Northern Star Alumni: Summer 2001

AlumniUpdates

Graduation year:
68
... 69 ... 70 ... 71 ... 72 ... 73 ... 74 ... 75 ... 76 ... 77 ... 78 ... 79 ... 80 ... 81 ... 82 ... 83 ... 84 ... 85 ... 86 ... 87 ... 88 ... 89 ... 90 ... 91 ... 92 ... 93 ... 94 ... 95 ... 96 ... 97 ... 98 ... 99 ... 00 ... 01

 

'68
Ben Rubendall has been an independent communications consultant in Rockford since 1996. Prior to that, he did public relations for AMCORE Bank, after working more than 20 years in the newsroom of the Rockford Register Star.

Janice (Podlewski) Drummond recently was promoted to Senior Director,External Communications for Sears, Roebuck and Co., Hoffman Estates, Ill. She joined Sears in August 1993 and most recently was director of media relations.

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'70
Lonny Cain, managing editor of the Ottawa Daily Times, is president of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.

Carol (Przepiorka, Cain) Hughes has returned to communications full-time after several years as a lobbyist. She recently became the public information officer for the Scottsdale Public Schools in Arizona. She also teaches English to elderly refugees from Vietnam and Bosnia.

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'71
Tom Wartowski is a prosecutor with the Winnebago County (Ill.) State's Attorney's office. He earned his law degree from NIU in 1999.

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'73
T.J. Simers, former Northern Star sports editor, has been elected California sports writer of the year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Simers became a sports columnist for the Los AngelesTimes in July 2000 and previously was the paper's national pro football writer.

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'75
Deborah Nelson is investigations editor / Washington for the Los Angeles Times. She previously was editor of the Washington Post's regional investigative team.

Jan (Gilarski) Touney is associate editor of the Decatur (Ill.) Herald Review.

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'76
Tim Boyle is self-employed in public relations and writing for Double M Communications.

Rev. Martin A. Haeger is part of the Congregational Services Staff for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Northern Illinois District, Kankakee, Ill.

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'77
Mark Brown writes a city column four days a week on page 2 of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Bob Palermini is senior vice president and chief technology officer of the Los Angeles Times, where he is responsible for all of the technology used at the paper. He was named to the post in September 2000 after the Times was acquired by Tribune Company. Prior to joining the Times, Palermini has logged more than 20 years in the newspaper industry with Tribune Company and Shaw Newspapers.

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'82
Richard D. Sackley is public relations manager for Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, Calif.

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'83

Michael Gosling is a regional representative for Courtlink Corp.

Anne Whalen-O'Connell is director of marketing and planning for Lake Forest Hospital, Lake Forest, Ill.

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'84
Kelly (Thompson) Johnson is a licensed clinical psychologist, in private practice in Naperville, Ill. She also is an assistant professor at North Central College in Naperville.

Laura (Layton) Strom is executive editor at Rigby Education in Barrington, Ill.

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'85
Thor Christensen is pop-music critic for the Dallas Morning News.

Patti Findlay Blumhorst teaches physical education, yearbook and newspaper at Holy Cross School in Mendota, Ill.

Marla Rybowiak works in human resources: recruitment and training for Marshall Field's, Madison, Wis.

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'86
Deborah Snow Humiston is a free-lance writer, having left her reporting job at the Daily Southtown. She lives in Glenwood, Ill.

Trish Lichtenstein is a free-lance writer and lives in McHenry, Ill.

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'88
Dave Tuley, former Star sports editor, is Las Vegas correspondent for Daily Racing Form, the horseplayer's bible. He writes three columns a week on Las Vegas in general and sports betting in particular. Previously, he was managing editor at GamingToday, a weekly paper on all aspects of the gambling industry. Dave also was married March 17, 2001, to the former Wendy Hillis of Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii.

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'90
David Pollard works in Beijing, China, as an editor for the government's news service, Xinhua News Agency.

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'91
Ellen Skelly is manager of the marketing office at Kankakee Community College.

Bill Bracken is marketing sales manager for WLS-TV in Chicago.

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'92
Stacy Christiansen married Eric Krol, 93. Stacy is copy editing manager for the Journal of the American Medical Association, Chicago. Eric is a metro writer for the Daily Herald, Arlington Heights.

Beth Behland-Schwingel and Bill Schwingel have a baby girl, Anika Kristine Schwingel, born July 6, 2000.

David Statis and his wife, Jan, have a baby girl, Lily Grace Statis, born May 22, 2000.

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'93
Rob Heselbarth is managing editor of RSES Journal in Des Plaines, Ill. RSES Journal is the official magazine of the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society. Heselbarth most recently was senior editor of Contractor Magazine.

Eric Krol married Stacy Christiansen, '92. See above.

David Oliveria is regional sales director for Gator.com

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'94
Lisa Brown has a new job as senior interactive producer at Ogilvy1 in Chicago.

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'95
Tony Leva teaches school in the Palatine district.

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'96
Jen Bland works at Sprint PCS as a site acquisition specialist.

Trevor Freeze is a sports designer and copy editor for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.

Lisa (Katzenberger) Barstad works for Yestrader.com.

