Columbia College Chicago Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago Alumni Newsletters Alumni Fall 1982 Columbia College Alumni News Columbia College Chicago Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.colum.edu/alumnae_news This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Columbia College Alumni News (Fall 1982), Alumni Magazine, College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago. http://digitalcommons.colum.edu/alumnae_news/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Alumni at Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago. It has been accepted for inclusion in Alumni Newsletters by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago. Columbia College__ ~- ~~-~-NI Yolume2, N umber3 Fall1 982 His love of filmmaking goes deep alt Clayton has a lot of good umbia, he ga ined recognition with his H is filmmaking talcnh soon intcr­ W memories o f Columbia Col­ adventure/ documentary, JUMP, c~ t cd the indu<, try's top underwater lege, starting with his first en­ about a young woman making her first filmmaker, A I Giddings, bringing counter with the sc hool. parachute jump . The fi lm, which C layton closer to rea l i;ing ~ ~il l a not her " It was 1975 and I was working in C layton produced, wrote, directed, drea m- underwater filmmaking. The Chicago at the time, " reca lled the photographed and ed ited , won five drea m itse lf' gre\\ out of his ex perienc­ much-traveled Clayton, "and I decid­ e'> a~ a scuba diver and an incident in ed to inquire about Columbia's film A rgentina, where C layton was raised. department." H aving already ea rned He described it this \vay: degrees from two universities includ­ 'When I started " I \'-'aS driving along Valek<, Pen in­ ing an MBA in International Market­ sula," (a deso late and remote part of' ing from Northwestern , Clayton had out, I didn't know Arge ntina) he reca lled. "The r cnin­ turned his aLLention to fulfilling a life­ sula juts into the Atlantic and is a long ambition-earning a living a~ a breeding area for the so uthern right filmmaker. the difference whale an d sea lions. "Columbia was still at the Lake " I qorped at the top of a cliff to Shore address then," he sa id, "and between a Bolex look at the sea. Suddenly, on the peb­ one of the first per ~o n s I met there was ble beac h so me 150 feet below, a huge (instructor) Chap Freeman. I ex­ and a Rolex' killer whale literally leaped from the plained m y interest in film and he gra­ water and landed in the midst of a herd ciously offered to let me sit in on a cou­ of sea lions. They all panicked and fl ­ ple of his classes ." first-place a~a rd s in national competi­ ed, except one young pur, v.hile the The re st , as they say, is history. tion<,. It aho was a financial success, ~ h a l e chomped it in its jaws, thrashed Clayton enrolled that fall and, two recovering about six time<, its $5,000 it around and tossed it into the water." yea rs later, while still a student at Col- production cos t. (continued on page 4) Daryle Feldmeir A new career for an old pro ive years ago, Daryle Feldmeir, that idea in practice in news reporting editor of the Chicago Daily courses that emphasize actual report­ F News, packed his books, his pap­ ing from the field-City Hall, court­ ers and other paraphernalia accumu­ rooms, police and fire stations. lated over a 30-year career and retired "It's absolutely crucial for practic­ to a house he bought in San Miguel de ing journalists to have a tremendous Allende, Mexico. curiosity and knowing instinct for It wound up being a short stay. The where to get information," Feldmeir lure of 'big city' living and the prod­ explained. "Journalists first have to ding of Columbia College President know how to gather the news before Mike Alexandroff and former Daily they can write about it." News friends to return to Chicago to Along with a news reporting course, head Columbia's journalism depart­ Feldmeir will introduce a mini-course ment were too much for Feldmeir to on the art of interviewing. He titles the resist. course "The Front Page Lectures," "Mike (Alexandroff) proposed the and it will feature a one-hour lecture idea to chair and teach here," said and one-hour interview with each of Feldmeir, who at first balked at the the lecturers. Mike Royko, Lois Wille proposal. And can you blame him? and Chicago Sun-Times publisher After all, here's a guy who hadn't even James Hoge, Jr. are among those who attended a journalism class, and now already have agreed to lecture in the he's being asked to teach and head a course. journalism department. "Columbia's strength lies in courses So it took a little more prodding be­ that are