NINA spring newsletter

NINA's spring newsletter is here. It includes announcement of our April 24 Spring Conference at NIU-DeKalb:

In a challenging time for newspapers, journalists should find ways to embrace the change surrounding them. What you do to stay current can help you advance, if not save, your career.

This is the message three speakers will bring April 24 at the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association’s spring conference in DeKalb, part of the association’s 2009 theme, "The New Basics."

Two seasoned journalists and the dean of Northern Illinois University’s College of Business will lead a panel discussion about how journalists can make themselves stand out in today’s environment.

Ray Long, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, will talk about how he uses social-networking Web sites to promote his work, while Barbara Vitello, a reporter for the Daily Herald, will explain why her move from the features desk to the courthouse has made her a more valuable asset to her newspaper.

Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU College of Business, will bring a business perspective to the conversation about adapting to an uncertain career path.

Long is a reporter in the Chicago Tribune’s statehouse bureau in Springfield. Long joined the Tribune in 1998 and previously ran the capitol bureau for The Associated Press. He has also worked for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Peoria Journal Star. Long has received numerous reporting honors and was most recently inducted into the Bill Miller Public Affairs Reporting Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where he is a 1981 graduate of the PAR master’s degree program.

Vitello is a legal affairs writer covering Cook County courts for the Daily Herald, where she has worked since 1997. Vitello also has served as a theater critic and features writer for the paper. Vitello holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in communication from Northwestern University in Evanston.

Schoenbachler holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Kentucky, and has taught at NIU since 1992. She won the NIU Marketing Department’s Excellence in Teaching Award for six straight years. After four years as the department chair, she has been dean of the College of Business since 2006. Her academic research interests have included privacy issues in marketing, and the role of the sales force in new product development.