2022 SMPA Newsletter
Message from the Director
School Spotlights
Alumni Class Notes
Faculty Kudos
Message from the Director
Dear SMPA Alumni,
As the university transitions back to in-person learning this year, I am reminded of the wonderful community at SMPA. I want to thank you for your commitment to helping students succeed even during these times.
This past fall, GW celebrated the university's Bicentennial and many of you were able to come back to campus to attend various events. During that weekend we also hosted a breakfast for recent graduates who missed out on their graduation ceremonies due to the pandemic. It was so great to see so many of you in person again!
I want to take a moment to thank some of the wonderful alumni who participated in SMPA sponsored events this year and spoke to current students about their careers such as Jonathan Blakely, BA ’11, Claritza Jiménez, BA ’05, Andrew Lautz, BA ’15, MPS ’17, Anthony Abron, BA ’18, and Emilie Frank, BA ’15, MA '16. To all of the SMPA alumni who come back to speak to our students, I can’t thank you enough for staying involved with SMPA and being such helpful resources and mentors.
On April 6, 2022, GW will hold its annual Giving Day, a 24-hour fundraising campaign designed to increase philanthropic support for the university. SMPA will have two opportunities to give. The Cokie Roberts Tuition Relief Fund was established by J.B. and M.C. Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs Steve Roberts to provide emergency tuition relief to SMPA students in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. His wife Cokie Roberts was known to millions for both her reporting and her commentaries, moving easily among radio, television and print to explain the impact of world events and the intricacies of policy debates. To date, this scholarship has been awarded to 54 students and serves as a lasting tribute to a pioneering journalist.
The second opportunity is supporting the mission of Planet Forward. Planet Forward is a project that teaches, celebrates and rewards environmental storytelling by college students. It is the premier engagement tool for GW’s many sustainability initiatives. Thank you for your support.
I strongly believe in having open lines of communication, so everyone has opportunities to speak and to be heard. I welcome your ideas, questions and suggestions. Please contact me at any time. Thank you for your support of the SMPA mission and for all you do to make our school a leading institution for the study and the practice of journalism and political communication.
Sincerely,
Silvio Waisbord
Director, SMPA
School Spotlights
SMPA Welcomes Two New Terker Distinguished Fellows
Kristen Grimm, president of Spitfire Strategies, a woman-owned, strategic communication firm dedicated to advancing racial, economic and social justice, and Vivian Salama, a national security reporter for The Wall Street Journal, joined the School of Media and Public Affairs as the 2021-2022 Terker Distinguished Fellows. In their roles, they have been participating in class discussions, student lunches and public events throughout the academic year. They were profiled in GWToday.
CNN Gift Propels Environmental Media Initiative
Frank Sesno, SMPA and others are honoring Ted Turner’s legacy through the Ted Turner Endowed Fund. The group has set a $6 million goal for a multi-faceted initiative to establish a GW professorship in Turner’s name and support events and activities around environmental journalism. Spurred by this $500,000 gift from CNN, as reported in GWToday, the fund also will support activities that reflect Turner’s passion for environmental activism, such as a major annual event jointly hosted by SMPA and CNN focused on creative storytelling about the challenges confronting the planet.
Alumni Class Notes
Lauren Brobson, BA ’92, transitioned from strategic communications consulting to full-time, in-house work with The Hershey Company, in Hershey, Penn. She is their corporate communications lead for leadership and transformational communications.
Julie Brosnan, BA ’15, is a senior communications associate for the policy think tank New America in their education policy program.
Lauren Burke, MA ’12, is the chief development officer at NABA and launched a platform called Matchplicity. She is currently raising her twin 4-year olds and a 1-year old.
Samantha Cohen, BA ’16, is a health communications associate with ICF Next. She recently got engaged and moved from D.C. to New York City.
Carol Crabbe, MA ’09, is an international consultant for Wilson Global Communications, a strategic public affairs consultancy headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Dale, BA ’18, is a writer and producer at CNN for Newsroom with Pamela Brown.
