Journalism and Mass Communications honors leaders, alumni

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications honored six individuals with its top awards and joined the Nebraska Broadcasters Association to present the Nebraska Pioneer Award.

In an April 14 ceremony at the Wick Alumni Center, the college presented the Outstanding Advertising Award to Richard Claussen of Lincoln, the Outstanding Broadcasting Award to Ed May of Shenandoah, Iowa, and the Outstanding News-editorial Award to Beverly Deepe Keever of Honolulu. It also presented the Service to the Profession Award to Allen J. Beermann of Lincoln. The Broadcast Pioneer Award was presented to Robert E. "Bob" Thomas of Norfolk and Havasu, Ariz. It also presented the Dean's Awards to James A. Autry of Des Moines, Iowa, and Thomas Eastham, of San Francisco.

Claussen is an executive vice president of client services at Bailey Lauerman, a marketing and communications firm with offices in Lincoln and Omaha. The American Association of Advertising Agencies has recognized the company as one of the top six creative agencies in the United States for its size. Since its inception, the firm has enjoyed an impressive rate of growth, now totaling more than $60 million in annual billings and employing 70 people to serve local, regional and national clients. In 1993, the Advertising Federation of Lincoln named Claussen Advertising Man of the Year. In 1992, the American Marketing Association's Lincoln Chapter recognized him as Marketer of the Year. Claussen, who received a bachelor of journalism degree from UNL in 1982, received the National Community Leadership Association's Distinguished Leadership Award in 2002.

May is the general partner of KMA Broadcasting L.P. and has been the owner and operator of KMA/KKBZ Radio in Shenandoah since 1986. KMA is in its 80th year of broadcasting under the same ownership. May graduated from UNL with a degree in broadcasting in 1976. He participated in all management training programs at May Broadcastings' television stations, and in 1980 he became the special assistant to the general manager. He was promoted to general partner and became the owner/operator of WKTY and WSPL radio in La Crosse, Wis., in 1986. He returned to Nebraska in 1989 and served as president of KFOR/KFRX Broadcasting in Lincoln until 1996.

Keever is a professor of journalism at the University of Hawaii. Born in Hebron, where her parents still live, she graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1957 as a Phi Beta Kappa and member of Mortar Board. She went on to graduate with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1958, and later earned master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Keever covered the Vietnam War for seven years for Newsweek, the New York Herald Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor and her coverage of the besieged outpost of Khe Sanh in 1968 was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Keever's latest book, published in September, is titled "News Zero: The New York Times and The Bomb," (Common Courage Press; www.commoncouragepress.com). In a first-of-its-kind, across-time investigation, this case study documents how the New York Times almost single-handedly shaped news and public perceptions that helped the U.S. government engender public acceptance of the atomic bomb.

Beermann is in his 10th year as executive director of the Nebraska Press Association/Nebraska Press Advertising Service. Prior to that he served in Nebraska's Capitol for 30 years -- six as a deputy secretary of state and 24 as secretary of state. In 2001, he received the Foreign Service Award from the Republic of China and the Homeland Defense Ribbon, becoming the first civilian to receive such award. Born and raised on a farm in Dakota County, Beermann is a graduate of South Sioux City High School. He received a bachelor of arts from Midland Lutheran College and a juris doctorate degree from Creighton University School of Law. He received an honorary doctor of laws in 1995 and an alumni achievement award from Midland.

Thomas served as executive vice president and general manager of Norfolk stations WJAG (AM), and later KEXL (FM), from 1951 to 1985 and as executive vice president of KCOL AM/FM, Fort Collins, Colo., from 1964 to 1985. Thomas has twice served as president and secretary-treasurer of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and since 1947 has served on virtually all committees of the association. He received the association's first Lifetime Member Award in 1966, the Outstanding Broadcaster Award in 1971 and was elected to the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 1972. Born in Omaha, Thomas graduated from Norfolk Senior High School in 1936. Thomas was studying at Nebraska Wesleyan University when he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served from 1941 to 1946 and was in the reserves for 17 years after that. He graduated from Officer Candidate School and commanded the Short Wave Operations Division of the Armed Forces Radio Network in San Francisco from 1944 to 1946.

Autry is a former Fortune 500 executive, an author, poet and consultant whose work has had significant influence on leadership thinking. His book, "Love and Profit, the Art of Caring Leadership," won the prestigious Johnson, Smith and Knisely Award as the book that contributed the most to executive thinking in 1992. He joined Meredith Corp. in 1960 as copy editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine and was appointed managing editor in 1962. He left Meredith in 1967 to become editor and publisher of New Orleans magazine but returned in 1968 as editorial head of special interest publications. Autry served as the editor in chief of Better Homes and Gardens in 1970 and was appointed to the additional position of editorial director and vice president of Meredith's magazine division in May 1973. When Meredith's magazine and book operations were combined in 1976 Autry became vice president and editor in chief of all magazines and books. At the time of his retirement in 1991 he was senior vice president of the Meredith and president of its magazine group. Autry was instrumental in shaping the field of service journalism and worked to establish service journalism chairs at the universities of Mississippi and Missouri. He is a 1955 graduate of Ole Miss.

Eastham started his career in the newspaper business at age 7 when he got his first job at a Chicago newsstand. Four years of war interrupted college at Northwestern University where he studied English. After being discharged from the Marines in 1945, he began a lifetime career with Hearst, first as a copy boy, then as a reporter, feature writer and editor in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. From 1982-1986, he was director of public information and press secretary for San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Since 1986 Eastham has been the vice president and western director of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, which assists institutions in providing access and opportunity to underrepresented, low-income and minority populations. Eastham was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories about a policeman who killed a teacher in 1955. He received the Distinguished Achievement in Journalism award from the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1994.

CONTACT: Michael Goff, Interim Asst. Dean, Journalism & Mass Communications, (402) 472-3041