Journalism school to honor distinguished alumni

Journalists at the forefront of print and broadcast media, public information and mass communications education will be honored Friday, April 23 by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

All are either alumni of the school or attended it. Receiving the school’s award for distinguished service are Owen Ullmann (MA ’73), senior news editor for the Washington bureau of Business Week magazine; David Maraniss, a UW student in the late 1960s, now a Pulitzer Prize-winner and reporter for the Washington Post; Jim Mott (BA ’56), former sports information director for the UW–Madison Athletic Department; and J. Paul Van Nevel (BS ’61), National Cancer Institute associate director for cancer communications.

In addition, Cynthia Goldberg (BA ’89) will receive the Ralph O. Nafziger Award for outstanding achievement within 10 years of graduation. She currently is producer for ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.”

Terry Hynes (MA ’71, Ph.D. ’75), dean of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, will be awarded the Harold L. Nelson Award for outstanding contributions to journalism education.

According to Sharon Dunwoody, Evjue-Bascom Professor and director of the school, the annual awards are a way to recognize excellence in professions that are becoming increasingly important to society.

“Media messages form a surrogate reality for what we can’t experience personally,” she says. “While we can — and often do — complain when that surrogate reality seems flawed, it’s probably a lot more useful to praise good work than to denigrate bad.”

The 1999 awards banquet will begin with a social hour at 6 p.m. in Tripp Commons, Memorial Union. Dinner will follow at 7 p.m. Tickets, $25, may be reserved through the school, (608) 263-4080.