UA College of Communication and Information Sciences Honors Outstanding Alumni

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Seven University of Alabama alumni were presented with Outstanding Alumni Awards from the University’s College of Communication and Information Sciences during Honors Week activities.

Recipients include Mary Story, advertising and brand manager for Southern Company and Georgia Power; Steve Sewell, executive vice president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama; Ken Smith, an ordained United Methodist Minister and director of the UA Wesley Foundation; Randy Henderson, former assistant managing editor for The Birmingham News; Veteran producer A. D. Oppenheim, head of Winsome Productions; Kellee Reinhart, vice chancellor of system relations for The University of Alabama System; and Dr. Bill Keller, assistant to the dean for journalism administration at UA.

The C&IS Outstanding Alumni Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Alumna in Advertising – Mary Story is advertising and brand manager for Southern Company and Georgia Power. Before joining Alabama Power in 1981, Story worked as a newspaper reporter and a book editor. Her freelance writing has been published in Woman’s Day and Reader’s Digest. She also is the recipient of numerous regional and national writing and advertising awards, including four Gold Quills from the International Association of Business Communicators and two Clio Awards.

Story graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UA, where she earned the Journalism Academic Excellence Award. She also holds a master’s degree in communication from UA.

Her professional affiliations include the National Association of Advertisers, where she serves on the advertising management committee.

She is also on the board of directors for Utility Communicators International and the board of visitors for The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences.

Outstanding Alumnus in Public Relations – Steve Sewell is executive vice president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, a private alliance of leading businesses that works to bring quality economic growth to the state.

After graduating from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1981, Sewell began work as a communications intern for Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham. In 1982, he joined the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce as manager of communications, and from 1983-1986 he worked as sports information director for Birmingham-Southern College. He then joined Luckie & Forney Advertising, where he developed public relations strategies and helped manage communications issues for agency clients in a range of industries. From 1991 to 1994, he served as vice president of The Godwin Group, where he directed a six-person public relations department for the Jackson, Miss.-based marketing communications firm.

Sewell earned his professional accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America in 1991. He is a past board member of Alabama’s PRSA chapter and a past officer of the Public Relations Council of Alabama. He is a past chairman of the Alabama Tourism Partnership and has served on the board of the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association since the organization’s inception in 2001. He is a member of the Board of Visitors for the College of Communication and Information Sciences.

Outstanding Alumnus in Communication Studies – Ken Smith is an ordained United Methodist Minister and has served as director and campus minister of the Wesley Foundation at UA since 1983.

A Tuscaloosa native, he received a bachelor’s degree from UA in 1970 and his master of divinity from Duke University Divinity School in 1973. He then went on to be an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa until 1977 when he became pastor of Southside United Methodist Church in Gadsden. He is active in the National Campus Ministry Association and the UA Campus Ministry Association. Smith has participated in Leadership Tuscaloosa and in the Wesley Foundation Alternative Spring Break Programs and the Civil Rights Alternative Spring Break Program. In 2005, he was a UA Capstone Hero.

Outstanding Alumnus in Journalism – Randy Henderson was assistant managing editor and served 18 years as city editor for The Birmingham News, where he directed local news coverage for Alabama’s largest daily newspaper. He won the newspaper’s top editorial award, The Big N, in 1986.

He received an Editor’s Award for leadership from The Birmingham News earlier this year, with the leadership award to be named in his honor hereafter. He previously worked at The Cullman Times and The Anniston Star. He developed a reputation as an old-school newspaper editor who stood for objectivity, fairness, integrity and crusading against injustice.

Henderson graduated from The University of Alabama with a journalism degree in 1974, working his way through college in the summers unloading bales of asbestos from railroad cars.

He was a Sunday School teacher at Third Presbyterian Church, served in Leadership Birmingham and was on the board of the Capstone Communication Society from 1991-1996. He passed away Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Outstanding Alumnus in Telecommunication and Film – Veteran producer A. D. Oppenheim heads up Winsome Productions, a company he formed more than a decade ago. Under the Winsome banner, Oppenheim has been consistently successful in attracting top talent to his projects.

Oppenheim began his career as a researcher on the reality series “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy. He then went on to produce segments on the ABC series “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” and the highly acclaimed “Our World” for ABC News. He has served as executive producer, show runner, director and writer for numerous shows and films.

Winsome recently completed work on the feature film, “Keeping Up with the Steins,” a comedy scheduled to be released in May.

Betsy Plank Distinguished Achievement – Kellee Reinhart is vice chancellor of system relations for The University of Alabama System, working with UA System Chancellor Malcolm Portera, the Board of Trustees, and administrative staff at UA, UAB and UAH in media relations, crisis management, strategic planning, executive recruitment and community service initiatives. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from UA. Before joining the UA System in 1989, Reinhart was editorial director of Antique Monthly and Horizon Magazine, two national arts publications headquartered in Alabama. Prior to her 15-year career in publishing, she was assistant manager of the Alabama Press Association.

Kellee has chaired several advisory boards, including the Alabama Writers’ Forum, Kentuck, Theatre Tuscaloosa and the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa. She is actively involved with numerous civic organizations in West Alabama, including the Rotary Club, the United Way and Habitat for Humanity. Among her book projects are “Wild Birds of America: The Art of Basil Ede” and “Centennial Memories, Millennial Dreams,” a profile of Tuscaloosa.

Bert Bank Distinguished Service – Bill Keller teaches full time at UA in the journalism department and is assistant to the dean for journalism administration. He is best known for his work as executive director of the Alabama Press Association for 16 years. Early in his career he was managing editor of The Sand Mountain Reporter and a reporter at The Tuscaloosa News. He was also editor and publisher of the Daily Home in Talladega between two stints at APA. In addition, he worked in public relations at the University of Montevallo and at Alabama Power.

He has been chairman of the College of Communication and Information Science’s Board of Visitors, chairman of the Alabama Humanities Foundation and chairman of the Friends of the Alabama Archives and History. In the 1990s, he participated in both Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama. Keller started a new Southeastern Newspaper Association Managers annual meeting in 1984, and he was secretary of the national Newspaper Association Managers when he left APA in 2000. At UA, he is chairman of the Media Planning Board. Keller has three degrees from UA: a Bachelor of Arts in history, Master of Arts in journalism and a doctorate in higher education administration. From 1967 to 1971, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an aircraft maintenance officer.