UA College of Communication and Information Sciences Honors Outstanding Alumni

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Four 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 Norma Saliba Hanson, founder of Norma Hanson & Associates, Dr. Joe Gow, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, Bob Blalock, editorial page editor at The Birmingham News and Matt Scalici, president of Front Row Media Systems.

The C&IS Outstanding Alumni Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Alumna in Advertising and Public Relations – Norma Saliba Hanson is founder of Norma Hanson & Associates, a marketing and advertising agency in Dothan.

Upon receiving her Bachelor of Arts from The University of Alabama in 1957, she began her career as a broadcast buyer at Tucker Wayne, now West Wayne in Atlanta, and later worked as a consultant for Design Associates. In 1980, she co-founded the pre-eminent advertising and design firm, Slaughter-Hanson, with offices in Dothan and Birmingham.

From 1993-2005 she worked as an independent consultant in marketing, advertising and business development. Then in 2005, still full of energy and ideas, she founded her current agency.

She received the Advertising Pioneer Award from the Southeast Alabama Advertising Federation in 2004, was featured as one of the Women Who Mean Business by Business Alabama in 1991, and in 1988 was named one of the Six Southeast Women to Watch by ADWEEK magazine. In 2001, she was named a member of XXXI, a women’s leadership honorary at the University.

Outstanding Alumnus in Communication Studies – Dr. Joe Gow is chancellor of the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.

He was previously interim president of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Neb., provost and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences there, as well as a professor of communications. He also has held positions at Winona State University in Winona, Minn., where he was dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y., where he was associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of the Communication Studies Program.

Gow earned his doctorate in speech communication and his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Pennsylvania State University, and his master’s degree in speech communication from The University of Alabama.

Outstanding Alumnus in Journalism – Bob Blalock is the editorial page editor at The Birmingham News.

He began his career at The Tuscaloosa News in 1980 and returned there in 1999 to be the newspaper’s editorial page editor. In between, he worked 19 years at The Birmingham News as a copy editor, reporter and edito­rial writer. In 1990, Blalock be­came The Birmingham News’ first senior reporter. Blalock rejoined The Bir­mingham News as editorial page editor in 2000.

Blalock has won numer­ous state and national awards, and in 2006 he was a finalist with The News’ editorial page staff for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing. He also is a member of the Alabama Center for Open Government executive committee, the Gateway Family and Child Services board, the University of Alabama at Birmingham English Advisory Committee and the Birmingham-Southern College President’s Advisory Council. He is a 2001 graduate of Leadership Birmingham and a 2003 graduate of Leadership Alabama.

Outstanding Alumnus in Telecommunication and Film – Matt Scalici is president of Front Row Media Systems, a company he founded with partner Gary O’Donovan that specializes in digital technology for the home.

After graduating from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree, he accepted an invitation from family friend Mother Angelica of Our Lady of the Angels monastery in Birmingham to help start her new Catholic television channel EWTN. Scalici eventually became Senior Vice President of Engineering and Satellite Operations, and over the course of his 13 years at EWTN he designed and built systems uniquely suited for this one-of-a kind international operation.

In 1993, Scalici joined another upstart cable television network, The Golf Channel, founded by University of Alabama graduate Joseph Gibbs and renowned golfer Arnold Palmer. As Vice President of Network Operations, he designed and built the first all digital television broadcast center in the United States. Today, The Golf Channel is one of the most profitable networks in cable television.