Matt DeGroot, MA ’08, is entering his second year with Crooked Media in Los Angeles, Calif, as their senior director of video production.
Carol Delaney, BA ’76, went on to receive her PhD in east-West psychology and presented on mindfulness from a cross-cultural view at the 2020 American Psychological Association Annual Conference. She is currently working on her third book for 2022 publication.
Kevin Frey, BA ’15, is a Washington reporter for Spectrum News NY1, covering national politics and Congress for the New York City-based TV news station and filing stories for NY1's sister stations across the country.
Marissa Gantman, BA ’10, joined RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) as strategic communications director, where she will support the global transition to renewable energy. She and her husband are relocating to Colorado from Los Angeles in spring 2022.
Darren Goldberg, BA ’96, is blending his experiences in film, TV production and real estate marketing through his company, Atlantic, to launch The APC (The Atlantic Production Center), a location service company acting as a conduit between corporate owners/operators and TV/ film production.
Heather Goldman, BA ’00, joined Yahoo Inc. as a legal counsel, director for Commercial Litigation. She handles media-related lawsuits, including cases involving copyright and defamation.
Shilo Groover, BA ’03, returned home to Alabama to work for her local TV station WBRC as a news producer and digital reporter, after working for CBS in Boston. She is enjoying raising her 6-year-old daughter with friends and family nearby!
Francis Hagan, BA ’69, is enjoying retirement after 20 years heading a PR and marketing communications company. He has written three books, dozens of magazine articles, advertisements and commercials.
Hunter Ihrman, BA ’21, is the associate director of policy communications for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the nation's oldest and largest cattle trade association. He previously was a political appointee at the U.S. Treasury Department.
Jackie Jones, BA ’76, became dean of the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., in August 2021.
Marisa Kabas, BA ’09, is a freelance reporter, writing most frequently for Rolling Stone and HuffPost. She would love to connect with fellow alumni on Twitter.
Aliya Karim, BA ’13, MA ’14, serves as the associate director of social media for NowThis. She married Rizwan Khandaker in May 2021 and lives in the Chicagoland area.
Darrin Kayser, BA ’98, MA ’00, is a senior vice president at the PR firm, Edelman. He co-leads their energy and sustainability practice in D.C. and is looking for junior, mid-level and senior communications professionals as the firm rapidly grows.
Timothy Kenna, BA ’16, is a senior account executive with Intercom in San Francisco, Calif.
Ashley Le, BA ’19, is a content producer with the United Nations. She recently returned to SMPA as an adjunct professor to teach the Online Journalism capstone course.
Marlo Lyons, BA ’91, wrote the book, Wanted -> A New Career, which debuted on Amazon at number one in its category. As a premiere career coach and strategist, her book encompasses her trademarked Career Transition Strategies, and is available on Apple and Audible.
Sarah Mann, BA ’15, MA ’17, joined Dentons Global Advisors as an associate partner, where she supports clients in communicating around significant enterprise risks, including litigation, investigations, regulatory issues and operational challenges.
Melissa Mogollon, BA ’16, is a writer and high school English teacher based in Los Angeles, Calif. She just sold her debut novel, OYE, to Hogarth Books.
Stephen Molldrem, BA ’11, is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health and Institute for Bioethics and Health Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Henry Morillo, BA ’14, is a senior producer on CBS' hit summer reality competition show Big Brother. He resides in Los Angeles, Calif., and is currently producing a new dating format for Peacock/NBC set to premiere in spring 2022.
John Morris, BA ’90, MPA ’93, celebrated five years as president & CEO of Peoria Riverfront Museum, the only accredited, multidisciplinary museum of art, science, history and achievement in the nation.
Marcus Mrowka, BA ’05, is director of communications for the Maine Department of Education.
Quinn Murph, BA ’93, opened a second office of his D.C.-based architectural lighting agency in Montreal, Canada. He founded the agency in 2013 to plan and supply lighting for hospitality, retail, multi-family and high-end residential lighting projects.
Megan Nipe, BA ’13, MPS ’14, is partnering with government agencies to implement comprehensive communications programs to reach the public. With an emphasis on customer experience, she works to transform public sector outreach.
