Mass Communications Hall of Fame

Fall 2009 Mass Communications Hall of Fame Recipients

Linda Rutherford

Linda Rutherford is vice president of communications and strategic outreach for Southwest Airlines, which is based in Dallas and is one of the nation’s largest airline in terms of domestic customer boardings. Her responsibilities include overseeing media relations, special event planning, crisis communications and emergency response, community relations and charitable giving, corporate community affairs, public relations, emerging and multimedia relations, legislative communication and grassroots activities, Southwest’s Speaker’s Bureau, employee communications, and graphic design and creative services.

Rutherford earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Texas Tech University, where she graduated magna cum laude and was the 1988 Outstanding Journalism Graduate. She is a past chairperson of the Texas Tech Mass Communications Professional Advisory Committee. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1992, she was a reporter for several Dallas-area suburban newspapers, including the Carrollton Chronicle, the Irving Daily News and the Collin County Community College District. She began her career as a reporter for Newsweek magazine in New York and later was a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald. Her honors include being a 2008 inductee into the Public Relations Hall of Fame for PR News magazine and a 2002 Outstanding Alumna of the Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications. PR Week recently recognized Southwest Airlines as one of the five companies that “gets social media”; PR News named Nuts about Southwest as the best corporate blog for 2007 and 2008; and PR Week named Southwest Airlines’ Corporate Communications Department as the public relations Team of the Year in 2000. Rutherford’s civic activities include being the vice president of community relations for the Lewisville Independent School District’s Education Foundation board of directors. She has been a featured speaker for numerous organizations, including the Association for Women in Communication, the Denver Business Marketing Association, the Airports Council International-North America, the Ragan Speechwriter’s Conference, and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

2009 Spring Recipients

Bob Condron

Bob Condron, a veteran of 13 Olympic Games for the United States Olympic Committee, has been director of Media Services for the USOC since 1997 and a member of the USOC staff for 24 years. In addition to directing media services at Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and World University Games, Condron leads the USOC Media Services staff in promoting and publicizing athletes and teams in the USOC family on a daily basis.

 

Dennis Harp, Ph.d

Dennis A. Harp, native Texan, holds a bachelor’s degree in commercial art from Texas State University, as well as a master’s degree in broadcasting and a doctorate in educational technology with a journalism minor from Texas A&M Commerce. He became a college instructor in 1966 and recently retired after 35 years as a professor of electronic media and communications, and associate dean of faculty, College of Mass Communications, Texas Tech University. Harp previously taught at two other state institutions for an academic career totaling 39 years.

2008 Recipients - Bill deTournillon Jr, and William F. deTournillon Sr

The deTournillon family members are no strangers to television, and especially to the Lubbock market. He introduced his son, Bill deTournillon Jr., to Lubbock television as he served as vice president and general manager at Lubbock’s KCBD-TV station. Among his 10 grandchildren, Dan Jackson is the oldest and is the third generation of broadcasters. He is the current general manager of Lubbock’s KCBD-TV and broadcasts “Consider this with Dan Jackson.”

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2007 Recipient - Larry Beaulieu

Larry Beaulieu first traveled the broadcasting path in fall 1965, his freshman year at Texas Tech University. He came to Tech to study electrical engineering, but on a dare he auditioned for the 10-watt Tech radio station, KTXT-FM. Suddenly, he was the Saturday morning voice of the “Texaco Metropolitan Opera,” which meant he did a station ID once an hour. His on-air role expanded as he became more comfortable with the microphone. Within a few months, he was running a board shift and announcing. He realized by the end of the year that broadcasting was far more fun for him than engineering and required less math. He changed his major.
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2006 Recipient - Scott Pelley

CBS correspondent Scott Pelley has contributed stories to CBS’ “60 Minutes” since the 2003-04 season and
was a correspondent for “60 Minutes II” from its first season in 1999.

Pelley’s March 2005 “60 Minutes” investigation advanced the story about the CIA’s controversial practice of
rendition, delivering terror detainees to other nations known to use torture.

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