Journalism alumni from around that state and region will attend the WVU School of Journalism Alumni Association banquet Friday, Nov. 5, at the Clarion Hotel Morgan.

The event will be held immediately following the WVU Homecoming parade, with awards for outstanding alumni and friends of the school presented at 7:45 p.m.

The cost is $15 per person and children under 6 are free. Please RSVP and send payment by Oct. 25 to: The WVU SOJ Alumni Association, P.O. Box 6010, Morgantown, WV 26506 -6010. For questions, contact Alumni Association Vice President Stephanie Beddow at sbeddow@wvuf.org or 304-284-4066.

The alumni association will honor the following people for their service and achievement:

Pamela Maphis Larrick will be honored as the associations 2003-04 P.I. Reed Achievement Award winner. Larrick is chairman of MRM Partners Worldwide, a New York-based advertising agency. The 1972 journalism graduate is a Clarksburg native who has received international praise for her abilities in the industry.

The fruits of Pam Larricks labor can be seen in TV commercials for Microsoft, Coca-Cola, United Parcel Service, MasterCard and other commerce giants that are produced by the MRM agency she oversees.

That client list has continued to grow, along with the wellspring of

creative, eye-catching ads that spark product sales and critical notice in the industry.

MRM s ad campaigns have garnered more DMA ECHO awards than any other North American agency in the past five years, and MRM is the only North America-based agency ever to win the coveted Cannes Gold Line Direct award.

In 1997, Larrick was named one of the top 25 women leaders in the industry by the leading trade publication, Advertising Age. She also won her industrys prestigious Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for her direct marketing campaigns, and the international publication Ad Age Global praised her as one of the most innovative, daring and dynamic leaders in marketing, advertising and media.

She lives in New York City with her husband and three daughters. When she isnt flying back to Morgantown for WVU football and basketball games, she spends her off-hours volunteering at the New York Blood Center. She also contributes her time and talents to the ALS Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research.

James Blair will be honored as the Friend of the School award recipient. This is the fifth year the award has been given, and it is sponsored by The Shinnston News and Harrison County Journal.

Blair is a 1969 WVU journalism graduate who grew up near Lonaconing, Md. He entered the service in 1970 and was assigned to the JFK Center for Military Assistance.

Blair worked on campaigns to help beef up the American military image as the U.S. government removed troops from Vietnam. He left the military in April 1973 and went to his first newspaper job in North Carolina.

He returned to West Virginia two years later to work at the Republican Delta in Buckhannon. He left West Virginia again in 1977 to work in West Lafayette, Ind., running the Purdue University Exponent.

In 1979, Blair became the publisher of the Daily Independent in Kannapolis, N.C. As a member of the Kannapolis Chamber of Commerce, Blair worked with a group whose aim was to turn around an ailing credit bureau by computerizing it. Within a year, the company went from being unable to meet its payroll to making $168,000.

In 1982, Blair and his wife, Marsha, purchased their first credit bureau from CBI , now Equifax, the largest credit reporting entity in the world. In 1983 the couple purchased a second credit bureau in Johnson City, Tenn., and in 1986 they purchased another Greenville, N. C. Blair quit the newspaper industry and went full-time into the credit reporting industry.

In 1997, Blair sold his credit bureaus to Equifax. As part o of the sale, he carved out several niche markets that he thought the national credit bureaus did not do a good job of servicing. Those markets are now being served under the umbrella of Blair’s Online Information Services.

Blair has worked closely with the School of Journalism to develop training seminars for newspaper, television and radio advertising departments across West Virginia. He has also trained students at the Daily Athenaeum in sales. Blair also serves on the schools Visiting Committee.

The Martin Hall Conerstone Award will honor two WVU School of Journalism graduates and long-time alumni association volunteers. The association will honor Becky Lofstead (1976) and Richard Beto (1976).

Lofstead is the director of News&Information Services in the WVU Office of Institutional Advancement. She is a versatile, proven communications and administrative professional with extensive experience in integrated marketing and communications, media relations, public and community affairs and project management.

She earned her bachelors degree from WVU in 1976 and started her career as the director of public relations at Fairmont State College. She then moved to The Dominion Post as public relations director, regional lifestyles editor and then lifestyles editor. The West Virginia Press Association has honored her many times for her features and sections.

She joined the university in 1987 as the associate director of News&Information Services, and in 1995 was appointed director.

She is a member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the West Virginia Press Association and serves as a member of the communications/public relations committee of the West Virginia Special Olympics.

She also is a member of the Monongalia County Joint Information Committee, is campus advisor for Chi Omega Sorority and past board member of the WVU P .I. Reed School of Journalism Alumni Association.

Active in the community, she has worked with the American Red Cross, Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Morgantown, Downtown Business and Professional Association, Morgantown Early Learning Facility and the Monongalia County Fair Association.

She has served the school as a past Alumni Association board member, member of the North Central chapter and as an active supporter.

Beto is the director of Document Services at the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the university in May 2004, after more than 20 years of service to WVU , first as the assistant manager and then as the assistant director, interim director and director of WVU s Printing Services.

Beto, a Morgantown native, earned his bachelors from the WVU P .I. Reed School of Journalism in 1976 and his masters of public administration in 1988.

He has served the School of Journalism alumni association and the School as a member of the alumni board, helping with printing needs and assisting with various events.

The P.I. Reed Young Alumna Award, new this year, will honor April Kaull . Kaull, a 1995 WVU School of Journalism grad, is a statewide correspondent for West Virginia Media and is based out of Morgantown. You can see her reports every day at 5:30 p.m. during”West Virginia Tonight Live.”She also serves as the Morgantown News Manager for WBOY -TV and anchors”12 News at Six”from the stations Morgantown studio.

Kaull was born and raised in Harrison County. She attended Lincoln High School and then graduated from the school with honors. She started her broadcasting career at WBOY -TV in Clarksburg in 1995 shortly after graduating from WVU ’s School of Journalism. In 2000 April moved to the Charleston area to take a position with WOWK -TV. In 2001, West Virginia Media purchased WOWK , WBOY, in addition to WTRF in Wheeling, WVNS in Beckley and The State Journal Business Newspaper. Kaull joined West Virginia Media the same year, and last fall relocated back to North Central West Virginia. April now resides and works in Morgantown, where her Lazzelle family roots date back to the mid-1700s.

Active in the community, she serves as a member of the Mylan Park Communications Committee and sits on the FastTrac Coalition of North Central West Virginia at the West Virginia High Technology Consortium. She also volunteers her time to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the CASA Program.

The West Virginia Associated Press has honored Kaull seven times for her work.