John Perrino, BA ’15, MPA ’20, joined the Stanford Internet Observatory as a policy analyst, focused on building engagement on misinformation and disinformation, online trust and safety and encryption. He previously was a director at the Glen Echo Group, an award-winning public affairs group.
Molly Pfaffenroth, MA ’16, joined Amazon Public Policy in December 2021. She leads the company's federal food safety and nutrition policy initiatives and is based in Washington, D.C.
John Rega, BA ’95, shifted gears in his career in March 2021, joining Brunswick Group to work in public affairs and communications after 26 years in journalism. He is based in Brussels and gets back to Washington as often as possible.
Katherine Rodriguez, BA ’14, is a trending news reporter at NJ Advance Media.
Tim Saccoccia, BA ’07, was promoted to vice president of public policy and head of the Washington office for the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest lay Catholic organization and Fortune 1000 fraternal insurance company.
Lea Sarris, BA ’13, is a product and brand designer at a media startup, developing multiple sports and news brands.
Matt Schwartz, BA ’18, MA ’19, is a deputy digital director on Governor JB Pritzker's re-election campaign in Illinois.
Laura Shuey-Kostelac, BA ’14, MA ’15, is vice president for public affairs at FINN Partners, where she works with a team to build and manage strategic communications campaigns for clients at the intersection of politics and policy.
Jocelynne Simbana, BA ’20, joined SKDK as a public affairs associate. She was previously at Strauss Media Strategies, where she started as an intern her senior year before being hired full-time after graduation.
Ed Stautberg, BA ’06, is the senior origination manager at Innergex, a multi-national independent power producer headquartered outside of Montreal. In his role, he is targeting the Midwest and Northeast for solar and storage development.
Barbara Strong, BA ’76, filed an Equal Pay Act case after covering the White House, Supreme Court and Capitol Hill. She won her case and the settlement, and now writes equal employment decisions for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Lyndsey Wajert, BA ’12, is an associate with the Law Firm of Mandell Menkes, LLC, in Chicago, Ill., where she handles media law and intellectual property matters.
Rhea Wessel, BA ’92, is a writer, story advisor and ideas coach based near Frankfurt, Germany. She is also the founder and head of the Institute for Thought Leadership.
Faculty Kudos
- Steven Livingston was selected by the Fulbright Foundation for the Seeking Solutions for Global Challenges Award and spent a semester in Helsinki.
- Peter Loge was on the podcast The Business of Politics Show talking about politics and professional ethics. He also attended the 31st Aemi Conference hosting a workshop about "The rhetorics of diaspora engagement."
- Ethan Porter and his colleagues’ research about misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine was featured by Google. His research on fact-checking reducing belief in misinformation was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Steven Roberts' book Cokie: A Life Well Lived was published in November. He was interviewed on ABC This Week in the segment titled "Remembering Cokie Roberts." NPR interviewed him in a segment titled "A new book captures Cokie Roberts and her 'Life Well Lived." He was also interviewed by SMPA alumna Dana Bash, BA ’93, on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
- Frank Sesno authored the PBS article “Op-ed: In A Time of Urgency and Hope, How Do We Move The Planet Forward?" and the Newsweek article “Young People Are Telling Their Climate Stories. World Leaders Must Listen.”
- Janet Steele was named the recipient of a Fulbright Award for the third time in her career. In spring 2022, she will be teaching journalism studies in the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Belgrade in Serbia.
- Cheryl W. Thompson was awarded NPR’s Public Service Journalism Award. She also contributed to the article “How 9/11 Changed TV, Arts, Sports, Education, More’’ with an essay titled “Policing.’’
- Rebekah Tromble was featured in The Washington Post article "Misinformation on Facebook got six times more clicks than factual news during the 2020 election, study says." She also won an award with the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator to develop a rapid response system that will aid experts facing coordinated campaigns of online harassment.
- Silvio Waisbord published the Routledge Companion to Media, Disinformation, and Populism, co-edited with Howard Tumber, their third volume in Routledge's series on political communication.