Kelli Grant: "Life is Good"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 three years ago was ranked number two in the country by SPJ.

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ithacan Named Gold Medalist

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.