2000s

Matt Gouras ’00 left the AP Bismarck, N.D., bureau to join the AP in Helena. He’s covering the Montana Senate in the 2003 Legislature. His counterpart covering the House is veteran Bob Anez ‘75, who began covering the Montana Legislature in 1982. Also at Helena’s AP bureau are J-School alums John MacDonald ‘90, who is news editor, and Tom Laceky ‘87, who taught at UM during the year he worked on a master’s degree.

Emily Phillips Heffter ’00 is covering a suburban county for the Seattle Times, where her beat includes three Native American tribes and Snohomish county government. She writes: “I got to relive my college-administration-busting days recently when I wrote about a local nursing program discriminating against immigrant students.” Emily started her newspaper career at The Tennessean.

Nate Schweber ’00 lives in New York City, where he sings in a couple of rock’n’roll bands and works as a reporter at the Herald News in West Paterson, New Jersey. Nate would also like everyone to know that he recently attended a party with one of the Rolling Stones. We won’t say which, but suffice it to say Nate was the only one there who looks like Mick Jagger.

Ben Shors M.A. ’00 began work last fall as a reporter at the Spokesman Review specializing in covering social issues. “It's a tremendous beat, covering both Washington and Idaho,” he writes. “And is there a more broadly defined beat than ‘social issues?’ It has the breadth and heft of War and Peace.”

Patia Stephens ’00 has won a Rising Star Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for her work as Web content manager and editor at University Relations at UM. Patia is one of three winners in the region and will receive her award at a conference in Portland in March.

Tamara Sternoff ’00 works for CBS News, New York, as an assistant producer, a job she landed after concluding a CBS internship in spring 2001. Tamara works on a number of projects for A&E, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel, including a documentary aired in May 2003 on “The Horrors of Hussein.” She has also received her first associate producer credit.

Sanjay Talwani x-M.A.’00 is deputy press secretary in North Dakota Sen. Dorgan’s office, where he deals with the North Dakota print media. Talwani reports: “The writing needs to be as precise as at any place I’ve worked.”

Matt Thompson ’00 has joined the Peace Corps and will serve for two years in Bulgaria. Thompson, who will be part of the 15th group to serve in Bulgaria, will depart for the East Coast for orientation on April 16 before starting his pre-service training on April 19 in Bulgaria. Matt will be teaching English as a second language. After graduation in 2000 Matt worked until last fall as a sportswriter for the Eastside Journal in Bellingham, Wash.

Beth Wohlberg Casper M.A. ’01 recently accepted a job as environmental reporter at the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore.

Following a two-year stint at the Great Falls Tribune, Cassie Eliasson ’01 is working as a copy editor/designer at Gannett’s Fort Collins Coloradoan. She became an instant Rockies, Avalance, Broncos and Nuggets fan, though she still logs on to montanagrizzlies.com on game day. Eliasson reports: “Nearly three years into the business, I’m convinced that I’ll never have the connection with my co-workers like I did at the Kaimin.”

Greg Girard M.A. '01 is the sports editor at the Torrington Register-Citizen in Torrington, Conn.

Jeremy Lurgio M.A.’01 is chief photographer for the Ravalli Republic. His photograph of a bride stopping to watch a wildfire that was burning a few miles from her wedding site won first in the feature category of the 2002 Atlanta Photojournalism competition. To see more of Jeremy’s photos, go to www.aphotoaday.org/lurgio1.html

Cory Myers ’01 moved from Wyoming to Twin Falls, Idaho, where he has been promoted to chief photographer of the Times-News.

Laurie Schroeder Old Horn ’01 lives in Colorado Springs, where she is a pursuing a master’s degree in elementary education. Her husband is working on a master’s degree in counseling. This fall, they bought a house, and consequently are deemed “old” by their closest friends.

Rashae M. Ophus ’01 worked for two years as a reporter and assistant editor at the Jamestown Sun, a daily in North Dakota. In July she moved to Salt Lake City with her fiance, James Johnson, and last month started work as a business reporter at the Enterprise. Ophus says: “I love my job, love Salt Lake City and miss Missoula!”

Katja Stromnes M.A. ‘01 accepted a job in late December with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Katja joined the Ravalli Republic after earning her master’s degree and was editor of the paper when she won a Fulbright grant to study German community newspapers in Germany.

Marni Hughes ’01 joined Rebecca Louis Bullock ’91 at KSTV Fox 13 in Salt Lake City. Hughes is weekend anchor and weeknight reporter; Bullock is assistant news director.

