2012 College Media Conference Speaker Biographies
Cathy Andreen, director of media relations at the University of Alabama (UA), has more than 30 years’
experience in higher education public relations. She joined UA’s office of university relations in 1983 and
was named to her current position in 1999. She earned her master’s degree in public relations from
Boston University and her bachelor’s degree in English from the College of Wooster.
Contact: Cathy Andreen, Director of Media Relations, University of Alabama, Box 870144, Tuscaloosa,
AL 35487; (205) 348-8322; candreen@ur.ua.edu
Christopher Arterton is a professor of political management at the George Washington University’s
(GWU) Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM), the nation’s first school for professional
politics. Before joining the GSPM as its founding dean in 1987, Arterton was a professor at Yale
University for 10 years, teaching in the political science department and the School of Organization and
Management. From 1975 to 1988, he also served on five faculty study groups at the Institute of Politics at
Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Arterton is a graduate of Trinity College (CT); he
holds an MA in international relations from American University, and he received his PhD in political
science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. His research, 30 years of teaching, and
considerable experience as a consultant on American public opinion make him an expert on the strategic
environment of American political leaders—an area that encompasses the news media and
communications technology generally, political strategy and tactics, public opinion, and ethics and
leadership in politics. Arterton has written four books on these topics. His two most recent books are The
Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact of New Media Technologies on Democratic Politics (co-authored
with Jeffrey Abramson and Gary Orren) and Teledemocracy: Can Technology Protect Democracy? He is
a well-known commentator and is the GWU analyst for the POLITICO-George Washington University
Battleground Poll.
Contact: Christopher Arterton, Professor of Political Management, Graduate School of Political
Management, George Washington University, 805 21st Street, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC 20052;
(202) 486-8588; arterton@gwu.edu
Elizabeth Bernstein has been a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for almost 12 years. For the past two
years, she has written Bonds: On Relationships, a column about the psychology of relationships that runs
every other week in the paper’s Personal Journal section. Bernstein started at the Wall Street Journal in
2000 as a reporter for the Weekend Journal section, where she wrote about religion and higher education
and focused on national trends. In her time at the paper, she has also launched and written a weekly
philanthropy column and served as the Journal’s philanthropy reporter. From 2006 until 2009, she wrote
investigative pieces on consumer health, primarily mental health issues. She has also written for various
publications, including New York Magazine, Forbes, Chicago Tribune, Village Voice, and Publisher’s
Weekly. She has been nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize and has won awards from the New York News
Publishers Association, Mental Health America, American Psychoanalytic Association, Deadline Club
(New York City’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists), and Education Writers Association.
Bernstein received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from Indiana University and a master’s
degree in journalism with honors from Columbia University. In June 2008, she completed a Knight
Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT on brain science. In 2009–2010, she was a Rosalyn Carter Fellow
in Mental Health Journalism. She currently lives in Miami Beach.
Contact: Elizabeth Bernstein, Reporter and Columnist, Wall Street Journal, 1211 Avenue of the
Americas, New York, NY 10036; (212) 416-3875; elizabeth.bernstein@wsj.com
Curt Carlson, vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, has served
since 1985 as the chief public relations officer of four universities. Prior to these positions, he had worked
as a broadcaster, professor, and entrepreneur. His Nebraska portfolio includes all external relations
functions, including media relations, marketing, and government relations. Previously, he directed
communications, marketing, crisis and issues management, media relations, and internal communications
as vice president for public affairs at Emory University, and he served as director of university relations at
Illinois State University and director of public relations at Berry College in Georgia. An active member of
several higher education and public relations associations, Carlson was the founding chair of Counselors
to Higher Education, a national group formed in 1998 as a section of the Public Relations Society of
America. He is the author of the chapter “Universities and the Business Practice of Marketing” in a threevolume series, The Business of Higher Education (Praeger, 2009). Currently, he serves on the American
Association of State Colleges and Universities Advisory Board for Communications and Public Affairs
and is a member of the Higher Education Roundtable. Carlson holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from
Southern Adventist University in Tennessee and a master’s degree in broadcast and film from the
University of Memphis.
