Professional Writing Alumni Panel

Four alumni of the Professional Writing (PW) program participated in this semester’s WRI 380 Professional Seminar panel on Friday, October 28, 2011. Professional Seminar, taught by Dr. Elaine Reed, comprises seniors  who are interning; other audience members were students in the program’s gateway course, WRI 100 (Contemporary Issues in Professional Writing), taught by Dr. Tony Bleach.

Matthew Reichl (mreichl[at]journalregister.com)

Matthew Reichl, a spring 2007 PW grad with a minor in political science, is editor of the Boyertown Area Times. He also does correspondent work for the Associated Press as the Lehigh County elections stringer. Working for Journal Register Company and Berks-Mont Newspapers, he has worked as editor for several publications since 2007, including Boyertown Area Times, Kutztown Area Patriot and Hamburg Area Item. In the last two months, he has headed the conversion from Quark paginating systems to Adobe InDesign and InCopy as well as SaxoTech as a MediaWare center under Project Thunderdome within Berks-Mont Newspapers as designated “SuperUser.” Before working for Journal Register Company, he was employed by East Penn Press as an associate editor in Allentown.

Rebecca Moulder (rmoulder[at]ECRI.org)

Rebecca Moulder, a fall 2006 PW graduate who minored in public relations, is a medical writer and editor of Health Device Alerts for ECRI Institute, a non-profit Healthcare research agency in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. Her efforts researching, writing, and editing articles about medical device recalls, field corrections, and safety notices help to improve patient care at hospitals and healthcare facilities. The articles are posted to an online database that is used by approximately 2,500 hospitals and healthcare systems worldwide. Rebecca also writes hazard and special reports regarding potential problems, such as surgical fires and radiation overdose, that may affect hospitals. While at KU, Rebecca served as the layout design editor for Shoofly Literary Magazine and as a reporter and copy & line editor for The Keystone newspaper. Following graduation, Rebecca worked as a part-time reporter for The Reading Eagle’s Weekend and Entertainment sections. She plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology from Chestnut Hill College beginning in January.

Emily Hammel-Shaver (ehammelshaver[at]gmail.com)

Emily Hammel-Shaver graduated in spring 2008 with a B.A. in Professional Writing and a minor in Public Relations.  While at KU, she co-founded and was a managing editor of Shoofly Literary Magazine.  Emily completed five undergraduate internships at sites ranging from a PR agency with national clientele to a local weekly newspaper.  For three of her Professional Semester internship credits, Emily worked for the Professional Writing Program, designing and major-authoring the program's "Yellow Book," a guide to internships and senior year for PW students.  After graduation, Emily worked for a year as a marketing assistant for an executive search firm in Allentown, Pa., while pursuing some freelance work in research and editing.  Since Oct. 2009, Emily has handled the marketing for a high-end custom cabinetry company in Perkasie, Pa., where she in charge of the development, writing, and design of the company's marketing materials and communications.   

Megan Dubrowski (mdubrowski19[at]yahoo.com)

Megan Dubrowski earned a B.A. in English/Professional Writing in spring 2006. While at KU, she served on the staff of The Keystone newspaper for two years, one of which she was the news editor. Megan did her internship at Hart Sharp Video, an independent film company in NYC, where she supported the marketing team with content development. After graduation, Megan worked for slightly less than a year as an editorial assistant for the publishing company Pearson Education, and then pursued an opportunity with Johnson & Johnson as a communications specialist. After that, she spent several years in various roles with MWW Group, a public relations agency based in NYC. Since March 2011, Megan has been working as a senior associate of corporate communications at KPMG LLP the U.S. audit, tax and advisory services firm – and member of the “Big Four” – that operates from 87 offices with more than 23,000 employees and partners throughout the U.S. She supports both internal and external communications teams in building firm presence among key audiences; participates in executing internal and external communications initiatives and programs; uses multiple communications skills, techniques, and media to influence the firm’s key stakeholders to foster and support positive impressions of the firm; works with firm and functional leadership to help implement the strategic internal and external communications program that supports the firm in achieving its goals; and assists in development of editorial resources including newsletters, internal articles, memos, press releases, and media advisories.