Connections and Buzz.

As I visit with SOJC graduates around the country, these are two themes I hear often.

“How can I connect with other J-School alumni, especially with young alumni who are trying to build careers?”

“I don’t hear enough about the J-School. There should be more ‘buzz’ about the high quality of the school’s students and programs.”

Not surprisingly, the farther an alum is from Eugene, the more frequently the conversation turns to these themes. In early December, Assistant Dean Jonathan Wanderstock and I made a trip to New York City, where we visited with the following alums: Dana Wade, ‘83, CEO of Spike DDB; Carlos Lamadrid, ‘86, publisher of Men’s Journal; Jason George, ‘01, contract reporter for The New York Times; Arik Hesseldahl, ‘93, staff editor at Forbes.com; Kevin Roddy, ‘82, Euro RSCG MVBMS executive creative director of advertising; and Shawn Efran, ‘93, producer for CBS 60 Minutes II.

While there, we also met with Robin Hafitz, managing partner and chief strategic officer at Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and the first Richard Ward Executive-in-Residence.

Of course, these are only a handful of the nearly 75 J-School alumni in New York City. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention SOJC Hall of Achievement members Everette Dennis, ‘64, Ann Curry, ‘78 , and part-time New York resident Edwin L. Artzt, ’51.

If you are even the least bit surprised to see so many of our alums in the Big Apple, then you will understand our challenge. We know there could be similar lists for many cities, both in the United States and internationally. Today, we have approximately 275 SOJC alums in Los Angeles, more than thirty in Chicago, and nearly thirty in Washington, D.C.

Our goal is to build a stronger network of J-School alumni, so that we can foster connections and create a buzz about the School of Journalism and Communication that will be heard far beyond the Northwest.

Start spreading the news. If you want to be better connected, please let us know.

— Tim Gleason
Edwin L. Artzt Dean
tgleason@ballmer.uoregon.edu