Emily Blauhous has been a teacher in the Anchorage School District for over thirty years and has been at Mirror Lake since the school opened 15 years ago. She teaches piano keyboarding classes to music students and is the leader and mentor of a group of students who produce an present daily closed circuit news of the day within the school.

She began a collaboration with Augie Hebert, television and radio pioneer in Alaska, shortly after the school opened. This collaboration grew into a School Business partnership with Channel 11, which has provided professional training and mentoring for middle school students. Several years ago, also through the impetus of Augie Hebert, Mirror Lake Middle School became the only school in Alaska to broadcast over a low power FM station to the school’s neighboring community.

Radio Station Students–Photo by Chris Arend

Richard Murphy was the photo editor of the Anchorage Daily News from 1985 to 2011. During his time with the Daily News, he was on a team that won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He and his team of photojournalists were nominated the next year for news photography. Murphy has also been a nominating juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in 2010 and 2011. Murphy’s work has been displayed in galleries such as the Decker Morris Gallery. His work is on permanent display at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, the University of Alaska Museum, the State of Alaska Museum and the National Press Photographers Association’s archives.

Richard Murphy

Founder and publisher of F Magazine, Teeka Ballas will discuss how she went from being a news hound to becoming a staunch advocate for culture and community at the stern of an arts publication. Although the magazine has a short history, it is a dynamic one and is currently making a tremendous impact on numerous communities and cultures around Alaska. Ballas will reveal some of the secrets behind running an independent, volunteer-driven publication and share the hard knocks she’s learned along the way.

Teeka Ballas first began working in journalism as a travel writer for a publication in Australia 15 years ago. Since then she has traveled extensively and worked in numerous countries and U.S. states, covering everything from hostile environments to travel and leisure for radio, print and web. In addition to working full time on F Magazine, Ballas currently hosts a show on Alaska Public Radio, teaches writing workshops and classes to youth and is a contributing writer to numerous publications both regionally and nationally, covering travel, entertainment, medicine and engineering.

Teeka Ballas

Paola Banchero, associate professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Public Communications at UAA, will speak at the monthly luncheon for Alaska Professional Communicators. Her focus is on young people, social media, and other aspects of digital culture. Banchero has 17 years of journalism experience — reporting from Guadalajara, Mexico to Anchorage — and she was a reporter and editor for the Arizona Daily Star and The Wichita Eagle before moving to Alaska. The public is invited.

Paola Banchero

Jackie Purcell, weatherperson for Channel 2 News, grew up in Anchorage. She assumed her present position in 1990, but that’s NOT what she’s going to talk about. At the monthly luncheon for Alaska Professional Communicators, Jackie will share stories of her debut in the movies — “Big Miracle” (the whale movie). As Jackie says, “I have photos from my movie experience. Little did I know that cameras were not supposed to be on set, but no one said a word to me!”

Jackie graduated from Bartlett High School in 1979. She attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., graduating in 1983 with a degree in communications and a minor in political science. She started her career in 1984 at a small radio station in Chickasha, Okla., but decided to move “home” in 1985, working her way through radio and television until becoming the full-time weatherperson for Channel 2 News in December 1990.

“It’s a gratifying experience to work in a job you love, in a town you love, surrounded by people and scenery you love. Wow!” Jackie says.

Although she’s lived in Alaska for much of her life, Jackie had the opportunity to travel all over the world, thanks to a mother who believed travel was one the best educations one could have — plus the fact that she has relatives in Europe and Indonesia — and her father worked in the Middle East for a time.

Doing the weather at Channel 2 News keeps Jackie on her toes since Alaska presents some of the most challenging weather situations in the world. It’s definitely not the same old thing every day.

Jackie married Dannie Pearson, a former Channel 2 photographer, and counts as part of her family three cats … and would have more if it were up to her.

Jackie Purcell

Jack Dalton, storyteller, author, and frequent artist-in-residence in classrooms, just doesn’t stop: he’s at work on a holiday show (Muktukmas!), an opera, and a new play. Jack has grown up an ambassador between the two worlds of his Yup’ik and European heritages.

A professional storyteller, writer and teacher, Jack has been honored by the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education as a Distinguished Dignitary, and considered by many people around the world, to be “The Storyteller.” He was chosen as one of Alaska’s Top 40 Under Forty, one of the top forty business people in Alaska under the age of 40. He also received the first Expressive Arts grant from the National Museum of the American Indian to co-create the first Yup’ik opera with friend and world-famous Yup’ik music group, Pamyua co-founder, Stephen Blanchett. He’s created and produced five theatrical works of storytelling, written a book, several plays and created curricula used in all levels of education. Performing throughout Alaska and the US, he has also performed in New Zealand, France, Denmark, Australia and headlined the Scottish Int’l Storytelling Festival in Scotland. Dalton calls Anchorage home.

Jack Dalton

In 2001, Diane Kaplan was named president of the Anchorage-based Rasmuson Foundation. She began administering the Foundation in 1995. From 1994-2001, Kaplan’s consulting company provided management and government relations services to philanthropic and nonprofit organizations and Native corporations and tribes.

She was previously president and chief executive officer of Alaska’s 28-station public radio network.

Kaplan earned a degree in communications and women’s studies from the University of Pennsylvannia, graduating summa cum laude. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She attended executive management programs at the Wharton School, Stanford University and UC Berkeley.

Diane Kaplan

Jocelyn Young is the Curator of Public Art and works for the Department of Public Works at the Municipality of Anchorage.

As the Curator of the 1% for Art Program she oversees over 440 works of art valued at $12 million dollars, in public buildings, parks and schools throughout Anchorage.

Each year the program adds from eight to fifteen works of art to the Public Art collection.  Jocelyn works with over 110 volunteers who donate over 2000 hours annually. She has a degree in communications from the University of Utah.

Prior to working at the Municipality of Anchorage, she was the Director of the Arts in Education Program for the Alaska State Council on the Arts for fifteen years where she worked extensively with artists and served on many regional and national projects and panels.

Marcus Tingle “Thunderbird Sunrise” East High School photo by Chris Arend