Contact: Curtis K. Carlson, Vice Chancellor for University Relations, University of Nebraska at
Kearney, 905 West 25th Street, Founders Hall, Kearney, NE 68849; (308) 865-8529; carlsonck@unk.edu
David Chalian was hired in November 2011 as the Washington bureau chief for Yahoo! News. His move
is part of Yahoo’s renewed focus on original content and political coverage of the 2012 presidential
election. Previously, Chalian had been the political editor at PBS NewsHour since 2010. He directed
NewsHour’s political coverage across all broadcast and digital platforms. In addition to campaign politics,
Chalian managed the editorial content from the NewsHour’s congressional, White House, and Supreme
Court beats. He also served as an on-camera political analyst, appeared in regular political webcasts on
the Online NewsHour, co-authored the NewsHour’s daily political newsletter, the Morning Line, and
developed additional original digital political content. Under Chalian’s guidance and direction, the PBS
NewsHour 2010 midterm political coverage received the Walter Cronkite Award from the Annenberg
School at the University of Southern California for excellence in television political journalism. Chalian
served as political director at ABC News between 2007 and 2010, winning an Emmy for his role in
producing ABC’s coverage of President Obama’s inauguration. In this position, he helped oversee the
editorial content of all political news across ABC News’ broadcasts and platforms. He created and coanchored Top Line, a daily political webcast on ABCNews.com and on ABC News Now, the network’s
24-hour digital outlet. In addition, he provided political commentary and analysis for World News with
Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, Nightline, and ABC News Radio. As part of the team that
traveled to Alaska to produce Sarah Palin’s first television interview as the GOP vice presidential
nominee (with ABC News’s Charlie Gibson), Chalian received an Emmy Award nomination. In 2006, he
received the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award as a part of the team at ABC News that
produced the coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Prior to
joining ABC News, Chalian produced Inside City Hall, a nightly political program for NY1 News. He is a
graduate of Northwestern University.
Contact: David Chalian, Bureau Chief, Yahoo! News, 1717 Desales Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington,
DC 20036; (202) 293-1259; C: (917) 701-6859; dchalian@yahoo-inc.com
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Shane Dorrill has worked in the University of Alabama’s Office of University Relations for 12 years and
currently serves as assistant director of broadcast media relations. Before coming to UA, he worked as a
news director, producer, anchor, and reporter for several television and radio stations in the Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, area. Dorrill holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications and film from the University of
Alabama.
Contact: Shane Dorrill, Assistant Director of Broadcast Media Relations, University of Alabama, Box
870144, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487; (205) 348-8319; sdorrill@ur.ua.edu
Tom Evelyn joined St. Lawrence University as vice president for communications in June 2011. He leads
the university’s communications and marketing efforts, overseeing the office responsible for the website,
digital and print publications, media and public relations, social media, and video and photography.
Before joining St. Lawrence, he served as senior director of news and media relations at Bucknell
University and interim assistant vice president and associate director of news and information at the
University of Central Florida. He worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Florida and Georgia,
covering a variety of topics from government and politics to health and technology. Evelyn has a
bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in communication
from the University of Central Florida, where he guest-lectured in journalism and public relations and
advised advanced reporting students.
Contact: Tom Evelyn, Vice President for Communications, St. Lawrence University, 23 Romoda Drive,
Canton, NY 13617; (315) 229-5845; C: 315-854-4437; tevelyn@stlawu.edu; Twitter: @tevelyn
Carole Feldman is director of news operations and finance in the Washington bureau of the Associated
Press (AP). She also conceived and is the overall coordinator of the joint AP-Associated Press Media
Editors project, Aging America, which examines the aging of baby boomers and the impact this so-called
“silver tsunami” is having on society. In her current assignment, she works to cover news more efficiently
across all formats and facilitates training for the Washington bureau and the Broadcast News Center. A
35-year-veteran of the AP, she has supervised coverage of a wide range of beats, including the White
House, Congress, national security, the economy, health, science, and medicine, as well as presidential
and congressional elections. Feldman was the news organization’s education writer from 1993 to 1994.
Since 2008, she also has been an associate faculty member of the Washington Center for Internships and
Academic Seminars, most recently teaching a media ethics course. A New York native, Feldman received
a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University in 1975. She completed her undergraduate work,
also in journalism, at Pennsylvania State University, where she graduated in 1974.
