Athens, Ga. – Seven alumni and friends will be inducted into the 2013 Grady Fellowship in recognition of their influence, achievements and service to the media professions on Nov. 21 at the University of Georgia Hotel and Conference Center.
Inductees will include Cathy Cox, Young Harris; Ron Lane, Athens; Melissa Libby, Atlanta; Steve Oney, Los Angeles; Jennifer Sloan, Toronto; and Glenn Vaughn, Saluda, N.C. Worth McDougald will be inducted posthumously into the fellowship’s Sanford Circle, honoring absent friends whose achievements and generosity of spirit remain with the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“The tribute evening-my first-is sure to remind us all of the important link between our Grady alumni and friends and our students today,” said Grady College Dean Charles Davis. “It’s a celebration, a reminiscence, and a way to honor the iconic figures that make the college so strong. The inductees this year are a rich mix of luminaries from all of the professions that make up the field, as well as leaders in all walks of life. I am particularly moved by the nomination process, during which I got to share stories and memories with a huge array of alums. It’s a great process, and serves as a vivid reminder of what a legacy we have at Grady College.”
Cathy Cox, a 1980 Grady College graduate, is the president of Young Harris College. Prior to joining Young Harris she served as the Secretary of State of Georgia. The first woman to serve in this role, she was elected twice. As Secretary of State, she instituted a universal electronic voting system, making Georgia the first American state to use such a system. Cox served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1993-1996. Prior to her public service she worked as an attorney in Atlanta and Bainbridge. She started her professional career as a newspaper reporter in Gainesville, Ga.
Ron Lane, A 1963 Grady College graduate who received a master of arts in 1965, retired as a professor of advertising in the Grady College in 2005. Prior to his 39 years in the classroom, Lane worked in many aspects of advertising, including creative and account services for clients including Coca-Cola, National Broiler Council, Minute Maid and Callaway Gardens Country Store. He is currently senior partner at Lane Bevil + partners.
Melissa Libby, a 1985 Grady College graduate, founded Melissa Libby and Associates in 1992. Since starting MLA, Libby has opened more than 150 restaurants and served hospitality and retail clients through publicity, event planning and implementation, marketing, strategic planning, social media marketing and crisis communications. She has produced two cookbooks featuring Atlanta chefs, “Atlanta Cooks” (2001) and “Atlanta Cooks at Home” (2006).
The late Worth McDougald served as director of the Peabody Awards program from 1963 until his retirement in 1991, when he was named director emeritus. Under his leadership, the Peabody Awards program established rotating boards of specialists who select the awards and began using well-known media figures as hosts for the annual awards presentation. During his tenure on the UGA faculty, he served as head of the department of radio-television-film, developed and served as the first director of the university’s Instructional Resources Center and as a member of the UGA Athletic Board. In 1992, he was named to the Georgia Broadcasting Hall of Fame by the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.
Steve Oney, a 1979 Grady College graduate, is the author of “And the Dead Shall Rise: the Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank.” The book won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award for best work on the nation’s legal system and the National Jewish Book Award for history. Early in his career Oney was a staff writer at The Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine. He has also worked as a senior writer for Premiere magazine and as a senior editor at Los Angeles magazine, while contributing to many other publications including Esquire, Time, Playboy and The Wall Street Journal.
Jennifer Sloan, a 1986 Grady College graduate, is the director of government affairs for Target (Canada). She leads a national team responsible for the strategic management of all government affairs activities at the federal, provincial and local levels of government. Before Target, Sloan was the inaugural vice president of university relations at York University. Previously she served as the executive vice president of corporate affairs for nickel mining giant Vale (Inco) Ltd. For more than 20 years, she was the Consul, head of political/economic relations and public affairs at the Consulate General of Canada in New York.
Glenn Vaughn, who came to UGA in 1953, is the founding editor and publisher of The Athens Daily News, where he nurtured the newspaper from its infancy to an award-winning northeast Georgia daily. His newspaper career began as a reporter at The Albany Herald and included stints at The Phenix Citizen and The Atlanta Journal. Vaughn spent the bulk of his career in Columbus, first as a copy editor, news editor, city editor and managing editor with The Columbus Ledger, then as directing editor of The Columbus Enquirer. He moved to the business side serving as vice president and general manager, before becoming president and publisher and then chairman of The Ledger-Enquirer.
The Nov. 21 tribute evening will begin with a 6 p.m. reception, followed by the dinner program at 7 p.m. Inductions take place at 7:45 p.m. With a theme of “Grady’s Engaged,” the tribute evening will highlight ways to connect with one another on social networks. The evening’s highlight will be the unveiling of a Grady app, which will connect alumni and friends through mobile devices.
Tickets for the tribute are available for $75 and include the reception and dinner. Purchase tickets and RSVP by Nov. 13 at www.grady.uga.edu/tribute.
UGA Grady College
Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in journalism, advertising, public relations, digital and broadcast journalism and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.
