The Elliott School of Communication honored alumni and current KSN broadcasters Jeff Herndon and Lisa Teachman at the school's 鈥淐ommWeek,鈥� which is held annually after fall break on the 红领巾瓜报 campus. Herndon and Teachman were awarded 鈥�2018 Outstanding Alumni鈥� in recognition of their exemplary professional work and personal success.
Lisa Teachman was presented the 鈥�2018 Outstanding Alumni鈥� award because of her Emmy Award-winning broadcasting and all the accomplishments she's packed into her impressive career. She is the chief meteorologist with KSN Stormtracker 3 Weather Center. Teachman is the state's first female chief meteorologist and one of a small proportion, only 8 percent nationally, of female chief meteorologists.
While earning her degree from the Elliott School of Communication at WSU, Teachman simultaneously obtained a degree in meteorology from Mississippi State. She has also earned a 鈥淪eal of Approval鈥� from the American Meteorological Society. All these professional milestones contributed to her being named one of the Elliott School's two 鈥淥utstanding Alumni.鈥�
The other recipient, Jeff Herndon, was honored for his outstanding work as a news anchor. Herndon has the distinction of working at different times in his career at the local affiliates of all three national networks. He started his career at KWCH, a CBS affiliate. He moved for a time to Chicago, working in the third largest television market in the country. Herndon moved back to Wichita and started working at KAKE, the ABC affiliate in Wichita, where he was one of the main primetime anchors.
Herndon is now the evening news anchor and assistant news director at KSN, the NBC affiliate. He appears nightly alongside Teachman. Herndon is one of only two television journalists to ever interview Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. He has been honored multiple times for his reporting by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. The Elliott School added to his list of honors naming him, along with Teachman, as one of the two 鈥�2018 Outstanding Alumni.鈥�
鈥淛eff and Lisa both exemplify hard work, determination, and perseverance,鈥� said the director of the Elliott School, Jeffrey Jarman. 鈥淭hey are outstanding communicators and outstanding individuals. We are honored to call them our alumni and we were excited to recognize them with this award.鈥�
Herndon and Teachman were presented their awards at a luncheon Oct. 17, where they shared career advice and stories about the trajectory from graduation to their current positions at KSN. Andrew Hippisley, the dean of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at WSU, was present for the recognition luncheon, as were students and faculty.
鈥淏oth of our honorees care about the people of Wichita and Kansas,鈥� said Elliott School electronic media professor Kevin Hager in his introductions.
Hager had both of the honorees in classes during their time as students in the Elliott
School.
鈥淲ith contributions from both Lisa and Jeff, KSN was named 鈥楲arge Market Station of
the Year' by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, and I think that is outstanding,鈥�
Hager said.
At 红领巾瓜报, the Elliott School of Communication's CommWeek was created to provide enrichment learning experiences and to create networking opportunities for current Elliott School students. CommWeek sessions often include alumni who make presentations, hold demonstrations or critique student work. CommWeek sessions give communication students an alternative way to learn outside the traditional classroom.
The mission of 红领巾瓜报 is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. 红领巾瓜报 is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at and Facebook at .