Dean Stone Night has awards, food and fun

By Brad Fjeldheim
J-School Web reporter

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Louis Montclair, right, won the Lee Native American Scholarship for $4,000 at the 47th Annual Dean Stone Awards night.

UM journalism students collected $86,000 in scholarships and awards at the 47th annual Dean Stone Awards Banquet on April 23.

It was the final event of the J-School’s weekend jamboree. Alumni, faculty, students and donors gathered the day before at the groundbreaking of the new journalism building and the Dean Stone Lecture.

The following night, more than 200 people fitting the same description filled the Holiday Inn Parkside awaiting a five-hour marathon of dinner, drinks, songs, tributes, scholarships and awards.

“The state of the journalism school is, in two words, never better,” said Jerry Brown, dean of the School of Journalism. UM journalism students are the greatest in the nation and the purpose of the night was to honor them, he said.

Dean Stone Night was established in 1957 by Dean Nathaniel Blumberg as a tribute to Arthur L. Stone, the founder of the School of Journalism. The festivities include a guest lecture by a prominent figure in journalism and scholarships and awards for exceptional journalism students in print, photo and broadcast.

Brown began the ceremony by introducing special guests in attendance. Pollner professors Jonathan Weber, Tom Cheatham and Maurice Possley were there along with Ken Brown of the Kettering Foundation, which sponsors the “Footbridge Forum” on student radio station KBGA.

The focus of the night was on the students. It was a time to celebrate a tradition of excellence for the School of Journalism, and spirits were high for most, but it was also a time to honor past journalism students.

Chris Rodkey, print senior and editor of the Kaimin, introduced a new award in the name of former J-School student Katie Aschim, who died in January of complications from diabetes.

“Katie’s future at the paper, and certainly in journalism, seemed boundless,” Rodkey said. Aschim, a sophomore who had received an award at last year’s Dean Stone ceremonies, was a reporter with the Kaimin and a columnist for the Shelby Promoter.

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Broadcast students dress in their best for Dean Stone Night: (L-R) Sarah Cowan, Megan McFarland, Kalee Scolatti, Sarah Wolfe, Keslie Wilcox .

Professor Sheri Venema, who had Aschim in two of her classes, presented the award.

“We hope the person who receives this award will be as fearless as Katie was,” she said before presenting the $500 award to Kristen Cates, who worked with Aschim at the Kaimin.

Jennifer Servo’s mother, Sherry Abel, gave a tearful presentation of a $1,000 award to broadcast student April Jensen. Servo, a 2002 graduate of the J-School, was killed in the fall of 2002 in Texas where she was working as a television reporter.

The Lem Price Memorial Scholarship was presented to photo student Jennifer Erickson for $1,000. Lem Price’s father, George Price, presented the award created in memory of the deceased 2001 photojournalism graduate. He seemed to enjoy the atmosphere after witnessing some of the entertainment by students and faculty.

“You people aren’t too afraid to let it all hang out,” he said.

The awards began with a slide show of photos taken by photojournalism students during the groundbreaking of the new journalism building. The photographers of the three best pictures received cash awards. Tom Baker took home the top prize of $75.

The first Dean Stone award of the night was the Sam Reynolds Editorial Writing Award of $1,000 to Luke Johnson, columnist for the Kaimin.

“I won before everyone else did and that means a lot more,” Johnson said.

Verbal lambasting was not the only reaction to awards.

“I said if I get an award I’m stage diving and I did,” said Curtis Wackerle, who received a $200 Ronald E. Miller Award. Most everyone argued that his hop off the stage didn’t fit the strict parameters set by the definition of stage diving, but commended him on keeping his word.

The final award of the night was a special award created four years ago. Shortly after Brown was hired, during a dean’s meeting, the then-university provost was upset with the Kaimin staff for digging into sensitive issues. The provost instructed the deans not to talk to the “mendacious little bastards,” Brown said.

The Mendacious Little Bastard Award goes to the Kaimin member who refuses to take no for an answer, he said. “It really goes to the person who has been the most obnoxious,” he said.

Natalie Storey, a news editor at the Kaimin, was awarded a T-shirt with “mendacious little bastard” in red letters, and a certificate.

“I never thought I’d be called a bastard,” she said.

Don Oliver, president of the Journalism Advisory Council and 1957 J-School alumni, said he received the largest scholarship given when he was a junior.

“It was $150 and it paid for my tuition for three quarters,” he said.

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Members of the Kaimin newspaper staff cheer on a student receiving an award.

Oliver could have paid for his entire education with the $5,000 Ralph and Hulda Fields Scholarship awarded to broadcast major Melissa Ragels.

The largest prize was $5,000, but almost 90 scholarships and awards were given to students to put toward their education or career.

Most of the $86,0000 came from alumni or friends of the J-School. Some donors choose the recipient of their award, but J-School faculty divided up most of the money by choosing students who work hard, show potential and fit the characteristics of the scholarship.

William Marimow, the new managing editor of national news at National Public Radio, was this year’s Dean Stone speaker and he talked briefly during the banquet about a reporter’s responsibility to keep promises.

Kevin Van Valkenburg, J-School alum and son of print department head Carol Van Valkenburg, introduced Marimow, a Pulitzer Prize winner. Kevin Van Valkenburg is a reporter at the Baltimore Sun, where Marimow was the editor until he was fired in January.

The entertainment of the night wasn’t limited to awards and lectures. Carol Van Valkenburg had never received a Dean Stone Award when she was a student, and the yearly tradition of dedicating a portion of the ceremonies to her lived on through a presentation by J-School seniors Adam Weinacker and Luke Johnson.

The two students presented every table with two front pages of the “Kaimin O’ The Future….” with articles focusing on the many years Van Valkenburg, the Kaimin adviser, has been involved with the journalism school and the many more to come.

“Carol is old now and she is old in the future,” Weinacker said.

One article in the first issue from 2029 gives her credit for helping Dean Stone set up the tents for the original J-School in 1914.

Van Valkenburg accepted the roast but ended with a question: “How many of you people are looking for letters of recommendation?”

The night was a family affair for Van Valkenburg. Her younger brother, John Bulger, also a J-School grad, wrote new words for John Prine’s 1971 song, “Spanish Pipedream.”

Dean Brown called the faculty to join him on stage, then stepped back and pulled on a straw hat. Bulger had help on the guitar from print professor Dennis Swibold as faculty members slowly made their way to the front while pulling on cowboy, straw and newspaper hats, some with green foam satellites on the top.

“Spanish Pipedream Revisited” was about a promising broadcast student who fell in love with a sinful feature writer. The song told the student’s story as she blew up her television and threw away her newspaper to move to the country to live off the land. The punch line of the song came just as the audience was picking up the chorus:

“Put a '30' to this story; you know just what they did. He took her home and made her try the inverted pyramid.”

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