Contact: Carole Feldman, Reporter, Associated Press, 1100 13th Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC
20005-4051; (202) 641-9000; cfeldman@ap.org
Tim Goral is editor-in-chief of University Business (UB). He has been a member of Professional Media
Group since 2000, when he joined the staff of District Administration, the publication for K–12
educators, as features editor. Goral became editor of the company’s higher education business
publication, Matrix, in 2001, and he retained his editorial post when Matrix and University Business
magazine merged in early 2002. UB is a widely read publication for higher education leaders (45,000
circulation) at two- and four-year colleges and universities nationwide. UB provides coverage of higher
education technology, news, finance, policy, and profiles across print, digital, and in-person event
platforms, including the annual higher education technology conference, UBTech. In his nearly 20 years
in national trade publication writing and editing, Goral has served in editorial posts for publications in the
food and beverage, hospitality, and outdoor retailing industries. He is the author of A Half-Empty Glassful
of Optimism: The Path to Enlightenment Begins with a Road Trip.
Contact: Tim Goral, Editor-in-Chief, University Business, 488 Main Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851; (203)
663-0126; tgoral@universitybusiness.com
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Kristina Halvorson is the founder and CEO of Brain Traffic, a content strategy consultancy. She is the
author of Content Strategy for the Web (2009), the founder of Confab: The Content Strategy Conference,
and the host of Content Talks, a weekly 5×5 podcast. In 2009, Halvorson curated the first Content
Strategy Consortium to facilitate a national dialogue about this emerging discipline. In 2010, she
delivered the keynote address at the world’s first Content Strategy Summit in Paris, France. Today, she
speaks regularly to audiences around the world and is well known for her energetic, often humorous talks.
She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Content: Kristina Halvorson, CEO, Brain Traffic, 615 First Avenue, NE, Suite 475, Minneapolis, MN
55413; (612) 331-6600; info@braintraffic.com
Melanie Jackson is a producer for the Today Show on NBC-TV. Her career in communications began
when she served as a reporter for the Connecticut Post newspaper and the Syracuse newspapers in New
York. She moved to television broadcasting in 1998 and has spent the last 14 years at NBC where she has
gained experience in numerous areas, including working in the Northeast Bureau producing content for
Nightly News and MSNBC. Jackson worked at Dateline NBC for nine years in New York and
Washington, DC, where she helped to chronicle major news events—from the Columbine shooting in
1999 to the Washington, DC, sniper shootings in 2002. For the last four years, she has worked at the
Today Show, where she produces content for all four hours of the broadcast, including writing live and
taped segments on various topics such as breaking news, celebrity interviews, fashion, and lifestyle
segments. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Bridgeport and a master’s
degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism. Jackson is a 2005 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia
Award winner for her work on the Dateline NBC investigation “A Pattern of Suspicion.” She is also part
of the team that has helped the Today Show win the Emmy Award for Best Morning show for the past
two years in a row. She is a resident of Connecticut and a member of the National Association of Black
Journalists.
Contact: Melanie Jackson, Producer, NBC Today Show, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 380 E-10, New
York, NY 10112; (212) 664-6530/4602; melaniek.jackson@nbcuni.com
David Jarmul is associate vice president of news and communications for Duke University in North
Carolina. He directs the news service, oversees the top-level web pages, and coordinates activities that
range from media outreach to research communications. His team has developed an extensive online
newspaper (Duke Today), an active video site (Duke University on Demand), an online talk show, a
syndicated op-ed article service, a rapid-response media relations program, lively social media sites, and
other tools, winning numerous Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) national gold
medals and other professional awards. Duke also has enhanced its systems for employee communications,
emergency communications, and for reaching audiences that range from prospective students to global
partners. An honors graduate of Brown University, Jarmul previously held senior communications
positions at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Academy of Sciences, as well as
writing positions for an international development group and the Voice of America. He is a former
president of the DC Science Writers Association and served with the Peace Corps in Nepal.
Contact: David Jarmul, Associate Vice President for News and Communications, 615 Chapel Drive, Box
90563, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; (919) 684-6815/2823; david.jarmul@duke.edu
Scott Jaschik, editor, is one of the three founders of Inside Higher Ed. With Doug Lederman, he leads
the editorial operations of Inside Higher Ed, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, resources, and
interactive features. Jaschik is a leading voice on higher education issues, is quoted regularly in
publications nationwide, and writes college-related articles in the New York Times, Boston Globe,
Washington Post, Salon, and elsewhere. He has been a judge or screener for the National Magazine
Awards, the Online Journalism Awards, the Folio Editorial Excellence Awards, and the Education
Writers Association Awards. Jaschik is a mentor in the community college fellowship program of the
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Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. From 1999 to 2003, he was editor of the Chronicle of
Higher Education. Jaschik graduated from Cornell University in 1985.
