Fall 2002

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Alumni Honors

Judy DeRango Wicks with 2002 Silver Anvil award

Yungwook Kim

The Honorable Thomas E. Penick Jr., PR 1961, Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, has been honored as the 2002 recipient of the William J. Castagna Award for Judicial Excellence. The award was made by Barney Masterson Inn of Court, a professional organization for judges and attorneys. It recognizes “a local county or circuit judge who displays the highest standard of excellence in knowledge of the law, ethics, civility, professionalism, demeanor and commitment to the community.”

Penick has served on the bench since 1980. He lives in Clearwater.

Jim Leusner, JM 1977, senior reporter/special projects, writer Ed Hinton and reporter Henry Pierson Curtis of The Orlando Sentinel have been honored with the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Distinguished Service to the First Amendment Award for their investigation of NASCAR racing safety.

Their coverage of NASCAR safety was also awarded first place for news stories in the Associated Press Sports Editors competition.

The Sentinel won for its legal battle to gain access to autopsy photos following the death of driver Dale Earnhardt.

Seetha Srinivasan, MA 1979, has been honored by the Association of American University Presses with the 2002 Constituency Award and will become president of the organization in June.

Srinivasan, who is director of the University Press of Mississippi, was recognized for her “demonstrated leadership and service to the Association and the university press community.”

She joined the Mississippi Press in 1980 and is credited with development of some of Mississippi’s cornerstone series, including “Literary Conversations,” a film directors series, and a series on health.

Ann Mikell, MA 1980, has received a “Charlie” Award from the Florida Magazine Association for feature writing. Her package of freelance stories for the Rollins College alumni magazine were titled “Reaching Out in Recovery” and told of alumni who experienced tragedy firsthand and were involved in the recovery efforts.

Mikell is a public school teacher who studied under the late Professor Charlie Wellborn for whom the award was named.

Terrie O’Hanlon, JM 1982, and Judy DeRango Wicks, MA 1984, executives at CheckFree Corp. in Norcross, Ga., have received the 2002 Silver Anvil Award for Marketing Consumer Services, Technology, from the Public Relations Society of America. It is PRSA’s highest award.

Hanlon is executive vice president for marketing, and Wicks is vice president for corporate communications. The company is a leader in electronic billing and payment. O’Hanlon supervises corporate and product marketing, public relations, analyst relations and market research, among others. Wicks is corporate spokesperson and is responsible for media relations, trade shows, internal conferences and speaking opportunities.

Gayle K. Yamada, MA 1984, has received the top award in the TV category from the Asian American Journalists Association for producing “Uncommon Courage,” the story of Japanese Americans who fought in the Pacific during World War II.

It also received the Edward R. Murrow Award from RTNDA. The program was broadcast nationally on PBS in May.

Yamada is writing Building A Community, a book about Japanese Americans on the San Francisco peninsula.

She and her husband, David Hosley, former WRUF news director, and daughter Heather live near Sacramento. Hosley is general manager of KVIE-TV.

Jodi Gentry, MA 1988, assistant director for training and development in the Division of Human Resources at UF, has won a 2002 Superior Accomplishment Award.

Scott Brown, MA 1990, completed his Ph.D. degree in mass communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May. He is an outcomes analyst at Micro Mass Communications.

Eric A. Hurley, ADV 1992, has won the 2001 Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology from the American Psychological Association. Hurley completed his Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He is a post-doctoral researcher in human development at Teachers College at Columbia University.

Dan Switzen, TEL 1995, has received his second Emmy Award for direction of news at Fox 6 in San Diego. He recently moved to New York City is director of CNBC’s “Suze Orman Show.” He is engaged to be married in March.

Ford Risley, PhD 1996, has been named chair of Journalism at Pennsylvania State University where he is a tenured associate professor.

Susan Dente Ross, PhD 1996, has been promoted from assistant to associate professor at Washington State University.

Cindy Frisby, ADV 1992, MA 1994, PhD 1997, is one of 10 recipients of the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence (and $10,000) at the University of Missouri. She is an assistant professor of advertising. She and her husband, Craig, both joined the Missouri faculty in 1998. They have two children—Angela, 7, and Marcus, 5.

Dr. Yungwook Kim, PhD 1997, has been named the top communication scholar in Korea by Joong Ang Ilbo, one of the most prestigious newspapers in South Korea. The newspaper evaluates all communication schools annually and names the top scholar over a three-year period.

Kim is assistant professor in the School of Communication at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Kerry A. Crooks, PhD 1999, received the Ohio State University Alumni Association's 2000 Citizenship Award this fall in recognition of his military, community and professional achievements. Crooks is assistant vice president for public relations at UF and adjunct lecturer in public relations. He is a 1979 graduate of Ohio State and served in the U.S. Air Force.

Paul Kimpel, JM 2000, has received a Gold Award from the Agricultural Communicators in Education. His entry was “Bedbugs are back in big city hotels” and was in the writing for news category, with 459 entries.

Competition judge Catherine Lazorko wrote: “Wow! This is a story that affects anyone—and in quite the most intimate manner—who has ever slept in a hotel room. An urban entomologist told the world that bedbugs are back, and we heard through reports in every media outlet, from the BBC to The New York Times. Kimpel’s writing craft and enterprise are simply stellar. Loved knowing how he stumbled on the story while on a different interview.”

He is Northeastern sales manager for Cardservice International, a merchant credit card processing company with a Gainesville office.