College to recognize six Alumni of Distinction
The College will recognize six alumni this year as “Alumni of Distinction,” based on the recommendations from the faculty and the Alumni and Professional Relations Committee, Interim Dean John Wright announced. Including these six, the College will have recognized only 97 of its more than 21,000 graduates in this manner.
The alumni will be recognized at the College’s undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 5, 2007.
The six are:
Angela Buonocore, ADV 1978, is Vice President & Director – Corporate Relations for ITT Corporation. Buonocore is a member of the company’s Executive Council and is responsible for worldwide brand and reputation management, public relations, employee communications, government affairs, corporate advertising, community relations and corporate philanthropy. Prior to joining ITT in early 2007, she was vice president of corporate communications for The Pepsi Bottling Group in Somers, New York. With 65,000 employees, PBG is the world’s largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages, with operations in the United States, Canada, Greece, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Turkey. With the Pepsi system since 1994, Angela held this position from 2001 to 2007. She also managed the strategy for the company’s charitable contributions and community efforts through The Pepsi Bottling Group Foundation and its WINs (We are Involved Neighbors) program. Her past communications experience includes 11 years at the International Business Machines Corporation and five years at General Electric Company in advertising, media relations, publishing, marketing events and employee communications roles. She was elected a member of the Accademia Europea per le Relazioni Econimiche e Culturali in 2003. Based in Rome, this organization was founded in 1981 and unites prominent Italians and Italian Americans in its mission to develop economic, cultural and humanitarian projects throughout the world. She is a member of the Wisemen and the Arthur W. Page Society, both organizations of senior corporate communications executives and was elected a trustee of the Page Society in 2004 and an officer in 2005.
Betty Cortina, JOU 1992, Betty joined Latina Media Ventures in January of 2001 as its first editorial director. In this position, she oversees the creation of the company’s editorial product, Latina magazine. She has been instrumental in bringing renowned writers and top tier celebrities, such as Jennifer Lopez and Salma Hayek, into the magazine’s pages.
Before joining Latina, she was the news editor at O, The Oprah Magazine, where she was part of that title’s successful launch team. A Time Inc. veteran, she was the associate editor at People en Espanol, where she was part of the team that founded and launched that magazine in the fall of 1996. During her time there, she oversaw the editing and production of some of that title’s best newsstand sellers to date such as the issue devoted to the “25 Most Beautiful Latinos.” She also has held positions at Time Inc. titles such as People Weekly and Entertainment Weekly in both New York and Los Angeles. While at People, she also reported hard-hitting stories on topics such as the lack of roles for African-American actors in Hollywood and was key in securing access to the family of Tejano singer Selena shortly after her death. Her reporting formed the basis of a stand-alone tribute- which at the time became the magazine’s best-selling special tribute issue ever. She has appeared on national and regional broadcast programming around the country, including Good Morning America, E!, Extra!, MTV, VH1, CNN and Fox. She also was recognized as an Outstanding Latina for 2003 by El Diario/La Prensa, New York’s leading Spanish-language newspaper. She began her career in 1992 as a City Hall reporter in Hialeah for the Miami Herald.
Maryanne Culpepper, JOU 1973; MAMC 1974, is senior vice president, editorial development, at National Geographic Television & Film. Maryanne oversees story development for all NGT&F programming. Appointed to her current position in 2003, she helps extend National Geographic’s editorial assets to the broadcast format. She develops content and coordinates cross-divisional planning throughout National Geographic, utilizing Society-wide media, talent and marketing. Working closely with NGT&F’s editorial groups, she spearheads efforts toward long-range editorial planning and facilitating collaboration between various production units, while initiating a consolidated review process for external proposals submitted to both NGT&F and National Geographic Channel. A writer/producer with 20 years’ experience in television production and broadcast management, she joined National Geographic Television in 1996 as director, story development. Before that, she was founder and president of Graffiti Works, a film and video production company based in Orlando and Washington, D.C. Other previous positions include producer/director at Auburn Television, where she produced, directed and wrote documentary and public affairs/informational programming for PBS national and regional broadcast, and research director for WUFT-TV in Gainesville. Awards include a regional Emmy award (Suncoast) for excellence in Children’s and Family Programming for “Food TV,” a comedy series on nutrition that aired on PBS; and multiple CINE Golden Eagle awards, including one as writer of “At the Time of Diagnosis,” a multipart series for Time-Life hosted by Dr. C. Everett Koop. “Lost in Time” was her first documentary production to air nationally on PBS in 1984.
David Finkel, TEL 1977, is a staff writer at The Washington Post, currently assigned to the national staff. David also has worked for the Post’s foreign staff, for which he covered the wars in Iraq and Kosovo, and the Sunday magazine. Before joining the Post in 1990, he was a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times and the Tallahassee Democrat. Among his journalism honors are a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2001 for a series of stories about worldwide patterns of illegal migration, a Sigma Delta Chi award in 1999 for his reporting from Kosovo, a Missouri Lifestyle award in 1995 for a story about racial and class conflict in Washington, D.C., and a distinguished writing award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1986 for a variety of work. He has also been an ASNE finalist for deadline and non-deadline writing, and is a three-time Pulitzer finalist for explanatory reporting and feature writing. In 2006, he was awarded the Pulitzer in explanatory writing for his analysis of the U.S. government’s attempt to bring democracy to Yemen.
Annie Lang, MAMC 1983, is one of the most published scholars among our alumni, received the prestigious Kreighbaum Under 40 Award from AEJMC in 1997. Annie is associate dean for research, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University and professor of telecommunications. She is author or coauthor of over 40 refereed publications, three refereed electronic publications, one book and five book chapters. She has received over $2.7 million in grant funding, the majority from federal agencies, including over $1.7 million for “Social Network & Media Effects on Mental Illness Stigma” (2004). She was director of the Institute for Communication Research, Department of Telecommunications at I.U. from 1995-2004. She was on the editorial board for eight major journals and is a founding editorial board member of Media Psychology. She has served in leadership roles in professional organizations and is considered a leading scholar in psychophysiology theory related to mass media.
Keith Tribble, PUR 1977, Twice in 2003, Sports Illustrated recognized Keith, then Chief Executive Officer of the Orange Bowl Committee, as one of the most respected figures in collegiate athletics. SI named him the No. 23 Most Influential Minority in Sports, only behind Notre Dame head football coach Tyrone Willingham. SI added in its 2003 College Football Preview that he was No. 12 among the 20 Most Powerful People in college football. He was named athletic director of UCF in June 2006, after spending 13 years at the forefront of NCAA athletics as the Orange Bowl Committee’s CEO. He led the Miami-based organization through a period of transition and growth, including an increase from $500,000 to $8 million in gross annual sales. In May 2006, he was selected to receive the Black Coaches Association “Images of Excellence Award.” The prestigious award is presented to those in the community who demonstrate a commitment by action to serve youth in the community. He was recognized in 2005 by Black Enterprise on its list of the “50 Most Powerful Blacks in Sports” and was a featured executive in SouthFloridaCEO. He has served as a trustee or board member of numerous organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the United Way of Miami-Dade County. He was honored with a University of Florida’s Alumnus of Distinction Award for Dade County and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Florida Sports Foundation by late Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.
Posted: March 22, 2007
Category: College News