Contact: Scott Jaschik, Founder and Editor, Inside Higher Ed, 1015 18th Street, NW, Suite 1100,
Washington, DC 20036; (202) 659-9208; scott.jaschik@insidehighered.com
Jenna Johnson covers higher education and youth culture for the Washington Post. She has written about
the Pennsylvania State University sex abuse scandal, teen moms who enroll in college, prescription drug
abuse, unpaid internships, and quirky college rankings with questionable methodologies. Johnson runs a
blog, Campus Overload, and tweets as @wpjenna. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska.
Contact: Jenna Johnson, Higher Education Reporter, Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20071; (202) 334-9606/6000; johnsonj@washpost.com
Tim Jones, interim executive creative director at North Carolina State University, provides vision,
direction, and strategy at the intersection of web, design, marketing, and media to cultivate and implement
innovative ideas for the university. He previously served as the interim chief communications officer at
North Carolina State, where he started in 2007 as the director of web communications. In that position, he
established and evolved the university’s social media presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and
location-based platforms. He has been in higher education for ten years, working at the College of
William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, for six years before arriving at NC State. At William &
Mary, Jones worked in university relations as a writer, editor, photographer, news marketer, occasional
producer, webmaster, and director of web communications. He spent his final year there helping engineer
and launch the university-wide web redesign project. Prior to working in higher education, Jones worked
as a reporter for a small semi-weekly newspaper in southeastern Virginia.
Contact: Tim Jones, Interim Executive Creative Director for University Communications, Campus Box
7508, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695; (919) 515-1005; tim_jones@ncsu.edu
Doug Lederman, editor, is one of the three founders of Inside Higher Ed. With Scott Jaschik, he leads
the editorial operations of Inside Higher Ed, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, career advice,
blogs, and other features. Lederman speaks widely about higher education, including on C-Span and
National Public Radio and at meetings around the country. His work has appeared in the New York Times,
USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, and Princeton Alumni Weekly. Lederman was managing editor of
the Chronicle of Higher Education from 1999 to 2003. Before that, he had worked at the Chronicle since
1986 in various roles, first as an athletics reporter and editor. Lederman has won three National Awards
for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, including one in 2009 for a series of
Inside Higher Ed articles on college rankings. He began his career as a news clerk at the New York Times.
Lederman graduated in 1984 from Princeton University.
Contact: Doug Lederman, Founder and Editor, Inside Higher Ed, 1015 18th Street, NW, Suite 1100,
Washington, DC 20036; (202) 659-9208; doug.lederman@insidehighered.com
Marie Malzberg is senior editorial producer in New York for CNN Newsroom, the cable channel’s
afternoon news show. After graduating from Fordham University, where she earned a bachelor of arts
degree in communications, Malzberg began her career in 1994 with the Rush Limbaugh Show, where she
spent six years in various positions including editing and formatting daily radio show production
elements, producing guest-hosted shows, remote broadcasts, and “Best Of” programming, then eventually
screening Limbaugh’s calls. Malzberg left the program in 2000 to tackle motherhood and, a few years
later, headed back to talk radio, producing the Linda Chavez Program for the IDT Radio Network. In
2006, Malzberg arrived at CNN to work with Paula Zahn in a prime-time slot that was eventually taken
over by Campbell Brown, where she served as an editorial producer, booking major newsmakers from
across the globe. In 2010, Malzberg joined CNN Newsroom as senior editorial producer. In that position,
she oversees and books all guests for the daily program, which is seen live across all CNN platforms. She
has been the recipient of and part of two Peabody Award-winning reporting teams.
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Contact: Marie Malzberg, Senior Editorial Producer, CNN Newsroom, One Time Warner Center, Fifth
Floor, New York, NY 10019; (212) 275-8261; C: (917) 751-5728; marie.malzberg@turner.com; Twitter:
@MarieCNN
Jon Marcus is a contributing editor at the Hechinger Report and U.S. higher education correspondent for
the Times (U.K.) Higher Education magazine. He also has written about higher education for the
Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, and other magazines and
newspapers, including CrossTalk, the journal of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education. The former editor of Boston magazine, Marcus holds a master’s degree in journalism from
Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College. He attended Oxford University and
teaches journalism at Boston College and Boston University.
