Alumni Updates |
 | Malak Silmi (WSU BA '20) Malak Silmi, who earned Bachelor's degrees in journalism and international studies from Wayne State University in 2020, is now a local government reporter at Outlier Media in Detroit. (See Malak's work here.) She is one of 13 Report for America corps members working in Michigan. During her time at Wayne State, Malak was a reporter and news editor of The South End. She also interned at Michigan Public Radio and participated in The New York Times Student Journalism Institute. Shortly after graduating from Wayne State, Malak reported for Outlier Media, providing updates on COVID-19 guidelines, elections and other topics, with information in both English and Arabic. You can follow Malak on Twitter (@MalakSilmi) as she covers city and county government affairs in Detroit. | |
| Kenne Lewis (WSU BA '19) Kenne Lewis graduated from Wayne State in May 2019 with her Bachelor's in Journalism, minoring in Media Arts and Studies. After graduation, she decided to pursue her master's in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University. Kenne has held a few positions in communications but to highlight, she was the New York Rangers PR Student Associate at Madison Square Garden in New York. Upon completing this internship, she landed a job at General Motors as their Global Product Development Communications Manager. She has been in this role since August 2021. Outside of work, Kenne has a two-month-old daughter, Saylor, and enjoys spending time with her dog, Bella, along with her family and friends. |  | |
 | Chevelle Harper (WSU BA '17) Chevelle Harper obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Wayne State University in 2017; she graduated with honors. From there, she furthered her educational goals and received a certification in the Project Management Program at Lawrence Tech. In addition to the accreditation, Chevelle attended Walsh College and obtained a master's degree in Accounting and Business Administrative. Currently, Chevelle is a Provider Engagement and Transformation Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. In this role, she is responsible for managing internal and external partnerships to maintain the quality of care within physician networks. Her journey at Blue Cross started in customer service as a representative. Through mentoring, she gained the confidence to seek positions that would prepare her for leadership. Her determination and commitment to professional development are infectious. As a leader, she is an example to those looking for change and growth. | |
| Audrey LaForest (WSU BA '13) For Audrey LaForest, 33, an opportunity in 2016 to freelance for Crain's Detroit Business jumpstarted her journalism career - taking her from Detroit to Europe and Mexico and now her new home in Washington, D.C. Since February 2020, Audrey has been a reporter at Automotive News, part of Detroit-based Crain Communications, where she covers automotive policy and regulation from the nation's capital. She first joined Crain as a full-time reporter in 2017, when she was hired to cover the automotive and machinery beats at Plastics News. Audrey credits her success to an unwavering commitment to journalism ethics and integrity and mentors early on who believed in her ability to make it in the field. That includes the late Wayne State professor and gentle giant, Ben Burns, who once wrote on her assignment for a feature writing course: "You have talent." She keeps that assignment, along with many others, in a light-pink box on a bookshelf in a small apartment overlooking the city that she shares with her husband, Jeffry Cuny - a full-time jazz musician and fellow WSU grad - and their two cats. |  | |
 | Constance (Smith) Thomas (WSU BA '12) Constance (Smith) Thomas serves as the Campaign Marketing Manager for Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), where her focus is showing the amazing things happening within the largest school district in Michigan. Prior to joining DPSCD at the height of COVID-19 in 2020, Constance served as the Multicultural Marketing Events Coordinator for General Motors. During her five years with GM, she supported all four brands in their corporate diversity efforts. Constance was also integral in the inaugural Chevrolet's Discover The Unexpected journalism program in collaboration with the National Newspapers Publishers Association. Constance is very active in her community as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Detroit Alumnae Chapter where she serves as a marketing lead. She's also an active member of WSU CFPCA Alumni Council and has been a member since 2012, which she joined immediately after graduating. She recently accepted the role of alumni co-chair in 2021. | |
| Hayward Crawford (WSU BA '12) Hayward Crawford is a BIPOC feature film and script TV genre screenwriter, director, filmmaker and producer from Detroit. Previously, he was a WGA, Verve T&L alum and Wayne State University graduate with Bachelor's of Arts in Media Arts and Studies and Concentration in Directing and Production at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan. Hayward picked up a camera for the first time at age 19, in the form of a Sony PD-170 mini DV tape unit. He later served his first producer role in the student short film Imaeatchu (2011). Hayward's film school thesis film One Out of Ten, which he wrote and directed, screened at the Trinity International Film Festival (2015). His other early 'below the line' production credits included Destined starring Cory Hardrict and Jesse Metcalfe, Eloise starring Eliza Dushku and Robert Patrick and lastly, Dial A Prayer starring William H. Macy and Brittany Snow. As a producer, short film Akoma won the local Channel 4 film challenge Detroit award for best short film in 2016. As producer for the short film Affliction, he went on to win the 2019 Emerging Filmmaker Award at the Trinity International Film Festival. Hayward continues to write, direct and produce his own independent content between Detroit and Los Angeles. An avid traveler and adventurer, his long-term lifetime goal to direct/produce a short film and/or music video in every U.S. state and every continent. |  | |
