1980s

Dan Carter ‘89, a former editor of the Billings Gazette, is director of government relations and publications at Montana State University-Billings. Carter has 20 years of journalism experience. He has been a design editor, desk editor and assignment editor for daily newspapers in Montana and Oregon. He worked for six years as managing editor of the Gazette.

Frank Field, former anchor at KVOA in Tucson, who now is adjunct at Emerson College in Boston. He ran in the Boston Marathon this spring.

J-alums working at UM’s University Relations helped win a record seven awards—five silver and two bronze—in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s District VIII annual communications awards competition.
Silver awards went to Joan Melcher ’73 for copy in an ad in the Montanan; Patia Stephens ’00 for a story on higher education funding in the Montanan; and to Director Rita Munzenrider ‘82, photographer Todd Goodrich ‘88, and staff members Stephens and five others for the 2004 President’s Annual Report. Goodrich shared a bronze medal for cover design of the Vision 2004 research magazine.

Kevin McRae '88 works for the Montana Department of Administration as a labor relations specialist. Beth McLaughlin '90 works for the Supreme Court administrator's office as the court services director. Kevin had a banner year because he saw a Red Sox-Yankees game in Fenway Park and the Sox won the series. Kevin and Beth have two daughters -- Clara and Eliza. Beth writes: "Our youngest is a month younger than John and Lisa Firehammer's daughter and three months older than Dave Kirkpatrick's daughter. All three of the babies (and Clara and Max Firehammer) are adorable and brilliant as you would expect."

Michele Troxel ’88 is unit manager/show producer for Seattle-based KING TV’s “Evening Magazine,” “Northwest Backroads,” “Gardening with Ciscoe” and various other station projects. She is in her ninth year at KING TV, an NBC affiliate. She reports that Evening Magazine is in its 18th year and is the nation’s highest-ranked, locally produced news magazine program. Michele says her affinity for the Griz football brings her home in the fall. She can be reached at mtroxel@king5.com.

Bill Miller '84 covers Dallas City Hall for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His wife, Samantha, is a fund-raiser for non-profit organizations. They have three kids at home: son, Avery; daughter, Eden; and nephew, Sean.

Marlee Miller ‘85 received the Gerald W. Hathaway Memorial Award for 2003 staff member of the year from the Western Association of Chamber Executives, which covers seven Western states. Miller is senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Missoulian reporter Michael Moore '86 won a Casey award for his series of stories about two 11-year-old boys who drank themselves to death on the Flathead Reservation. Moore spent four months researching and reporting the stories. “The weeklong series is a powerful, deeply nuanced examination of the lives of Flathead Indian children and the destruction alcohol leaves in its wake — narrative storytelling at its best,” the judges said. Casey awards are given for writing about disadvantaged children and their families. Moore’s series won in the projects category for newspapers of less than 75,000 circulation. He won $1,000 for the award.

Christopher T. Ransick, M.A. ‘88, won the 2003 Colorado Book Award for poetry for his collection “Never Summer.” Chris is a faculty member in the English Department at Arapahoe Community College in Englewood, Colo.

Dave Reese ‘88 is the editor and publisher of Montana Living. Reese started the publication in 1997 after purchasing Whitefish magazine and changing the name to Montana Living. He feeds his addiction to “ink in the blood” by contributing a weekly outdoors column to the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, where colleagueJim Mann ‘88 is a reporter, Karen Nichols ‘88 is a photographer, and Scott Crandell ’88 is associate editor. Reese has been a reporter/photographer at Flathead Valley newspapers since graduating from the Journalism School. Freelance writer/photographers can contact Reese at editor@montanaliving.com.

Kathy Young ’88 works in university advancement at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Her e-mail is kathy.young@otago.ac.nz.

Teresa Bell is pleased to report that KGW.com in Portland has again won the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Website in the Pacific Northwest region. This is the second year in a row, and the third out of the last four years, that KGW.com has taken the regional Murrow. KGW.com competes against Seattle for the award.

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