UA Media Planning Board Names Leaders of Student-Run Media

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Media Planning Board of The University of Alabama has named new student leaders for its publications and radio station for the 2004-2005 academic year.

The board is an oversight body for the UA Office of Student Media, which includes The Crimson White (CW) student newspaper, Marr’s Field Journal undergraduate literary magazine, the Corolla yearbook, WVUA-FM, Black Warrior Review graduate literary magazine, and Southern Historian graduate history journal.

Students selected include:

The Crimson White — Lauren Davidson of Madison and Ben Glasscock of Birmingham (zip code 35424) were named editor and retail sales manager. Davidson, a senior journalism major, was last year’s managing editor. She has interned at The Birmingham News and will intern this summer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Glasscock, a senior advertising minor, has served as an account executive for the newspaper and is president of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Marr’s Field Journal — Lisa Rudden of Hoover and Derek Tokaz of Huntsville were named editor and managing editor. Rudden, a senior English major, served as last year’s managing editor and has interned with Alabama Heritage Magazine. She will intern this summer with Humanities, the magazine of the National Endowment of the Humanities in Washington, D.C. Tokaz, junior English/philosophy major, has served as a copy editor and poetry staff member.

Corolla — Samantha Hall and Leasa Hall, both of Huntsville, were named editor and business manager. The Halls are sisters. Samantha Hall, a senior journalism major, was student life editor of the 2004 Corolla, a staff writer for The Tuscaloosa News, a senior staff writer for The Crimson White and reporter for Alabama Public Radio. Leasa Hall, a sophomore pre-business major, served as spring 2004 Corolla business manager.

WVUA-FM — Jef Whatley of Huntsville was named station manager. Whatley, a senior German and New College (depth study in radio drama) major, was music director of the station last year, and has served as a disc jockey since 2002.

Black Warrior Review — Aaron Welborn of Tuscaloosa and Laura Hendrix of Birmingham (35216) were named editor and managing editor. Welborn, a graduate student in the master’s of fine art in creative writing program, served as last year’s managing editor. He earned a B.A. in English from Birmingham-Southern College in 1999. Hendrix is also pursuing a master’s of fine art in creative writing and earned a B.A. in English and French from Birmingham-Southern in 2001.

Southern Historian — Jonathon Hooks of Tuscaloosa and Christian McWhirter of Caledon Village, Ontario, were named editor and assistant editor. Hooks is pursuing a Ph.D. in history at UA and earned a B.A. in history from Elon College and an M.A. in history from East Carolina University. McWhirter is a Ph.D. candidate in history at UA and earned a B.A. in English and history from the University of Toronto in 2000 and an M.A. in history from UA in 2003.

The Media Planning Board is a committee of 12 voting members made up of students, faculty and media professionals and 20 non-voting members who are editors of student publications, faculty and Student Media staff members. The members of the board are responsible for providing guidance and support to Student Media in order to safeguard the publications’ interests and provide financial support, while allowing the publications to maintain their editorial independence.