Texas Tech University

2011 Outstanding Alumni

The College of Media & Communication Outstanding Alumni Awards were instituted in 1981 to recognize alumni of Texas Tech University who have made outstanding contributions to the field of media and communication.

Any person, organization, media group or company may make nominations for the annual recognition. A selection committee representing the students, faculty, alumni and advisory committee is appointed by the dean of the College of Media & Communication.

Outstanding Alumni are recognized at a breakfast on Saturday morning prior to a home football game in the fall.

A medallion is given to each honoree, and plaques are retained for display in the Media & Communication building.

Kay Bell

Kay Bell earned her bachelor's degree in journalism in 1978 from the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University. She has worked in a diverse career that has included positions as a daily newspaper reporter and editor in her native Texas, almost 20 years working for a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the House Ways and Means Committee, and as a member of the Washington, D.C., government relations offices of two Fortune 500 companies.

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Jan Boyle

Jan Boyle earned a bachelor's degree in advertising from the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University in 1978. Currently, she is a partner and managing director of a new company called Five0. The first creatively driven company focused on messaging, content and relationship management for consumers aged 35 to 65, with a "sweet spot" of age 50, the company focuses on the Baby Boomers — the largest, fastest growing, richest and most overlooked consumer segment. Five0's clients include L'Oreal, General Mills, American Express, Crimson Hexagon and many others.

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Eddie Owens

Eddie Owens earned a master's degree in mass communications, with a public relations concentration, from the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University in 1985. He has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations and currently is director of communications and public relations for United Supermarkets, LLC, of Lubbock. With United Supermarkets, he is the chief public relations officer for the 50-store supermarket chain in north and west Texas.

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Tod Robberson

Tod Robberson, who graduated from Texas Tech University's College of Media & Communication in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in print journalism, is a 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner who now works at the Dallas Morning News.

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Jennifer Schuder

Jennifer Schuder earned a master's degree in mass communications, with an emphasis on public relations, in 1996 from Texas Tech University's College of Media & Communication. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1992 in management information systems from Texas Tech's College of Business Administration. Currently, she is chief marketing officer and director of community outreach at the Dallas Opera.

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Rita Williams

Rita Williams, who earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University in 1969, was part of the first group of women reporters on television almost 40 years ago. For 32 years now, she has been an investigative reporter and San Francisco bureau chief at KTVU-TV, Oakland, Calif.

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