Alumni

Our alumni have gone into a wide variety of fields after graduating from the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre. Here is a sample of their accomplishments:

Leslie Hurtado (B.A. 2020)
While a student at NEIU, Leslie was a News Editor for the NEIU Independent, an Audio Producer at the Lit + Luz Festival, a Community Reporter covering the COVID-19 beat for Cicero Independiente, and an intern at WGN Morning News. After graduation, Leslie started a paid position as a News Intern at WBEZ Chicago helping the news team to research and write stories as well as helping them to produce radio packages. She also launched a podcast with Diane Boukhalil called "Rabiosa Medina Radio."

Merva Morina (B.A. 2015; M.A. 2020)
Merva works as a Fielding Coordinator at InsightsNow, a market research company, where she assists in the development and organization of consumer claims research. 

Ata Younan (B.A. 2019)
Ata has been published by Borderless Magazine, was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with the Assyrian Policy Institute, received Honorary Mention in the Nuevas Voces new play festival for her play titled "The United Statesian Nightmare," and worked as a production manager for the Stage Center Theatre.

Thomas Krettler (M.A. 2019)
After graduating with his master's degree, Tom was hired at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn to teach Fundamentals of Speech Communication and will mark his first two years of teaching in May 2021. 

Madeleine Panos (B.A. 2018)
Madeleine co-founded a youth outreach program (Mothers Trust Teens of Lake County) and was an intern at the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic. She was admitted to the Widener University Law School in 2020.

Jessica Vasquez (B.A. 2017)
Jessica is now an Extension Program Coordinator for the NEIU Center for College Access and Success, where she has participated in the Obama Foundation's Community Leadership Corps. She is currently working on an online workshop series for high school seniors to assist them in their college preparations. She is also completing the NEIU master's degree program in Human Resource Development.  

Elise Taylor (M.A. 2017)
Elise is now a Ph.D. student at Purdue University where she is focused on Organizational and Computer-Mediated Communication. 

Toreana Meeky (B.A. 2017)
Toreana was accepted into the M.F.A. program in Creative Producing at DePaul University. 

Chris Churchill (B.A. 2014; M.A. 2017)
Chris was accepted into the M.F.A. program in Documentary Media at Northwestern University. 

Samentha Sepulveda (B.A. 2015; M.A. 2017)
Samentha is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she is taking a mixed-methods approach toward the study of Intercultural Communication.  

Devin Pickell (B.A. 2017)
Devin joined the Jerry Thomas PR firm after graduation, and then he moved into technology marketing as a Content Specialist at G2 Crowd. 

Alyssa Vincent (M.A. 2017)
Alyssa is now a Knowledge Manager for Perkins and Will, a global architecture and design firm.

Selena Alvarado (B.A. 2017)
Selena was hired as the marketing coordinator at the event planning/design company Lil Epic Design after completing an internship with the company. 

Mary Kroeck (M.A. 2016)
Mary now works as a content strategist in the Division of Marketing and Communications at Northeastern Illinois University. Her comedic short story, "Seven Secrets of Happiness, or How to Just Survive Today" was recently published in Illinois's Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction. Another short story titled "Letters to My Cat" was published in Illinois's Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Nonfiction and America's Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction.

Javier Aquino (B.A. 2015)
Javier went on to complete a master's degree in Educational Leadership at Concordia University Chicago and then entered a doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Leadership - Higher Education Administration at Governor's State University.

Benjamin Van Loon (M.A. 2015)
Benjamin is Communications Director for the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), whose members represent 24 countries and $3 trillion in assets under management. Benjamin also serves as an adjunct professor at NEIU, where he teaches a course in Public Relations.

Abrahim "Abe" Harb (B.A. 2015)
Abe works with Grubhub as a Sr. Acquisition and Retention Specialist assisting the independent contractors. You can visit abeharb.com for his creative work and resume.

Taylor Seletos (B.A. 2015)
Taylor is an account manager for LaSalle Network.  

Kimberly Shotick (M.A. 2014)
Kimberly is now a Student Success Librarian and Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University. 

Katie Anderson (B.A. 2014)
Katie went on to complete an M.Sc in Project Management from the University of Limerick, Ireland. 

Melissa Brand (B.A. 2014)
Melissa is an accounting coordinator at 3L Real Estate in Rosemont. In August 2020, she was accepted into a master's degree program in Communication at Purdue University with a concentration in strategic communication and public relations.

Natalia Eicker (B.A. 2014)
Natalia was hired as the development assistant at the Chicago Botanic Garden where she assists with fundraising, event planning, and donor stewardship.

