Tracy Sabo, Director of News and Content for Alaska’s News Source, will discuss the changing television news market, including the outcome of the KTUU acquisition of KTVA, during a Zoom meeting sponsored by Alaska Professional Communicators.

Sabo leads a team of journalists at KTUU/KYES. She spent more than 19 years at CNN and held roles at the cable network including Senior Field Producer, Bureau Assignment Manager, CNN Radio Anchor, Domestic Assignment Editor, Affiliate Editor, and Political Planning Editor. Sabo also has worked in radio as a newscaster and on-air announcer.
For leisure and in various network roles, she has traveled extensively, having visited 64 countries. Sabo was a member of CNN teams that were nationally recognized for journalistic achievement, including three prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards for coverage of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill, the 2008 Presidential Primary and Debates, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She covered the Arab-Israeli conflict from the front lines in 2005 and the 2010 elections in Haiti following that nation’s devastating earthquake. Sabo was also temporarily based in Alaska while covering the 2008 vice presidential run of Governor Sarah Palin and has covered the Iditarod from the trail for both CNN and KTUU annually since 2010. She has also traveled extensively throughout Alaska for the past 15 years.

Tracy Sabo

Participants can join the at 11:30 a.m. for conversation and to troubleshoot connections. Please sign on by 11:50 a.m. to be prepared for start of the program at noon. Get details by sending a message to sherrie@arctic.net.

The author of five poetry chapbooks, two full-length poetry books, and a short story collection, Vivian Faith Prescott is working toward release of her latest publication, a foodoir (a combination of personal memoir with a series of recipes) titled My Father’s Smokehouse, in 2022. She co-authors the “Planet Alaska” column in the Juneau Empire with her daughter, Vivian Mork Yéilk’.

Prescott’s writing has been recognized with two Rasmuson Individual Artist Awards, the Alaska Literary Award, and for her column, the 2019 first-place award for Best Culture Reporting from Alaska Press Club.

Prescott holds a Master’s in Fine Arts from the University of Alaska and a doctorate in Cross Cultural Studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Born and raised in Southeast Alaska, she lives at her family’s fish camp, Mickey’s Fishcamp, in Wrangell.

Participants can join at 11:30 a.m. for conversation and to troubleshoot connections. Please sign on by 11:50 a.m. to be prepared for start of the program at noon. Contact sherrie@arctic.net for the link if you’d like to join the meeting.

Vivian Faith Prescott with one of her books

Spatrisano is the Program Director and State Refugee Coordinator at the Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services (RAIS) program of Catholic Social Service in Alaska. During a career spanning more than 8 years in refugee resettlement, she has served in a variety of roles, including case management, reception and placement, education, and employment services. Spatrisano has assisted forced migrant communities in Alaska, Missouri, Oregon, and Kansas, allowing her to bring a broader perspective to refugee services in both an urban and rural setting.

Spatrisano has served on national advisory councils for refugee education and her teaching was featured in the Center for Applied Linguistics “Cultural Orientation Training: A Guide for Service Providers” video. Spatrisano holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and a Master of Education degree in Teaching and Learning from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Through her teaching and resettlement experience, Spatrisano has assisted clients from more than 65 countries. Contact Spatrisano ispatrisano@cssalaska.org

Issa Spatrisano

Contact Sherrie Simmonds sherrie@arctic.net for the Zoom link to this meeting.

Now more than ever, good journalism is needed, but the traditional economics of the industry are upended. Are there solutions? An independent press is vital to our democracy.

Bradner will also present information about the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism.

Tim Bradner wears many journalism hats.

He is copublisher of the Alaska Legislative Digest; copublisher of the Alaska Economic Report; Alaska correspondent, Platts S&P Global; and contributor to the Anchorage Daily News, Valley Frontiersman, and Anchorage Press. Bradner also chairs the Board of Directors, Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism.

Bradner’s experience includes serving as 2017-2018 Visiting Professor of Journalism Atwood Chair, University of Alaska Anchorage; senior writer, Alaska Journal of Commerce; government relations/BP Alaska; Anchorage Daily News, desk editor; The Tundra Times, assistant editor; and reporter, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Bradner holds a BA, Liberal Arts, Vermont College, Montpelior, Vt., an MPA from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He has been an Alaska resident since 1962, is married to writer Shehla Anjum, and has a daughter, Saira.

Tim Bradner

Join Alaska Professional Communicators for a behind the scenes look at “Indigenous Visible,” a public relations campaign by the College of Rural and Community Development in the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This campaign, created by speaker Leona Long, won a 2019 Silver Anvil Award of Excellence in the government section of the “Most Effective Campaign on a Budget $5,000 or Less” category, presented by the Public Relations Society of America in New York City.

The first PR effort for UAF’s rural campuses and Alaska Native programs, Long’s campaign shared positive stories about Alaska’s Indigenous peoples. In the Zoom presentation, you will learn:

• Tips on low-budget campaigns
• A different approach to communications research
• Highlights of an ongoing PR campaign that has won national awards, including four from National Federation of Press Women
• The benefits of entering communication contests

Long is the manager of news and content for the University of Alaska System Office of Public Affairs in the University of Alaska System. Before moving to Alaska, she worked in Los Angeles where she interned at three television stations, worked for a health care PR agency, and was a lead writer for Long Beach Magazine.

Long has donated more than 300 hours of pro bono PR counsel and tactics to Interior Alaska Native villages. She has presented at conferences and contributed to First Alaskans magazine. For more information, visit www.leonalong.com.

Leona Long

Wilderness athlete and Iditarod finisher, Katherine Keith, recently authored her first book, the memoir Epic Solitude. She co-owns the business Remote Solutions, which focuses on meeting the needs of rural Alaska. Katherine has held roles as operations director, project manager, strategic planner, and technical writer. She holds a B.S. degree from University of Alaska Fairbanks and is a certified Bulletproof and Integrative Nutrition health coach. An advocate for wellness, Katherine supports Alaskans in building capacity through responsible, sustainable development. She helps clients establish, reach, and exceed their goals.

Katherine’s accomplishments as a wilderness athlete include six full Ironman triathlons and endurance sleddog races. She has competed in four Iditarods and two Yukon Quests. Katherine is now working toward completing climbs of the Seven Summits, the tallest mountains on every continent. She and her daughter fish commercially for salmon above the Arctic Circle in the summer.

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Katherine Keith

Stephanie Thornton has been obsessed with the stories of history’s women since she was twelve. Her most recent novel, And They Called It Camelot, has been called an “unforgettable portrait of the life of Jackie Kennedy: the beloved wife, mother, and First Lady who transformed herself into an American legend.”

Thornton’s USA Today bestselling novel, American Princess, reimagines the ninety-six year life of Theodore Roosevelt’s gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing daughter Alice as she uses her celebrity to become Washington’s Other Monument.

Thornton is also the critically acclaimed author of four novels about historical women set in the ancient world: The Secret History, Daughter of the Gods, The Tiger Queens, and The Conqueror’s Wife. She is a high school history teacher by day and lives in Eagle River with her husband and daughter, where she spends her free time running, traveling, and baking.

Photo of Stephanie Thornton