Seven New Distinguished Adjunct Fellows Join the Faculty this Fall.

The new fellows will support inclusion, equity and diversity in our courses.

The Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication is honored to announce seven new distinguished adjunct fellows who join the faculty this fall to support inclusion, equity and diversity in our courses.

The fellows, all professionals working in the areas of journalism and strategic communication, will engage with students across a range of courses throughout the semester – offering expertise in areas such as ethics and radio production to beat reporting and advertising strategy.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with our fellows for this fall,” said Director Elisia Cohen. “While we have always welcomed industry professionals as guest speakers and attendees of our events, we feel fortunate that these seven professionals are eager to engage with students several days throughout the semester, not only enhancing undergraduate learning opportunities in a particular course, but offering career guidance as well.”

Diversity fellows
Maria Reeve, Laura Yuen, Anjula Razdan, Fred Melo, Mahmood Khan, Troy Longie, Alex West Steinman

The Hubbard School is pleased to welcome the following people to Murphy Hall for the fall semester:

Maria Reeve, assistant managing editor, Star Tribune. Maria manages the local news content of more than 60 reporters and editors covering Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding communities. She joined the newspaper as a features team leader in 2011, eventually working her way through the metro leadership ranks, after a 19-year career at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where she began as a general assignment reporter and ended up serving as politics editor. As a reporter and editor, she has seen almost every kind of reporting situation – and dilemma. Maria will work with JOUR 3771: Media Ethics, which offers an overview of ethical dilemmas faced by journalists, advertisers, and public relations and communications specialists.

Laura Yuen, editor for new audiences and correspondent, Minnesota Public Radio News. Laura’s reporting has focused on racial inequities in areas such as high school graduation rates, drownings, traffic stops and school suspensions. Yuen has won national acclaim for her insightful reporting on Minnesota’s Somali-American population, including terrorist recruitment by ISIS and al-Shabab and an award-winning series on Somali youth. Before joining MPR News, Yuen covered city government, neighborhoods, development and immigrant communities at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Laura brings experience, perspective and true insight into marginalized communities. Laura will work with JOUR 3451: TV, Radio and Digital News Reporting. This course is the introductory broadcast and digital writing and reporting course, where students learn how to write in broadcast and digital style, digital video camera operation, and non-linear digital video editing.

Anjula Razdan, deputy digital editor, Experience Life Magazine. Anjula is digital deputy editor with Experience Life magazine, where she also served as senior editor for health and nutrition from 2005 to 2014 before leaving for stints as as vice president for content with Be Well by Dr. Frank Lipman and as senior news producer for PresentNation. She has also worked as a senior editor for the Utne Reader and as a staff writer for Southwest Journal. She brings a savvy, digital perspective that is grounded in the best of magazine writing and storytelling. Anjula will work with JOUR 3173W: Magazine and Feature Writing. In this course, students learn how magazines operate, how to develop magazine stories and how to market and write for a variety of magazine formats aimed at specific magazine audiences.

Fred Melo, reporter, St. Paul Pioneer Press. Fred is a staff writer and St. Paul city hall bureau chief of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where he has worked since 2005 covering and editing breaking news, courts, crime, local government, zoning, neighborhood, transportation and housing. Before coming to the Twin Cities, Fred worked as a regional reporter at the Cape Cod Times after a series of work experiences in radio and community journalism in Boston, Rhode Island and Costa Rica. If there’s a city story to know how to write, Fred’s the reporter to call. Fred will work with JOUR 3121: Intermediate News Reporting, which is a skills-based course designed to teach journalism students how to report and write the types of stories that are central to the basic beats in most newsrooms.  

Mahmood Khan, SVP of Digital Media & Analytics, Risdall. Mahmood brings a wealth of knowledge and omni-channel solutions spanning digital media, search, analytics and traditional media to his clients. He loves to train, mentor and set high standards of excellence for his teams and world-class solutions provided to clients. Mahmood is a member of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) exam committee where he has contributed and helped build our industry's first Digital Media Planning and Buying Exam Certification. His passion is to go above and beyond in delivering data driven solutions and continuous improvements in KPIs with ongoing A/B/n testing across audience segments and omni-channel messaging touch points. Mahmood will work with JOUR 3275: Digital Strategy in Strategic Communication, which is designed to provide a basic understanding of digital communications and strategy development.

Troy Longie, former creative director for Carmichael Lynch and creative director for Longie LLC. Troy is an ad industry veteran with 20-plus years of experience. As both creative director and writer, he’s help build such iconic brands as Apple, Subaru, The North Face, Volvo, Sesame Street, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Minnesota Twins, to name a few. Troy brings humanity to modern brands through powerful storytelling across all marketing channels and consumer touchpoints. In an industry teeming with creatives chasing shiny awards, he believes in using his conceptual and writing chops to solve real business problems. Born in a family of educators, Troy’s natural desire to connect and inspire others stretches beyond the advertising landscape and into the classroom. Troy will work with JOUR 3241W: Advertising Strategy and Creative Development, which is focused on giving strategic communications students the tools to understand how the creative process works to help solve business problems.

Alex West Steinman, co-founder/co-CEO of The Coven MPLS. Alex is co-founder of The Coven, a collaborative community and co-working space for women and those who identify as non-binary. Prior to this, Alex was the Communications Director for Fallon, Minneapolis City Council candidate Jillia Pessenda, and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges. With her talents in PR and communications strategy, she helps brands get noticed through earned media. She also has a blog and apparel company called Strong Like Mama, dedicated to celebrating the struggles and triumphs of motherhood. Alex will work with JOUR 4262: Management for Strategic Communication, which teaches the concepts and methods for effective management by placing them in the context of organizations in strategic communication.  

The Hubbard School plans to host adjunct instructors and fellows for diversity, inclusion and equity during upcoming semesters. If you have questions about the program, please reach out to Gayle Golden ([email protected]).

Alex Steinman