The College was honored to host Stephanie Druley, senior coordinating producer at ESPN, for the day in November. Stephanie, who graduated with a Journalism degree in ‘89, oversees all NFL studio shows for ESPN — including the Emmy Award-winning Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, NFL PrimeTime and NFL Live. In addition to managing all content, planning, budgeting and staffing for these programs, Stephanie is responsible for ESPN’s annual on-site coverage of the Super Bowl, as well as SportsCenter features during the NFL off-season. She has also had a major hand in the production of SportsCenter annual “My Wish” summer series, a collaborative effort with the Make-A-Wish Foundation that grants special sports-related wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Stephanie spent the day visiting with various classes throughout the day and also got to visit with the students working in the ABC Campus News Room. Stephanie shared her story with students and encouraged students to seek that dream job! While she is living her dream job and fulfilling her passion for sports, Stephanie acknowledged that it has been a lot of work and long hours. She laughed as she told students that sports don’t happen around a normal 8 to 5 job and that you have to be willing to put in the extra hours and weekends. She doesn’t have any regrets and loves what she is doing. Stephanie shared pointers on how to be successful in her mind which included knowing what you want and staying focused, being confident in yourself, being aggressive and persistent, networking and to remember everyone you meet along the way because you never know when your paths may cross again. Her other pointer for students which she mentioned in every class she visited was always ask good questions and know when to make that one question really count!
In addition Stephanie had the opportunity to watch the run-through and actual live taping of Texas Newswatch – where broadcast students report, write, edit and produce news stories. Stephanie gave them some great feedback after they finished taping and also told them it was the quietest control room she has ever been in! After the taping we made a final stop to visit with TSTV (Texas Student Television) students. While some asked career related questions others wanted to talk Sports! All wanted to know who her picks are for the Super Bowl and also what she thought of all the press Brett Favre was getting! After a full packed day I had to pull Stephanie away from the students (literally) in order to let her go and experience a little of Austin before heading back to Bristol!
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It was May 12,1980. After a night of partying with friends and after a late-night brawl, Mark Henricks (BJ ‘81)came home with a broken arm. It wasn’t one of his finest moments, but hours later Mark says his life changed dramatically… for the better. While recuperating from his injury, Mark got a call from People Magazine. The popular weekly had an internship spot available and offered Mark the opportunity. A few weeks later, the kid from Irving was in the Big Apple and got his first taste of big-time journalism.
Not that his days at the Daily Texan were bad, but it was nothing compared to New York. He covered the 1980 Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. Mark was hooked. A career in journalism was for him.
Mark started his career as mostly a business writer. He was worked for the Houston and the Dallas Business Journals and for 17 years was a regular columnist for Entreprenuer Magazine. One of Mark’s favorite articles is a piece about Cirque du Soleil for American Way magazine. Mark ventured to the troupe’s Montreal headquarters and took readers inside the life of a Cirque du Soleil performer. You can read the article and some of Mark’s others at markhenricks.com. You can also find Mark’s work in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Mark is also the author or co-author of 11 non-fiction books. One of his favorites is “Not Just A Living: The Complete Guide to Creating a Business That Gives You a Life.” It’s a book about finding one’s true calling. That’s something that Mark Henricks has taken to heart. By the way, that broken arm is feeling just fine.
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It was just instinct. When a video clip of Colt McCoy played on the television screen at Via Quadronno in Miami, Suzan McDowell (BS ADV ‘87), dropped her fork, flashed the Hook ‘Em Horns sign and started belting out “Texas Fight!” Right in the middle of lunch! I knew I was dealing with a true Longhorn.
Those that know her, know that this is par for the course for Suzan. Her engaging personality, sharp wit and business acumen, has allowed Suzan to run her own company Circle of One Marketing. Suzan’s shop is a full service marketing, advertising and public relations agency. One of her biggest clients is Jazz in the Gardens. Under Suzan’s guidance, the event will grow to more than 50-thousand in attendance in just it’s fifth year. The two-day concert now is held at the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens. This year Mary J. Blige will be the headliner.
One of Suzan’s biggest thrills was meeting Michelle Obama last year. Suzan says,
“Michelle Obama has given women like me, (working mothers, professional, educated, black and smart), a ‘face’ and a ‘brand’ that the public can identify with. There is an army of Black women just like me and her. Because she is the First Lady, the elegant, graceful, loving mate to the most powerful man in the world, she has opened doors that were previously closed.”