Contact: Jon Marcus, Contributing Editor, The Hechinger Report, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 650, New
York, NY 10115; (617) 738-5961; C: 617-650-7041; jmarcus@netzero.com
Mary Beth Marklein has covered higher education for USA TODAY since 1997. In 2007, through a
fellowship awarded by the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, she wrote about community
colleges from a local, national, and international perspective. She spent the 2004–2005 academic year
teaching journalism at the University of Bucharest and Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania, as a
Fulbright Scholar. During a sabbatical in the summer of 2001 she studied the impact of technology on
higher education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She also has taught journalism courses
at American University in Washington, DC. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s from American University in Washington, DC, and is currently pursuing
graduate studies in the higher education program at George Mason University in Northern Virginia.
Contact: Mary Beth Marklein, Higher Education Reporter, USA Today Education, 7950 Jones Branch
Drive, McLean, VA 22108; (703) 854-3684 or 3400; mmarklein@usatoday.com
Fritz McDonald is assistant vice president for communications and marketing at Mount Mercy
University. He has more than 25 years of experience as a professional writer, editor, and creative
strategist. McDonald earned his bachelor’s degree at University of California, Los Angeles, and an MFA
from the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Prior to joining Mount Mercy, he was a creative leader
at Stamats, Inc., where he developed marketing communications, digital strategy, and branding programs
for colleges and universities across the United States. McDonald has presented at conferences such as
HighEd Web, EduWeb, EduComm, and the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. He
has written on the uses of social media in higher education most recently for University Business.
Contact: Fritz McDonald, Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Mount Mercy
University, 1330 Elmhurst Drive, NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402-4797; (319) 363-1323 x1205 or 3686475 #1; C: (319) 693-9399; fmcdonald@mtmercy.edu
Tim McDonough, vice president of communications and marketing at the American Council on
Education (ACE), manages a comprehensive outreach program to enhance public understanding of a wide
range of higher education issues and the specific activities of ACE—including marketing, membership,
public affairs, publishing, and web services. He has worked in the higher education community for more
than 25 years and has extensive experience both with campus concerns and the higher education policy
debates in Washington. Before joining ACE in 1998, McDonough served for four years as vice president
for public affairs at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). Prior to
joining NAICU in 1992, he held a number of positions at the University of Maryland, College Park,
including director of development communications and associate editor of public affairs in the Office of
Institutional Advancement and alumni director for the College of Business and Management. Previously,
he was public relations director of Washington Journalism Review (now American Journalism Review),
the monthly media magazine published by the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism.
McDonough has served on the board of directors of the Education Writers Association and the Bacchus &
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Gamma Peer Education Network. He holds a BA in government from Georgetown University and an MA
in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Contact: Timothy J. McDonough, Vice President of Communications and Marketing, American Council
on Education, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036; (202) 939-9365; C: (301)
919-2650; tim_mcdonough@ace.nche.edu
Will McGuinness is senior editor at Huffington Post College, the Huffington Post’s higher education
section. Before working at the Huffington Post, he reported for CBS Local’s viral stories desk and ran
digital operations and products for several newspapers in Massachusetts. His work has appeared in the
Boston Globe and the Advocate magazine, among others. McGuinness is a graduate of the University of
Massachusetts.
Contact: Will McGuinness, Senior Editor, Huffington Post College, Huffington Post, 770 Broadway, 5th
Floor, New York, NY 10003; (917) 606-4593; C: 774-319-8917; william.mcguinness@huffington
post.com; Twitter: @willmcguinness
Liz McMillen became editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education in August 2011. Previously, she had
been editor of the Chronicle Review, a post she continues to hold. In her 27-year career at the Chronicle,
she has written or edited stories about faculty life and careers; business, philanthropy, and financial
issues; and research, publishing, and intellectual issues. In 1997–1998, she was a Knight-Wallace Fellow
at the University of Michigan, one of 12 U.S. journalists selected for the honor. Before coming to the
Chronicle, she worked for the Associated Press in Philadelphia and later attended the University of
Durham in the United Kingdom on a Rotary International Fellowship. She graduated cum laude from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in American studies.
