The Elliott School of Communication honored alumni and current KSN broadcasters Jeff Herndon and Lisa Teachman at the school's “CommWeek,” which is held annually after fall break on the Wichita State University campus. Herndon and Teachman were awarded “2018 Outstanding Alumni” in recognition of their exemplary professional work and personal success.

Lisa Teachman was presented the “2018 Outstanding Alumni” 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 “Seal of Approval” from the American Meteorological Society. All these professional milestones contributed to her being named one of the Elliott School's two “Outstanding Alumni.”

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 “2018 Outstanding Alumni.”

“Jeff and Lisa both exemplify hard work, determination, and perseverance,” said the director of the Elliott School, Jeffrey Jarman. “They are outstanding communicators and outstanding individuals. We are honored to call them our alumni and we were excited to recognize them with this award.”

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.

“Both of our honorees care about the people of Wichita and Kansas,” 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.
“With contributions from both Lisa and Jeff, KSN was named ‘Large Market Station of the Year' by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, and I think that is outstanding,” Hager said.

At Wichita State University, 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.

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