 | Gary Anglebrandt (WSU BA '03) Gary Anglebrandt, a 2003 graduate of the Department of Communication, continues to run his business, Gary Anglebrandt Communications, out of metro Detroit after working for Crain Communications in various roles for many years. Anglebrandt also has lived in South Korea and China, working as a news editor and correspondent for more than eight years. Today, he writes, edits, conducts research, and produces content for customers including Merit Network, MCCI, Henry Ford Hospital and Madrid-based NGO Safeguard Defenders. | |
| Julie Rico AKA Julie Rico Bastarache (WSU BA '88) As Julie Rico set off to reinvent herself in Los Angeles, her hopes were not high as she left Detroit after graduating from Wayne State University. Thousands of autoworkers were being laid off. It was a sad time for Michigan. Her dream was to meet artists and get a job with her journalism degree. Her hopes were never dashed. For many years, Julie was an acclaimed art gallery owner in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. She has sat on the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts and the Laguna Art Museum boards, helped conceptualize and manage the Mean Art Tent of the 1995 US Lollapalooza Tour, and curated a traveling exhibition of "Lowbrow" and graffiti art to 30 cities. She was also head of production for logos and signage, using various artists, including graffiti artists, and produced her vision of the L.A. Art Fest, a giant art festival in the Arts District, L.A. View it [http://www.juliericogallery.com%20/]here. Now, mostly retired, she works on helping her ex-husband Jean Jacques Bastarache with his career. She is about to unveil a mural commissioned by the City of Los Angeles at the North Central Animal Shelter titled "A New Leash on Life" by Jean, which pays homage to the mission and purpose of the North Central Animal Shelter. |  | |
 | Terri Lies (WSU BA '88) It's been a wild ride for Terri Lies in the 35 years since graduation. School was a little more challenging for Terri due to pursuing her degree full-time at night, while also working full-time. With no social life, it was working, driving and homework that had her very focused and intentional in what she was doing. But she felt that Wayne State was the perfect place for this path. While here, Terri became who she knew she always wanted to be. Initially, Terri wanted to pursue Fashion Design but learned it meant a move to one of the coasts and working retail hours. She decided to go after Marketing/Advertising. While working in that field briefly after graduation, she had some great experiences that led her to end up falling by accident into Tech Recruiting. She worked for some smaller companies while she learned the ropes, then got lucky and landed a job at the old EDS (Ross Perot's company). She spent 14 years there and was able to expand into HR, Project Management, Workforce & Resource Management. Currently, Terri is back with IBM in Corporate Talent Acquisition focused on Internal Career Mobility. Her biggest learning moment over the years is that it's not always about moving up, but gaining valuable experiences and the relationships made. Sometimes, careers are not always upward. They can be "zig-zag" and that's OK. | |
| Eileen Kent (WSU BA '86) Eileen Kent was named Broadcast Journalism Graduate of the Year in 1986. From 1986 through 1991, she worked for the City of Sterling Heights on "City Hall Newsweek," authoring newsletters, speeches, and serving as emergency coordinator and public information officer. Eileen served as the Director of Marketing and Sales at System Solvers Limited, a Database Management Specialty company, early in the 1.0 Microsoft days from 1991 until 1996. She then relocated to Chicago to work as the Director of Midwest Sales for a Furniture Rental Company, where she managed a team of 25 individuals. On 9/11, she was Promoted to National Federal Sales Manager where she was selling to the federal government and setting up DHS' very first offices. Since 2002, Eileen been labeled the "Federal Sales Sherpa," having educated over 10,000 people in federal contracting and launching her own company in 2012j to teach corporations one-on-one how to sell to the feds and developing federal sales action plans for over 350 organizations. |  | |
 | Mark R. Kent (WSU BA '69/70) Mark R. Kent, WSU graduate- served as a journalist until March 8, 2020, when he died at the age of 70. Mark R. Kent worked at the Mobile Press Register and The Call News - all the way up to his last days and in fact, authored his last article from his deathbed telling his readers he was donating his body to science. He was still winning journalism awards for the Call News in 2019. The Call News featured Mark on the cover of their newspaper and the loss of Mark was in their top 10 list of stories 2022. He was a beloved field reporter in Mobile, Alabama, for well over 45 years. | |