Katie Kelly (B.A. 2014)
Katie was accepted into the Loyola University Paralegal Studies program. 

Aleksandra Wyrazik (B.A. 2014)
Aleksandra was accepted into the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. 

James McNeil (B.A. 2012)
James completed an M.A. in Communication at the University of Colorado Denver where he is now employed as an instructor in the Communication Department. James also teaches communication courses at Regis University in Denver. 

Rico Self (M.A. 2012)
Rico is now a Ph.D. student in Communication Studies (with a focus in Rhetorical Studies) at Louisiana State University. 

Daniella Bajtner (B.A. 2012)
Daniella was accepted into the Master of Arts in Organizational and Multicultural Communication program at DePaul University. 

Max Plumpton (B.A. 2012)
Max earned an M.A. in Communication from the University of South Florida and is now a Ph.D. student in Communication Studies (with a focus in Rhetorical Studies and Cultural Studies) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Julien Wight (M.A. 2012)
Julien was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. In February 2013, Julien was selected by the White House to participate on a social media panel for President Obama's 2013 State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. Julien presented her research at the 2013 Gender Matters conference and the 2013 Central States Communication Association conference. 

Jasmin Bleu Pellegrino (B.A. 2012)
Jasmin was accepted into the graduate program in Photojournalism at Boston University (BU). In 2012, she received First Place for her photo essay about the current state of Gary, Ind., from the Illinois College Press Association. She has worked for BU News Service, and has traveled throughout New Hampshire to cover the Obama/Romney Campaign. For more information about her work, visit her website.

Zachary Gingold (B.A. 2011)
Zachary co-founded Birdhouse New Media, a company focused on digital marketing, after he graduated from NEIU. He now works for Twitter where he manages business relationships with Twitter Official Partners. 

Nicole Kashan (M.A. 2011)
Nicole was accepted into a Ph.D. program at Michigan State University.

Alexis Waters (M.A. 2011)
Alexis was accepted into a Ph.D. program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Lara Stache (M.A. 2009)
After earning her M.A. at NEIU, Lara earned a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is now an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Governors State University.  

Michalina Maliszewska (M.A. 2009)
Michalina is now the Coordinator of Graduate Student Activities in the College of Graduate Studies and Research at NEIU. 

Jeffrey Tischauser (M.A. 2008)
Jeffery published his book "Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim Bias in American Newspapers" (Edwin Mellin, 2010; foreword by Katrina Bell-Jordan). This book stemmed from Jeffrey’s M.A. thesis project.

Viviana Belisle (M.A. 2007)
Viviana is now Communications Director and Advertising Liaison at Chicago-based Inclusion Solutions, where she coordinates the marketing of products and promotion of events to business owners and the disability community for a company whose mission is to advocate, increase awareness, and develop solutions for accessibility issues.

Phil Schlichting (B.A. 2007, Media Minor)
After graduating from Northeastern Illinois University, Phil went on to graduate from John Marshall Law School. He is now a Research Attorney at Katz Law Office Ltd.

Daniela Vitale (B.A. 2006)
Daniela graduated from NEIU and started a career in college recruitment and admissions counseling. In recent years she has also followed her passion to launch Sfera Sicilian Street Food, which includes a pick-up and delivery location near our El Centro campus.

Paul Clermont (B.A. 2003) and Fred Clermont (B.A. 2003)
Paul and Fred are both assistant principals in Florida. They also started Teachers for Haiti, an organization that takes teachers and other professionals to Haiti every four to five months. 

Kyla R. Darling (B.A. 1999)
Kyla has been working as a producer, director, and videographer of KRD Productions for the past fourteen years. In this time, she has produced more than sixty programs for a local cable station. In 2000, she received a video award (Cammy) from the Naperville community television, in the performance category. She is currently in the process of producing a documentary about bullying in the workplace. 

Vershawn Ashanti Young (M.A. 1998)
Vershawn published two books in 2011: "From Bourgeois to Boojie: Black Middle-Class Performances" (Wayne State University Press) and "Code-Meshing as World English: Pedagogy, Policy, Performance" (National Council of Teachers of English). He is the host of the "New Books in African American Studies" podcast. 

Nancy Greco (M.A. 1996)
Nancy works as a professional actress. She taught Theatre and Humanities at Moraine Valley College. Nancy does a lot of medical acting/communication teaching for most of the medical schools in Illinois and Indiana. She will be appearing in The Ritz at Circle Theatre in April of 2012. Since obtaining her M.A. at NEIU, Nancy has been able to support herself as an actress/performer.