taught by practicing profes­ fore he convinced himself that, at 59, it sionals," Feldmeir maintains. would be a worthwhile undertaking. He also contends that, regardless of gather and write news," he said. "The "My first goal is to build a de.part­ the communications medium students techniques are the same in all media." ment that produces first-rate journa­ choose to work in, strong reporting When asked what he'd most like to lists," said Feldmeir, adding that one and editing skills are essential. Ac­ accomplish as Journalism Department of the ways he intends to do this is by cordingly, he has structured Columbi­ chairman, Feldmeir said: "To see that supplementing classroom theory with a's journalism program to emphasize our students get a fair shake and a pro­ what he calls "hands-on lab educa­ that. "There's going to be job availa­ fessional education." tion." Starting this fall, he will put bility for people who know how to -Linda Matsumoto, '79 manship title to incoming chairman Matching gift program Greg Hultman ('72), said his tenure was ''a truly heartening experience, and I'm sure Greg will feel the same helps us over the hump way next year at this time." orporate giving through the dollar for dollar and in some instances Matched Gift to Higher Educa­ two-to-one.'' C tion program accounted for Even though the overall dollar fig­ about a third of the 1981-82 Alumni ure is extremely low (by comparison, Alumni News Annual Fund contributions, accord­ alumni from schools such as North­ ing to Clifton Wilkow, chairman of western and the University of Wiscon­ Volume 2, Number 3 last year's fund drive. sin annually contribute in the hun­ Fall, 1982 "All told, we raised about $5,000 dreds of thousands of dollars), Wil­ Editor .. .............. .. ...... Earl Smith during the campaign, and a good kow said it was a' 'remarkable achieve­ Associate Editor . ........ Marsha Wetmore, chunk of that came by way of match­ ment" because it was the college's first Alumni Relations Director ing gift contributions from companies appeal to its alumni for contributions. like General Mills, Illinois Bell, Sink­ Based on that initial response from Published quarterly by Columbia ler Or Sinkler, and CBS, Inc.," said alumni, Wilkow predicted much College at 600 S. Michigan Ave., Wilkow. "These companies matched higher contributions in the future. Chicago, Ill. 60605, Telephone the contributions of their employees Wilkow, who reliquished his chair- (312)663-1600, ext. 419. Class Notes by Marsha Wetmore Lorraine Graves And belated congrats for another '78 Linda Shamest ('79) (' 81) has bee named a graduate, Merlyn Klaus, who won first is an assistant film professional medical place awards two years in a row-the editor at Magno representative for Nebraska AP Broadcasters Award for Sound in New York Syntex, a California­ sports reporting in 1980 and the Neb­ and currently is based pharmaceuti­ raska UPI broadcasters' award in working on the Nurse cal company which spends about $70 1981. Merlyn currently is sports direc­ series for CBS. Her next project is a million a year on research in the life tor for the ABC affiliate, the Nebraska feature film, Bless 'Em All. sciences. As a professional medical Television Network. * * * representative, Graves will provide Chicago area health care professionals with medical background and usage in formation on Syntex products. Prior to joining Syntex, Graves was an ad­ vertising intern with John litis & Asso­ ciates. * * * Filmmaker Jack Sell's first feature, The Psychotronic Man, grossed over $500,000 during its initial release this summer. Sell, whose films have won many awards including the New York International Film Festival and Ko­ dak, Milan and Houston film festival awards, is a 1975 graduate. Incidental­ ly, Sell is the first student to receive a full-paid scholarship to Columbia, and recently he was appointed head of Metro Films' new Chicago office. * * * Sheldon Baker ('72), a principal of the San Francisco-based Public Relations Director (PRD), has taken on the add­ Columbia College can claim bragging rights to Gypsy-Fari, considered by some ed responsibility of representing Men­ music critics the country's best homegrown reggae band. Two key members of delsohn & Adler Advertising's public the band, Kevin Coleman (left) and Stann (Higgins) Champion ('79) (second relations division. Sheldon will be re­ from right) are Columbia alumni. Keyboardist-vocalist Coleman is one of the sponsible for ComPath business tele­ founders of Gypsy-Fari, and Champion, lead guitarist and vocalist, wrote the phone systems, Solitec, Inc. and band's current single, "Can't Keep My Mind Off Girls," on Obvio Records.