UA College of Communication and Information Sciences Honors Outstanding Alumni

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Five 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 Gary Creek, assistant vice president for marketing and communications at UA; Willie Mays Jones, managing attorney at Legal Services Corporation of Alabama, Tuscaloosa regional office; Christi Parsons, national writer for the Chicago Tribune, based in Washington D.C.; Greg R. Stroud, vice president of creative services at Fine Living TV Network in Knoxville, Tenn.; and Stephen E. Bradley, president of Stephen Bradley & Associates in Birmingham.

The C&IS Outstanding Alumni Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Alumnus in Advertising and Public Relations – Gary Creek is assistant vice president for marketing and communications at The University of Alabama. For 22 years he was creative director and partner at TotalCom Marketing Communications. Together with his friend and business partner, Jimmy Warren, Creek helped establish TotalCom as one of Alabama’s leading advertising firms.

The One Show in New York, the American Marketing Association, the American Advertising Federation and the Public Relations Council of Alabama have recognized the work of his creative teams. He is also a Silver Medal recipient, which is the highest honor presented by The American Advertising Federation. Perhaps his proudest accomplishment, outside of his family, is his service to Hospice of West Alabama. During his second term as president of the board of directors, Creek was part of a team that planned, designed and raised $5 million to build one of the finest in-patient facilities in the South.

He received a master’s degree in advertising and public relations from The University of Alabama in 1997.

Outstanding Alumna in Communication Studies – Willie Mays Jones received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a double minor in speech and English in 1978. She received her Master of Arts in rhetoric and speech, in 1980, while attending school with a graduate teaching assistantship. She continued teaching public speaking classes for the speech communication department until enrolling in law school in 1984.

Upon graduation from the UA School of Law, in 1986, she joined Legal Services Corporation of Alabama, a statewide law firm with 10 regional offices. As a staff attorney, she worked cases in domestic law, consumer law, housing and public benefits. She now holds the position of managing attorney for the Tuscaloosa Regional Office, making her responsible for implementing and enforcing state and professional operating policies and procedures, supervising staff attorneys and support personnel, and directing community involvement and education.

She has devoted her career to helping the community, not only with her legal expertise, but also as a volunteer adviser for such groups as Save the Youth, a non-profit organization, as a part-time speech teacher for Shelton State Community College, and as an active member of the College Hill Baptist Church.

Outstanding Alumna in Journalism – Christi Parsons is a 1989 magna cum laude graduate of The University of Alabama, where she was an editor at the Crimson White, a Boone scholar, a Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa member and the Outstanding Graduate in Journalism.

While in college, she interned at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Birmingham News and the Tuscaloosa News. After an internship at the Chicago Tribune, she was hired to work on the city desk in 1989. She has since covered suburban, city and state politics for the newspaper, and now is a national writer based in the Tribune’s Washington D.C. bureau.

In 2001, she was a Knight fellow at Yale Law School, where she received a master’s degree in the studies of law. She has also won several journalism awards, including the Peter Lisagor Award.

She is currently assigned to covering the Democratic presidential campaign for the Tribune, for which she frequently travels with the campaign of Barack Obama.

Outstanding Alumnus in Telecommunication and Film – Greg Stroud is currently vice president of creative services at Fine Living Network, where his team plays a major role in branding, designing and promoting the Scripps-owned channel. Prior to Fine Living, Stroud was in a similar role at The Weather Channel.

Stroud and his teams have won numerous creative awards, including Promax/BDAs, Addys, Tellys and more. He has written for media publications and is a speaker at industry events. His other stints through the communications field included TV anchor, ad agency creative director and local on-air promotions director.

While at The University of Alabama, he chaired the Union Programs Film Division, served on the Student Government Association, and was a contributor to the Crimson White. He also hosted “Talk Plus,” and he hopes all tapes have been destroyed.

Betsy Plank Distinguished Achievement – Stephen E. Bradley is president of Stephen Bradley & Associates LLC, the state’s only full service public affairs firm.

Bradley was a staff writer for the Florence-Times/Tri-Cities Daily and a U.S. Navy journalist serving in Vietnam. After completing graduate studies in public relations at The University of Alabama, he was an editor and public relations representative with Shell Oil Co./Shell Chemical Co.

He has held executive positions at the Alabama Press Association, the Alabama Power Co. and Waste Management Inc. of Alabama. He also served as the first president of the Alabama Power Foundation Inc.

Bradley served as a chairman for the Birmingham Metropolitan United Way, PGA Championships and USGA Amateur Championship and president of Birmingham’s All American Bowl and the Birmingham Festival of Arts. He served on the boards of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Discovery Place Children’s Museum, Family and Child Services and the Metropolitan Arts Council. Bradley is chairman of the board of advisors of the Alabama Productivity Center and served as the State Treasurer’s appointment to the board of the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program. He is a graduate of both Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama.

Note to Editors in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Washington D.C. and Knoxville, Tenn.: UA alumni in your area received an award.