Suzan is a “must meet” in Miami, but to get to her you’ll have to get by her pug Mia. She shares an office with Suzan.
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On the bookshelf: “Top Dogs and Their Pets”photography by David Woo and Richard Michael Pruitt, with a forward by Diane Rehm. (November 2009, Parapet Press)
Is there anything more revealing than our relationship with our pets? Flip through David Woo’s latest book “Top Dogs”, a collection of photographs of some of America’s “top dogs” with their animal friends (photographed with long-time collaborator Richard Micheal Pruitt), and the truth is clear. Our four-footed (and sometimes no-footed) friends rule our world.
Woo, a life-long pet lover, spent the past four years criss-crossing the country photographing some of America’s best known sports, entertainment, political and business figures (91 in all), many of them UT alumni. Part of the book’s proceeds will benefit the Cesar and Illusion Milan Foundation, which provides funding throughout the US for pet shelter and rescue groups, free or low-cost spay/neuter programs, and educational programs for children based on pet awareness.
“I knew a foundation like this would be the best beneficiary of the book,” Woo says, “I wanted to take the love people emanate for their pets and use it to help animals across the country.”
Woo photographed many UT luminaries, including Mack Brown, pictured with his cavalier King Charles spaniels, Crocket and Charlie.
(I know what you’re thinking - he does look just like his dogs!) See more portraits of some very special UT people after the jump (you know you want to look). Keep reading →
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Julie Carruthers, Executive Producer of All My Children, came back to the 40 acres last month to speak with RTF students about her production career in the high pressure world of television day-time soap operas. She hadn’t been back to UT in quite some, but said that memories of her years at UT came back quickly. As we drove by Dobie Mall she remembered living there and being an RA. She also was very familiar with the studios (particularly 4A). Keep reading →
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Dan Rather, the long-time CBS anchorman and College of Communication Advisory Council member, delivered the 2009 Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lecture in Journalism at the Texas Union on October 22, 2009. Rather bluntly described the state of American journalism and issued a call to arms for UT’s journalism students.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be.” This is the message that those who care about the state of news needs to portray to the broad public if a free press is to survive in America, and by extension, freedom as we know it, is to survive in America.
The free press, Rather argued, is not just another sector of American business that needs a government bailout. Instead, he said, it is the integral piece of the country’s democratic infrastructure, and it’s giving signals of its imminent collapse. The news is the beating heart of America, and freedom of democracy resonates with the freedom of the press.
I had been trying to meet with Bruce Sterling (BJ ‘92) for months. In July, this was his response: “I’m inMilan,Italythis month. It’s hot here too, but not climate-crisis hot.” So, I tried again last month. Bruce responded: “Well, I’m out of Milan, but roaming the Balkans. I’ll be in Austin a while around October 19.”
Out of the blue, I got an email from Bruce on Tuesday asking to meet for lunch or a beer. I immediately picked up the phone and called him. I figured I better catch him now before he’s off to another distant land! Keep reading →
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What two things go together perfectly? New technology and a University of Texas win over OU at the Dallas Cotton Bowl!
Ian Wolfman (BS ‘95 CMS), CMO of IMC2 in Dallas, captured this video on his iPhone 3GS at the end of last Saturday’s big game - singing the “Eyes of Texas” after beating OU never gets old, does it?
Our thanks to Ian for his report from the scene.
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Marianne Addy (BJ ‘85) isn’t just busy during cookie selling season. As Vice President of Communications for Girl Scouts Louisiana East (GSLE), Marianne is in charge of all communications for this large Girl Scout chapter. The area includes New Orleans and Baton Rouge and encompasses 23 parishes. It served 15,000 girls last year! www.gsle.org. Keep reading →
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Ian Wolfman (BS 95) lectures to advertising students on media convergence at the AT&T Center on 9-30-09.
Ian Wolfman, as the Chief Marketing Officer of IMC2 in Dallas, is in the forefront of the changing digital landscape for marketers and advertising. Wolfman, an expert at identifying innovative ways to help clients and prospective clients to leverage digital, emerging media, and traditional media to achieve measurable marketing results, spoke to a packed house of advertising students at the AT&T Executive Conference Center on September 30th.
RT @suzhalliburton: McCoy also is a finalist 4 the Maxwell. Other 2 finalists R Ingram of AL & Tebow of FL. That's a Heisman precursor. #ut 8 hours agoNovember 23, 2009