| Tamara N. Stevenson (WSU BA '91 & MA '98) Tamara N. Stevenson, Ed.D. is vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion and chief diversity officer at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her scholarship and practice explore the internal and external rhetorical activities of educational institutions as organizational sites of power through a critical race lens. In addition to her administrative role, her range of service activities at the college includes mentoring first-generation students in the First Scholars program, the McNair Scholars Program, and serving as the first faculty fellow of diversity, equity, and inclusion. A first-generation college graduate from Detroit, Dr. Stevenson holds doctoral and specialist's degrees in educational leadership and a community college leadership certificate from Eastern Michigan University along with a master's degree in organizational communication and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Wayne State University. She worked in corporate communication in the metropolitan Detroit area for more than a decade, including print and broadcast journalism, automotive, health care, and K-12 and higher education. Dr. Stevenson is the first African American hired into Westminster's communication program, the first to earn multi-year faculty contracts, and the first to advance in academic rank to associate professor. In 2020, Utah Business Magazine selected Dr. Stevenson as an honoree of the publication's "30 Women to Watch". She was chosen as one of seven candidates to join Cohort 7 of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education's (NADOHE) Chief Diversity Officer Fellows Program for the 2020-2021 academic year. She is a 2022 gubernatorial appointee to the state of Utah's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission. |  | |
 | Melanie Davis (WSU BA '93 & WSU MA '97) Melanie Davis is the Community Relations Director for the city of Sterling Heights, Michigan's fourth largest city. In this role, Melanie is responsible for the city's marketing and communications, including formulating external communication strategy across all city departments and leading media relations and crisis communication efforts. She and her team manage all city communication channels, including the city's magazine, website, social media, broadcast services (SHTV), email/text and more. In addition to her marketing and communications role, Melanie also leads resident outreach and engagement including inbound resident questions and concerns as well as hosting many of the city's annual signature community events including the Sterlingfest Art & Music Fair, the Memorial Day Parade and the Cultural Exchange. She is also responsible for the city's public art program and her team manages several commissions and resident committees including the Arts and Beautification commissions, the Ethnic Community Committee, the CommUNITY Alliance, the Youth Advisory Board and the African American Coalition. Melanie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations and Master of Arts degree in public relations and organizational communication from Wayne State University. Melanie is an accredited member of the public relations profession and a graduate of Institutes for Organization Management (a training program designed specifically for chamber of commerce and association management professionals), the Center for Creative Leadership, Leadership Detroit XXV and Leadership Macomb. | |
| Esperanza Cintrón (WSU MA '82) Esperanza Cintrón graduated in 1982 with a Master's from WSU's Communication Department. Later, she earned a Doctorate from The State University of New York in English Literature. She recently retired after teaching English and Film at WCCCD's downtown campus for two decades. However, Cintrón continues to write. She is the author of "Shades, Detroit Love Stories" a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, published by Wayne State University Press. Her short story, "Shadow Dancer" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Cintrón's three books of poetry include: "Visions of a Post-Apocalyptic Sunrise," the Naomi Long Madgett Award Winner "What Keeps Me Sane," and "Chocolate City Latina." A Callaloo Writing Fellow at Brown and Oxford Universities, she was also the recipient of a Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artist Grant, and a National Endowment for the Humanities educator's scholarship. Under the nom de plume Alegra Verde, she has written several works of romantic fiction many of which have been translated into various languages. Cintrón recently established a workshop for romance writers. It is free and meets in Detroit twice a month. Cintrón's latest book of poetry, "Boulders, Detroit Nature Poems," which is a love song to Detroit and an ecological awakening, was released in December 2022. |  | |
 | Charlie Kadado (WSU BA '17 & JD '22) Charlie Kadado graduated in May 2022 with a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School. After being admitted to the State Bar of Michigan, Kadado joined the Detroit office of Warner Norcross + Judd LLP as an Associate Attorney. He has joined the family law, commercial litigation, and media law practice groups. While at Wayne Law, the American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law named Kadado the Dick Goehler Scholar. Wayne Law also awarded him the Joseph Grano Prize for Excellence in Constitutional Law. He earned his bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, magna cum laude, in 2017 from Wayne State University. | |