Liza Lundholm is an attorney for the firm of Segel & Siegel in Chicago. She works on plaintiffs' personal injury cases.

Heather Pingel is an editor for Underwriters Laboratories, Northbrook, Ill.

Melinda Graham is a managing editor, and recently added the title of production editor, at Human Kinetics, a book publishing company in Champaign, Ill. She has been with the company for four years. She also is a certified water aerobics instructor, and in her free time she works part-time at a bookstore.

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'97

Kevin Bastian is a marketing specialist and copy writer for NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display, Itasca, Ill.

Maria Phillips is an account manager for Sports Illustrated/Time Warner, Chicago.

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'98

Eric Barnes is an advertising sales representative for the Chicago Tribune. He works in the Oak Brook office.

Kevin Craver is a reporter for the Northwest Herald, Crystal Lake.

Erin Hallstrom lives in the Chicago area and is editor in chief of six nationally recognized trade magazines, part of Cenflo Publications. She also has been accepted into DePaul University's Master's Degree program for writing.

Nate Hernandez is a reporter for Chicago Lawyer magazine, a publication of Law Bulletin Publishing. He previously worked for the Chicago Tribune's city news bureau.

Jaime Jordan is a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, covering suburban cities. She also free-lances for an African-American magazine, Eclipse. She previously wrote for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Greg Locascio and his wife, Esther, thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail last year Ð 2,162 miles. Greg is a self-employed cable technician. They live near Belvidere, Ill.

Heather Mrowiec is a sales representative for Eli Lilly, Chicago.

Jason Schaumburg has been promoted to sports editor of the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake. He previously was assistant sports editor.

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'99

Christy Arnold won second place for commentary writing in the Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine State Award. She is a reporter for the Sun-Herald in Port Charlotte, Fla.

Stacy Clardie is a sports reporter for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin in New York. She covers college athletics, including Binghamton University.

Veronica Gonzalez is a reporter for the Santa Fe New Mexican, covering cops and courts. She started there in August 2000 after graduating with a master's from the Public Affairs Reporting program in Springfield.

Justin Hoffman is an administrative assistant at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Wash.

David Lipien works for IBM e-Business Innovation.

Iva-Marie Palmer has been working since late February at The Star Newspaper in Tinley Park, part of Midwest Suburban Publishing, as an associate editor in charge of four biweekly papers. The job also entails special assignment reporting, including investigations and features. She lives in Oak Lawn.

Kara Pipitone plans a September 22 wedding to Shawn Anderson. She again is a reporter for the Freeport Journal-Standard, after a stint as associate editor of a trade publication, The Stamping Journal, part of the Croydon group in Rockford.

David Spitz is an associate project coordinator for Allstate Financial in Northbrrok. He plans, designs and writes the Allstate Life Insurance newsletter, with 1.2 million circulation.

Jana Thompson is assistant features editor of the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake. She previously was a copy editor for the Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News.

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'00

Joe Biesk is finishing the University of Illinois-Springfield's Public Affairs Reporting program. He interned for the Chicago Tribune this spring.

Liz Carpenter is a marketing associate for Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, Riverwoods, Ill.

Eric Clark is a reporter for the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake.

Wade Duerkes works for NIU's Media Services/Imaging department (formerly called Art/Photo).

Erica Gallagher is a staff writer for U.S. Business Review in Chicago. The monthly publication profiles businesses and focuses on best practices andbenchmarking for a cross-industry audience.

Aracely Hernandez is a reporter for the Northwest Herald, Crystal Lake. She covers the town of Marengo.

Jamie Isanhart is a print coordinator for Leo Burnett, Chicago.

Tim Laurence is a UNIX system administrator for Motorola in Chandler, Ariz.

Joe Menard is a reporter for the Springfield (Mo.) News Leader, a Gannett newspaper. Previously, he was a city reporter for the Elgin Courier News.

Eric Nanney is a consultant with CAP Gemini Ernst & Young, Chicago.

John Norman is a programmer/analyst for United Airlines in Chicago.

Alan Porterfield is a Web designer in IBM's new creative department in Chicago.

Katie Scrivano is an account coordinator for Dome Communications in Chicago.

Kevin Slattery works for the Chicago Park District, doing publicity for the Grant Park Music Festival.

Kevin Wendt is a designer for the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. Along with his daily duties, which frequently include designing page 1, he designed the paper's pre-election supplement for November 2000.

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'01

Steve Capps works for the DuPage County Forest Preserve District in Naperville.

Whitney Carnahan is a reporter for the Rock Island Argus.

Jennifer D'Souza is interning as a copy editor for the Rock Island Argus / Moline Dispatch.

Erica Fatland recently became engaged to Charlie Semenchuk. The two have not set a wedding date yet.

Josh Gaby is a copy editor/designer for the Aurora Beacon News.

Kelly Hahn is a sales representative/major accounts for the Moline Dispatch.

Nate Hardesty is a sales representative for Platinum Communications, Naperville.

Sarah Riebe is a sales representative for Eli Lilly of Arlington Heights, Ill.

Jamie Wimberly is a sales assistant at Hess Newmark Owens Wolf in Chicago.

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Summer 2001 Newsletter
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