After leaving the city editor position at the Moberly Monitor-Index in Moberly, Mo., Anthony Zuccarini ’01 became adjunct instructor of journalism and English at Moberly Area Community College. After a year at the college, Anthony changed gears, and now works for the Missouri State highway patrol as a communications specialist. He writes: “It’s funny that now I see all the stuff law enforcement doesn’t like to release to the public… I can remember all the times I used to try my best to get that stuff for various stories while working for newspapers.” Anthony married Gina Lent on Oct. 12. The couple is expecting a baby boy this spring.

Candy Buster ’02 works as a copy editor in South Carolina. Candy loves her job, despite having hours that mesh with no one but other copy editors. In her spare time, Candy plays basketball with very tall people and has started a Sunday kickball league where people “meet at a playground to act like sixth-graders for a few hours.”

Laura Parvey Connors ’02 married John Michael Connors on Nov. 8 in Dillon. They live in Ukiah, Calif.

Shannon Dininny ’02 has been named correspondent in the Yakima, Wash., bureau of the Associated Press. Dininny joined the AP in Helena in 2000 and transferred to Indianapolis the following year, where she was the AP’s lead education reporter.

Chad Dundas ’02 won a scholarship from the University of Iowa to study creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

John Hafner M.A.’02 has accepted a position with Realtree, a company in Columbus, Ga., that manufactures camouflage clothing and produces a weekly hunting show. Hafner will coordinate their photography, shoot images for ads, write and proof copy, and travel to Alaska, Colorado and Texas to hunt. In addition, he reports that freelancing is going well; he is working on a deal with a potential client that may result in one of his turkey images being used on 500,000 T-shirts.

Courtney Lowery ’02 has taken a job in the Omaha bureau of the Associated Press. Courtney completed a six-month stint with the AP Helena bureau at the end of November before packing her U-Haul and heading to Nebraska. After graduation she’d worked for the Lee Capital Bureau during the Montana legislative session.

Eric Lynn ’02 was teaching in Daegu, South Korea, last Feb. 18 when a man set fire in a subway, killing 120 and injuring 135. Lynn writes: “I was in class when it happened… I noticed an atrocious smell of burning plastic. The subway station where it happened is only three blocks away from my school. I thought a building was on fire, or someone was burning garbage, but the smell got worse and worse. I walked to the grocery store with a friend, and we passed right by the tunnels with black, toxic smoke pouring out, police blocking intersections, and police and medics in gas masks rushing around. As I approached, it became so thick and so nasty that it made me dizzy for 10 or 15 minutes afterward. I thought the fire was an accident until a few hours later someone told me it was arson… The whole underground system caught on fire.”

Danelle Miller ’02 is the primary beat writer at the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello, where she covers soccer, volleyball, women’s basketball, and football. Her husband was called back into active duty for the army and was expected to be in Kuwait until Christmas.

Tricia Miller ’02 writes a literature and lifestyles column in Cascade Discovery, a magazine for retired and active adults in central Oregon.

Paul Queneau ’02 and Laura had a baby, Liam Hodges Queneau, born April 13, 2003, at Community Hospital in Missoula. Paul is assistant editor of Bugle magazine, the magazine of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which is headquartered in Missoula.

Samantha Sharp ’02 started classes in pre-med at San Francisco State.

Pete Soyer ’02 is starting a master’s degree program in education at the University of Phoenix. He continues to work at DuPont as a project manager, and writes for Modern Fix, an alternative music magazine in San Diego. He will be married in 2005.

Dan D’Ambrosio M.A. ’03 is a reporter for the Associated Press in its Denver bureau.

Chris Durden ’03 is morning producer at WVVA-TV in Bluefield, W.Va.

Kristen Inbody '03 interned in fall 2003 with the Washington bureau of Stephens Media as part of the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism program. She writes: “Today I attended a press conference in the West Wing press briefing room and met Helen Thomas. For the past few days I've been working on a story about ConocoPhillips, the energy bill and the Alaska natural gas pipeline for the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise in Oklahoma. Following the press conference I went to the East Room of the White House and saw the big man himself at a ceremony honoring some companies, among them Tyson chicken, which we cover extensively for our Arkansas newspapers. My role was to hold things and take pictures. Bush got within 4 feet of me during his dramatic entrance and exit. Still hard to believe it's not just something I saw on TV.”

After graduation, Olivia Nisbet ’03 interned at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, then accepted an internship with the Associated Press in Boston. In late fall she began a two-year photo internship at the Oregonian. She will be married in the summer of 2004.

Keila Spzaller M.A. ’03 has accepted a full-time job as a reporter for the Missoula Independent. She began work in December.

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