Rajah Maples, MA ’03

Rajah Maples, MA ’03, earned a third-place award for spot news coverage in the Iowa Broadcast News Association’s 2012 News Excellence Contest. Maples received her award at the association’s spring convention on April 20. Maples works as an anchor‚ multi-media journalist and producer for KHQA‚ an ABC and CBS affiliate in Quincy. The station also … Continued

Jeff Sonderman, BJ ’04

Jeff Sonderman, BJ ’04, has joined The American Press Institute in Arlington, Va., as deputy director. Sonderman was most recently the digital media fellow at The Poynter Institute. He previously worked as the managing editor of TBD.com, a digital news operation in Washington, D.C. As deputy director, Sonderman will explore how digital technology can be … Continued

Matt Jacob, MA ’00

After a six-year stint in public relations, Matt Jacob, MA ’00, is back to his journalism roots. Jacob recently returned to The Dallas Morning News to join the investigative projects team as a newsroom data specialist.

Erin Gitau, BJ ’09

Erin Gitau, BJ ’09, has been promoted to account executive at Geile/Leon Marketing Communications in St. Louis. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of agency clients including GreenLight Innovations, Enterprise Truck, Enterprise Fleet Management and XIOLINK.

Blythe Terrell, BJ ’05

Blythe Terrell, BJ ’05, has completed her master’s in public health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She left for Swaziland, Africa, in June 2012 to begin a two-year assignment as a Peace Corps volunteer. Terrell is educating the citizens on HIV prevention and writing their newsletter.

Benjamin Hochman, BJ ’02

Benjamin Hochman, BJ ’02, received an Associated Press Sports Editors award for beat writing for cities with a circulation of more than 175,000. Hochman is a sportswriter for The Denver Post. He has won four APSE awards in the past four years in the investigative, game story, breaking news and now beat writing categories.

Brittany Pieper, BJ ’08

Brittany Pieper, BJ ’08, will join KOMU-TV as evening co-anchor on March 4. Pieper comes to KOMU 8 News from KSLA in Shreveport, La., where she is an anchor and reporter covering education. Previously, she worked as a reporter, anchor and producer at KCBD in Lubbock, Texas.

Katherine Johanns, BJ ’02

Katherine Johanns, BJ ’02, is the communications director at the Association of Texas Professional Educators, the nation’s largest independent educator organization.