News Service: Profiles
Mitchel Benson, News Service Director
(Since December 2004)
- Duties: Manages staff of public information representatives, editors and a broadcast specialist
- Background: Spokesman and media strategist for State Treasurer Phil Angelides, 2003-4; 24 years at daily newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, San Jose Mercury News, Kansas City Times; at the San Jose Mercury News he was part of a staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake and at The Wall Street Journal, he was part of a staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of 9/11
- Education: B.A. in Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison; M.S. in Journalism, Northwestern University.
Broadcast
Paul Pfotenhauer, Senior Public Information Representative
(Since 1977)
- Duties: Reporter/producer for broadcast media operations, fire-emergency spokesperson, media training instructor
- Background: Six years as sportscaster, reporter and anchor with the NBC affiliate, KCRA Channel 3, in Sacramento
- Education: B.A. in Political Science, University of California, Davis
Dateline UC Davis
Clifton B. Parker, Editor
(Since September 2005)
- Duties: Serves as faculty-staff newspaper editor for Dateline, circulation 12,500
- Other UC Davis posts: Dateline associate editor December 2002-August 2005; senior writer, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences October 2001-December 2002
- Background: Six years in journalism at daily newspapers, including the Sacramento Bee, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Naples Daily News; copywriting consultant for seven years; two years as press secretary for a U.S. congressman from Florida; author of two baseball biographies, Fouled Away (2000) and Big and Little Poison (2002), both nominated for the Harold Seymour Award for the best baseball book of the year
- Education: B.A. in Political Science, Pennsylvania State University; M.A. in Journalism, University of Florida
Dave Jones, Associate Editor
(Since November 2005)
- Duties: Collaborates with editor in editing and layout duties; serves as chief writer for the faculty-staff newspaper
- Background: A newspaper writer and editor since 1975, with a range of experience from small-town weeklies to metropolitan dailies, most recently at The Modesto Bee, where he was an assistant city editor, first full-time writing coach and a longtime copy editor; contributing editor for The Bee's Laci Peterson coverage and author of the Scott Peterson arrest story; and copy editor for series on such topics as the birth of UC Merced and its impact on the San Joaquin Valley, class-size reduction in grade schools, poverty in the valley and domestic violence
- Education: B.A. in Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
News media outreach
Patricia Bailey, Senior Public Information Representative
(Since 1977)
- Duties: Veterinary medicine, nutrition, biotechnology and agriculture writer
- Background: Six years in weekly journalism at two community newspapers in Manteca, Calif.
- Education: B.A. in English from University of California, Davis
Julia Ann Easley, Senior Public Information Representative
(Since 1997)
- Duties: Writer for student life, K–12 outreach, campus operations and administration, emergency planning, outreach and international programs, graduate studies; editor of the award-winning Aggie Family Pack for UC Davis parents
- Background: Worked since 1988 in media relations for higher education, including Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, and Vermont Law School; five years as daily newspaper reporter with the Kitchener-Waterloo Record; public affairs volunteer for Red Cross disaster services
- Education: B.A. in Journalism, Ryerson University, Toronto; certificate in marketing, UC Davis Extension
Andy Fell, Senior Public Information Representative
(Since 2000)
- Duties: Physical and biological sciences and engineering writer
- Background: Two years at a British medical communications agency, doing medical writing and communications for the pharmaceutical industry; six years as a research scientist in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Brisbane, Australia, studying malaria and other parasites; one year teaching college courses in parasitology and immunology
- Education: B.Sc. in Zoology, Ph.D. in Immunology, University of Edinburgh
Claudia Morain, Senior Public Information Officer
(Since April 2007)
- Duties: Writer for arts and cultural studies, business, humanities, education, law, social sciences
- Other UC Davis posts: Public information officer, UC Davis Cancer Center, 2002–2007
- Background: 25 years in journalism including daily newspaper writing at the San Jose Mercury News, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News and freelance work for ABC 20/20, the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle, among other media outlets
- Education: B.A. in Communications, University of Washington
Amy Rafferty, Editor
(Since January 2007)
- Duties: Copyedits news releases, events calendar and video captions; maintains media distribution lists
- Other UC Davis posts: Five years as an editorial assistant for the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design; two years as an administrative assistant for the French and Italian department; 10 years as production assistant in University Communications
- Background: Two years as a library researcher for Information on Demand; two years as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins Publishers in San Francisco
- Education: B.A. in Ancient and Medieval History, University of California, Berkeley
Susanne Rockwell, Senior Public Information Representative
(Since April 2007)
- Duties: Web editor for UC Davis home page, News Service and specialized news and information sites, multimedia projects
- Other UC Davis posts: At the campus since 1989: Writer and media representative for the social sciences, humanities, arts and cultural studies for seven years; editor of the faculty-staff newspaper Dateline for 11 years
- Background: In 1990, helped initiate the annual UC Editors' Conference and continues to help coordinate the 10-campus group; 15 years experience as a writer and editor at newspapers, including the Vacaville Reporter, Winters Express and Sacramento Union; won a 2005 silver medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District VII for leadership in redesigning the UC Davis home page
- Education: B.A. in International Relations and M.A. in Rhetoric and Communication, University of California, Davis
Sylvia Wright, Senior Public Information Representative
(Since 2000)
- Duties: Environmental science writer
- Other UC Davis posts: Senior public information representative for biological and physical sciences and engineering 1997-2000
- Background: 15 years as a photojournalist, writer and editor at the Tampa Tribune and San Jose Mercury News, where she was part of a staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake; two years as associate editor for a health newsletter published by Consumer Reports
- Education: B.A. in Mass Communications, University of South Florida; Knight Science Journalism Fellowship (1994-95) at MIT and Harvard