| Juan Liu (WSU Ph.D. '17) Dr. Juan Liu joined Towson University in August of 2021. Before joining the faculty in the Department of Mass Communication, Dr. Liu held a tenure-track position at Columbus State University. Her research focuses on corporate social advocacy, strategic communication, and political misinformation. She examines how corporations are involved in social advocacy campaigns to create informed public opinion. Dr. Liu also conducts research exploring how expert corrections mitigate misinformation on social media. Her recent work has been published in the Newspaper Research Journal and Online Media and Global Communication. Dr. Liu was awarded the 2022 Legacy Scholar Grant from the Arthur W. Page Center. She was also awarded the 2019 Scripps Howard Foundation Visiting Professor Grant in social media by Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). She received several internal grants from Towson University, including the School of Emerging Technologies (SET) Seed Funding Grant, the Faculty Development and Research Committee (FDRC) Grant, and the College of Fine Arts & Communication Dean's Summer Research Grant. |  | |
 | Stephanie Wideman (WSU Ph.D. '17) Stephanie Wideman, Ph.D. was recently awarded the "Excellence in Teaching in the Core Award" from the University of Indianapolis. She is currently an assistant professor and director of speech and debate at that institution. | |
| Tobe Berkovitz (WSU Ph.D. '84) Tobe Berkovitz, who received a Ph.D. in 1984 in mass communication from Wayne State University, recently retired from Boston University College of Communication as Associate Professor of Advertising emeritus. During his 33 years at BU, he taught a wide variety of courses and served as interim dean, associate dean and acting department chair. He is the director and lead professor of the BU Graduate Mass Communication Summer Program in London. While at Wayne State, Dr. Berkovitz began a career as a political media consultant working on the campaigns of Sen. Don Riegle, Sen. Carl Levin and Governor James Blanchard. He was a media consultant for Senators John Glenn, Patrick Leahy, Tom Harkin and 50 other candidates for senate, congress and governor. He currently serves on the boards of several charitable organizations. For many years he appeared on TV, cable and radio commenting on politics and popular culture, earning the moniker TobeTV. |  | |
 | Carol Dunitz (WSU Ph.D. '76) Carol Dunitz received a B.A. with a double major in Speech and English from the University of Michigan in 1971 several months after turning 19. She received her Ph.D. in Speech Communication and Theatre from Wayne State University in 1976. Dunitz remained great friends with her advisor, Raymond S. Ross, and his wife until their deaths recently and visited them often in Traverse City when they moved north after his retirement. Since graduation Dunitz has been involved in numerous professional activities. She ran a communication and creative services business in metro Detroit, The Last Word LLC, for fifteen years. Her work included writing speeches for high level executives, and developing and implementing advertising campaigns for mid-size companies. She also produced individual marketing tactics for smaller businesses. Dunitz has written eight books, many for hire. She has also written the music, script and lyrics for four musicals. She toured in Bernhardt On Broadway, her one-woman show about Sarah Bernhardt. The research for this play included reading over one hundred books in French and English. Dunitz also speaks before groups about communication issues including listening, interpersonal communication, sales and negotiating, and intercultural communication. Her seminar on listening draws on the lessons in her book, Louder than Thunder. During the pandemic, Dunitz converted her living room into a sound stage and created YouTube videos. There are now over forty videos online that answer questions children ask about the world around them. She has also completed numerous other videos, some political, some educational, some simply entertaining. She has an Audio Engineering certificate from Washtenaw Community College and now not only writes and arranges her music but also does the sound engineering for it. She has a small music studio in her home. Her newest project is a family memoir. She expects the research and interviews she did in the 1980s to provide a framework for this book. "A great deal more information is available today since so much has been computerized," Dunitz shares. "I look forward to uncovering new details." She is also about to start a new YouTube series on health and fitness for Boomers. Dunitz continues to accept writing and coaching projects. She enjoys helping others achieve their communication goals. Dunitz has four grown daughters who live in the Ann Arbor area: Helen who is a fine artist, Dorothy who is a psychiatrist, Risa who operates yoga studios and Jocelyn who is a graphic designer. She has two grandchildren. Dunitz sits on the board of the Cable Television Network in Ann Arbor. She is a member of New Enterprise Forum in Ann Arbor and looks forward to coaching early stage entrepreneurs there in coming years. She is a life member of the Detroit Economic Club. | |