Contact: Liz McMillen, Editor, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Seventh Floor,
Washington, DC 20037; (202) 466-1000; liz.mcmillen@chronicle.com
Melanie Moran is associate director of news and communications at Vanderbilt University, directs the
university web communications unit, oversees web and social media presences, edits Research News @
Vanderbilt, and is a senior editor of all news and communications websites. Moran came to Vanderbilt
from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, where she was responsible for
managing media relations, events, speech writing, graphic arts, and the website. While in the state
government, she also served as assistant to Governor Don Sundquist for communications. Moran holds a
master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in political
science from Pennsylvania State University.
Contact: Melanie Moran, Associate Director, Vanderbilt University News and Communications;
Vanderbilt University, 110 21st Avenue South, Suite 802, Nashville, TN 37203; (615) 322-7970; C: (615)
473-2204; melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu; Twitter: @melaniemoran;
www.facebook.com/melanie.s.moran
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR). Since joining NPR in 1992, he has
covered a range of science topics—from biomedical research to astronomy. In addition to his science
reporting, Palca regularly fills in as guest host on Talk of the Nation Science Friday. He began his
journalism career in television in 1982, working as a health producer for the CBS affiliate in Washington,
DC. In 1986, he left television for a seven-year stint as a print journalist, first as the Washington news
editor for Nature and then as a senior correspondent for Science Magazine. In October 2009, Palca took a
six-month leave from NPR to become science writer in residence at the Huntington Library and the
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. He has won numerous awards, including the
National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association
of Science Writers, the American Chemical Society James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for
Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Journalism Prize, and the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Writing. With Flora Lichtman,
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Palca is the co-author of Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us (Wiley, 2011). He comes to journalism
from a science background, having earned a PhD in psychology from the University of California, Santa
Cruz, where he worked on human sleep physiology.
Contact: Joe Palca, Science Reporter, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20001-3753; (202) 513-2000; jpalca@npr.org
Richard Pérez-Peña is a higher education reporter for the New York Times. He has been in journalism
since 1985 and at the Times since 1992. He recently took on the higher education beat; before that he
covered courts, transportation, government and politics, healthcare, and the newspaper and magazine
industry in earlier years. Pérez-Peña studied history at Pomona College.
Contact: Richard Pérez-Peña, Higher Education Reporter, New York Times, 620 Eighth Avenue, New
York, NY 10018-1405; (212) 556-1234; rpp@nytimes.com
Mike Petroff is Harvard University’s digital content strategist. He is the creator of eduTweetups.com, a
directory of higher education Twitter hashtags, chats and events, and FollowEDU.com, a searchable
directory of Twitter users in higher education. Petroff also was a writer for the award-winning .eduGuru
(Internet Marketing and Web Development in Higher Education) blog, where he covered topics in
marketing, social media, admissions, and online communities. Petroff formerly was the web and
enrollment technology manager at Emerson College in Boston, where he led web marketing and online
recruitment efforts for undergraduate and graduate admissions. He also chaired the social media group on
Emerson’s campus, working with 20 other staff members from a broad range of campus departments to
share ideas and implement marketing initiatives. With a college Facebook fan page, Twitter account,
Flickr account, and YouTube EDU channel, Emerson College’s social media presence was ranked as a
top college nationally by both StudentAdvisor.com and USA Today College.
Contact: Michael Petroff, Digital Content Strategist, Harvard University Public Affairs &
Communications, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Holyoke Center, Suite 1060, Cambridge, MA 02138;
(617) 495-1585; michael_petroff@harvard.edu; http://mikepetroff.com; Twitter: @mikepetroff
Ronald Roach is the executive editor of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a twice-monthly magazine
based in Fairfax, Virginia, and DiverseEducation.com, which publishes higher education news during
weekdays. As executive editor, Roach oversees editorial operations and planning for the magazine and its
online component, which report largely on higher education access issues that affect minorities and
women. Roach is a former newspaper reporter and freelance journalist who has written extensively about
information technology, race, business, politics, and higher education. He previously worked for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Roanoke Times and World News. In the early 1990s, Roach worked
as a press secretary to U.S. Congressman John Lewis (D-GA).
Contact: Ronald Roach, Executive Editor, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, 10520 Warwick
Avenue, Suite B-8, Fairfax, VA 22030-3136; (800) 783-3199 or (703) 385-2981 x3052;
rroach@diverseeducation.com
Ellen Schweiger has worked at C-SPAN since 1989 and was director of the network assignment desk
from 1990–2010. In 2011, she launched a new position, senior producer for national programming, and is
now in charge of all events covered for C-SPAN around the country, outside the Washington, DC, area.
