mellman is writing web content and blogging for a law office, interning at a monthly magazine, and freelance writing for publications and companies — all in the South Jersey region.

Former online media editor Andy Swift is the weekend editor at Bonnie Fuller's new celebrity/entertainment news site HollywoodLife.com in New York. He has full control over the site on Saturdays and Sundays, and goes in during the week on scattered days for writing/reporting.

Emma Strachman, who was an assistant photo editor and online media editor, writes, “I'm currently working as a makeup artist for Bobbi Brown. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I love it! I'm being creative in a very different light. I'm also co-producing an independent film that is projected to start shooting in February. We'll be entering the film into festivals and screening it in the greater Albany area.”

Former chief proofreader Tahleen Ovian is starting graduate school at Simmons College. She'll be working toward a master's degree in library and information science, with a concentration in Youth Services. She’s also still working at Barnes & Noble part time.

Farewell to Erica Hendry

2010-01-26T11:59:00.000-05:00

Got together with Aaron Munzer ’08, Kara Cusolito ’08 and Byard Duncan ’09 over break to say goodbye to Erica Hendry, who, having completed her journalism degree in May, has just completed her music degree. She leaves Ithaca with those degrees, extensive experience in both print and multimedia journalism, a couple of great internships under her belt (USA Today, Chronicle of Higher Education), and experience as one of the best editors in chief (2007–08) the Ithacan has seen. In short, she leaves well prepared for the world of journalism. Her first step is to Washington, D.C., where she'll spend the next six months writing for Smithsonian magazine. We'll miss her.