NEWS

Grinde to lead
North Dakota Newspaper Association

     Kevin Grinde, managing editor of the Grand Forks Herald, has been elected president of the North Dakota Newspaper Association.

     The association has as its members the 10 daily and 80 weekly newspapers in the state and acts as an advertising sales and service agency for its members as well as providing educational opportunities for its members and the promotion of open government for the public.

     Grinde is a native of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and 1984 graduate of Bemidji (Minn.) State University in mass communications. He has held positions with the Grand Forks Herald since 1985 and was named managing editor in 1998. He and his wife, Sara, are the parents of three adult children.

   Also elected to the board of directors on May 1 at NDNA’s 124th annual convention in Fargo were First Vice President Wanda Olaf, advertising director of the Williston Herald; Second Vice President Kathleen Leinen, editor of the News-Monitor at Hankinson; and Third Vice President John Irby, editor of The Bismarck Tribune.

     Jill Freisz, publisher of the Grant County News at Elgin and the Carson Press, was re-elected to the board of directors; and Tom Monilaws, general manager of the Kelly Publications newspapers in Casselton, Mayville and Hillsboro, was elected to a two-year term on the board. The carry-over members of the board are Allan Burke, co-publisher of the Emmons County Record at Linton; and Jackie Thompson, publisher of the Walsh County Record, Grafton.

    Grinde succeeds Jon Flatland, publisher of the newspapers in Finley and Cooperstown, as president of NDNA.

     NDNA presented Distinguished Service Awards to three persons for their contributions to the newspaper industry and their communities. The recipients were long-time reporter and columnist Marilyn Hagerty of the Grand Forks Herald; her late husband, Jack Hagerty, the long-time editor of the Grand Forks Herald who died in 1997; and to Lloyd B. Case, president of Forum Communications Company of Fargo.

For additional information, contact Roger Bailey, NDNA executive director,

866-685-8889 (bailey@ndna.com)

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Two recognized as
NIE Teachers of the Year

       Two North Dakota teachers have been recognized as Newspapers in Education (NIE) Teachers of the Year.

      The awards, presented at the 124th annual convention of the North Dakota Newspaper Association in Fargo on May 1, went to Barb Witteman of Kennedy Elementary School, Fargo, and Sheila Moser of Leeds (N.D.) High School.

     The award is presented annually to teachers who productively use newspapers as a support in various classroom subjects including reading, mathematics, art and current events.

      Witteman grew up on a farm near Carpio, N.D., and graduated from Minot State University. She received a Master’s degree in education and Ph.D. in educational leadership from Miami University in Ohio. She taught in Montana, Minot and Fargo before joining the faculty at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, in 1995. In 2009, she received a sabbatical from Concordia to return to the elementary classroom at Kennedy Elementary School.  Witteman’s students use the newspaper every day in the classroom.

      Moser grew up on a farm near Kulm and received a Bachelor’s degree from Jamestown College. She has completed sufficient credits for a Master’s degree from the University of North Dakota. Her teaching career began at Four Winds High School in 1990 and she has continued to use the newspaper in her classroom at Leeds High School since 1992. In addition to using newspapers in teaching journalism, creative writing, graphic arts, photography and marketing at Leeds High School, Moser took her sophomore class on a job shadowing experience with the staff at the Grand Forks Herald where, Moser said, her students “connected real people to the articles and careers of the newspaper world.”

        The annual NDNA “NIE Newspaper of the Year” award was presented to The Forum. The NIE program at The Forum is directed by Keri Kava.

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For further information, contact Roger Bailey,
NDNA Executive Director,
866-685-8889 or bailey@ndna.com