While in college at the University of Maryland, Schweiger landed internships and part-time jobs at
WTOP-Radio, CBS News, and the United States Information Agency and graduated from the University
of Maryland with a journalism degree. Starting as a college intern at WDVM-TV, Channel 9, the CBS
affiliate in Washington, DC (now WUSA-TV), she worked her way up to assignment editor and finally to
producer of the weekend, noon, and 5:00 p.m. newscasts. After six years at Channel 9, Schweiger moved
to New York City and became the assignment desk manager for CNN’s northeast bureau in Manhattan,
her first stint covering national network news. In 1989, Schweiger returned to the nation’s capital and a
position as control room producer for C-SPAN and then as the network’s assignment desk director.
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Contact: Ellen Schweiger, Senior Producer for National Programming, C-SPAN, 400 North Capitol
Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001; (202) 626-7965; eschweiger@c-span.org
Jeffrey Selingo is vice president and editorial director for the Chronicle of Higher Education. In August
2007, he was named editor of the Chronicle, a position he held for four years. Previously, he had been an
assistant managing editor and senior editor at the Chronicle, overseeing coverage of higher education
policy, campus leadership, fundraising, and surveys of presidents and trustees. Before that, he covered
state politics as a reporter. In his 12 years at the Chronicle, Selingo’s work has been honored with a
National Award for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, a Dateline Award from
the Society of Professional Journalists, and finalist status for a Livingston Award in national reporting.
Before working at the Chronicle, he was the environmental reporter for the Wilmington (NC) Star-News.
Selingo was a member of the staff that won a North Carolina Press Association Award for its coverage of
two major hurricanes in 1996 and was the recipient of the state’s top Associated Press writing award. He
also worked for the Ithaca Journal in New York, and as a recipient of the Pulliam Journalism Fellowship
he covered business technology for the Arizona Republic. Selingo received his bachelor’s degree in
journalism from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in government from the Johns Hopkins University.
He is writing a book to be released in summer 2013; the working title is College (Un)Bound: The Future
of Higher Education and What It Means for Students.
Contact: Jeffrey Selingo, Vice President and Editorial Director, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1255
23rd Street, NW, Seventh Floor, Washington, DC 20037; (202) 466-1075; C: (202) 997-3385;
jeff.selingo@chronicle.com
Mark Stencel is managing editor for digital news at National Public Radio (NPR), where he is
responsible for overseeing all content on NPR.org and other online platforms. Stencel previously worked
as the executive editor and deputy publisher at GOVERNING, a monthly magazine and website written
for leaders in state and local government and published by Congressional Quarterly (CQ). He served as a
managing editor at CQ, where he helped lead one of the largest news staffs on Capitol Hill, coordinating
daily coverage of Congress, online and in print. He began his career at the Washington Post as a
researcher and an assistant to syndicated columnist David S. Broder. After a stint as a science and
technology correspondent for the News & Observer in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Stencel returned
to the Post in 1996 to help launch the company’s first website, PoliticsNow, an election-year multimedia
partnership involving ABC News, Newsweek, and National Journal. He then directed
Washingtonpost.com’s award-winning political coverage and later was a senior editor on the newspaper’s
breaking news desk, serving as a liaison between the Post’s print and online newsrooms. In addition to his
work as an editor, Stencel was a vice president at the Post Company’s online division,
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. He is the co-author of two books, Peep Show: Media and Politics
in an Age of Scandal, and On the Line: The New Road to the White House (written with CNN’s Larry
King). He continues writing about science and technology, including digital media trends, on his personal
blog, Assignment: Future.
Contact: Mark Stencel, Managing Editor, Digital News, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3753; (202) 513-2000/3546; mstencel@npr.org
Michael Stoner is president of mStoner, a firm he launched in 2001 with Rob Cima and Votaier Miran.
During his 30-year career as a communicator and consultant, Stoner has served more than 250 education
institutions (independent schools, colleges, universities, and education associations), nonprofit
organizations, and businesses on four continents. He is recognized as an expert on how institutions can
use the internet and the web to communicate effectively with their constituents and how they can engage
effectively using social media. A pioneer in e-communications, he published his first email newsletter in
the early 1990s and completed his first university website project in 1995. Stoner has provided strategic
consulting on developing institution-wide web strategies, led numerous website development projects,
and has earned an international reputation as an authority on integrating marketing, communications, and
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technology. The firm, mStoner, integrates brand, web, and social media for schools, colleges, and
universities, and its assignments include print design and broader marketing initiatives. Stoner has spoken
at hundreds of professional conferences and has authored chapters for CASE and Open University Press
books and many professional articles. He also earned a CASE Crystal Apple in 2003 as one of the
organization’s top speakers.
Contact: Michael Stoner, Co-Founder and President, mStoner, PO Box 171, Woodstock, VT 050910171; (802) 457-2889 or (312) 622-6930; michael.stoner@mstoner.com
Donna Talarico is the integrated marketing manager in the Office of Marketing Communications at
Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She was an adjunct faculty member at Wilkes University, where
she designed and taught a course on public relations and social media; she frequently presents in
classrooms and boardrooms on the same topic. Prior to joining the staff at Elizabethtown, Talarico
worked in sales and marketing at Solid Cactus, a leading eCommerce developer. She also worked in the
continuing education field as a career school admissions representative and in various aspects of radio.
Until she relocated to Central Pennsylvania, she was a long-time contributing writer for Wilkes-Barre’s
popular alternative weekly, the Weekender. She also is the founder and publisher of Hippocampus
Magazine, a monthly online literary magazine dedicated to creative nonfiction. She has an MFA in
creative writing and a BA in communication studies, both from Wilkes University.
Contact: Donna Talarico, Integrated Marketing Manager, Office of Marketing and Communications,
Elizabethtown College, 1 Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022; (717) 361-1464; talaricod@etown.edu
Amy Walter is political director for ABC News. Based in Washington, Walter oversees all political
coverage on ABCNews.com, including ABC’s “The Note.” She also guides planning and editorial
content of all political news and provides on-air analysis on ABC News programs, including World News
with Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, Nightline, This Week with Christiane Amanpour, ABC News
Radio, and ABC News Now. Walter joined ABC from National Journal’s The Hotline, where she was the
editor-in-chief and served as the political publication’s primary voice for the last three years. In this role,
she provided regular analysis of the national political environment in her weekly NationalJournal.com
column, On the Trail. She has also been a regular contributor to PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and
provided political analysis on CNN, C-SPAN, CBS’s Face the Nation, NBC’s Meet the Press, and HBO’s
Real Time with Bill Maher. Walter was a member of CNN’s Emmy-award winning election-night team in
2006. From 1997 to 2007, she served as the senior editor of the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan
publication, where she earned accolades for successfully handicapping U.S. House races and was
frequently quoted as a congressional election expert in the major newspapers around the country. During
this time, she also contributed to National Journal magazine and CongressDaily. Walter was named one
of DC’s “50 Top Journalists” by Washingtonian Magazine in 2009 and honored with the Washington
Post’s Crystal Ball award for her spot-on election predictions in 2000. She graduated summa cum laude
from Colby College.
Contact: Amy Walter, Political Director, ABC News, 1717 DeSales Street, NW, Washington, DC 200364401; (202) 222-7600; amy.walter@abc.com
Menachem Wecker is an education reporter at U.S. News & World Report and a religion and arts blogger
for the Houston Chronicle. Prior to joining U.S. News, Wecker worked at George Washington University
for five years, first as assistant director of public affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs and
then as a writer for the university’s official online daily news service, GW Today. Before coming to the
university, he was assistant editor of B’nai B’rith Magazine. His articles and reviews have appeared in
publications such as Arab American News, Religion News Service, Mormon Artist Magazine, Mormon
Times, National Catholic Reporter, New York Arts Magazine, NY Press, American Jewish Life Magazine,
World Jewish Digest, Jerusalem Post, Washington Jewish Week, Baltimore Jewish Times, and Jewish
Currents. A painter, Wecker—who trained at the Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, and Art Institute of Boston—has exhibited his drawings, paintings, and photographs at
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galleries in New York, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. A member of the National Press Club, the
Religion Newswriters Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists, he has written a column on
Jewish arts for the Jewish Press since 2003.
Contact: Menachem Wecker, Education Reporter, U.S. News & World Report, 1050 Thomas Jefferson
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007; (202) 955-2177; mwecker@usnews.com; Twitter: @mwecker
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