Bill Hatcher, a freelance photographer for National Geographic and other publications including Outside magazine and Smithsonian, gave a presentation Thursday, April 3, in the University of Wyoming College of Business auditorium.

Hatcher's presentation, "Stories from the Field," went behind-the-scenes of some of the magazine expedition stories he has worked on around the world, from wall climbing in Pakistan to tree climbing with scientists in Malaysia.

A basic truth runs through all of these stories: If you combine talented, motivated adventurers with a remote, beautiful and potentially dangerous environment, you will likely have a good story to tell.

Hatcher specializes in adventure and expedition photography, including climbing, mountain biking, kayaking and backcountry skiing and snowboarding.

Earning a bachelor of science degree from the University of Wyoming in 1984, Hatcher has been a freelance photographer since 1987.

Jess Ryan of Lander fronted a spectacular performance by the University of Wyoming at the eighth annual National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence last weekend, outperforming 108 other competitors to win top speaker honors.

Ryan, a senior majoring in communication with a minor in art, won UW's sixth national title in parliamentary-style debate but first since 2003. He also led two UW teams into the Sweet 16 of the tourney, which was hosted by the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash.

All competitors were evaluated by a series of 12 judges who, in addition to determining wins and losses, ranked each debater on his or her speaking abilities.

Three other UW debaters finished among the top 20 individual speakers: Junior Lindsey DeVries (Glenrock) was 12th, senior Tony Roberts (Sheridan) 16th and senior Jeffrey Fife (Riverton) 17th. As two-person teams, DeVries and Fife placed 12th and Ryan and Roberts 13th.

Ryan, who has now won six top-speaker awards this season, will represent the United States in its annual three-person debate against Irish champions Thursday, March 27, at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

The UW squad is coached by director Matt Stannard and graduate assistants Blake Carothers and Matt Plush.

Notes from Slovakia

By Professor Conrad Smith

Bratislava, Slovakia – 37 miles down the Danube from Vienna – is where I’m a Fulbright lecturer, teaching media theory (in English) to journalism students at Comenius University, oldest and most prestigious in the country.  The older and more prestigious Charles University in Prague, the Czech part of what used to be Czechoslovakia, has conveniently been in a different country since the 1993 “velvet divorce” that split the former Soviet state into two parts –  industrialized west and agricultural east.

I like my Bratislava students. They are much like those in Laramie in their openness and lack of pretense – and, alas, share the reluctance of many at UW to participate in class discussion. Slovak students at least have a better excuse in that they did not start learning English until the first grade.  In appearance and apparel, they would attract no attention on Pretzy’s Pasture.  With luck, I’ll persuade one or two to study at UW. FOR FULL STORY, CLICK HERE

PR conference great learning experience for student

By Kristen Leis

 I would have never imagined that cheesesteaks and public relations would be forever associated in my mind. But such is the case because I was given the opportunity to attend a public relations conference in Philadelphia this October.

The JohnstonWells PR firm selects two students each year to attend this event and, along with Alexie Pitsch, I was sent to the 40^th Annual Public Relations Student Society of America National Conference. FOR FULL STORY, CLICK HERE

The UW debate team's parliamentary and policy-style debate squads concluded their regular season and prepped for the national championships with top speaker awards and highly competitive team performances.

Travis Cram (Cheyenne) was named top individual speaker at the District 9 National Debate Tournament (NDT) district qualifier hosted by Eastern New Mexico University in Portales last weekend. His partner, Will Jenson (Cheyenne), was named third individual speaker. The pair finished with five wins and one loss to advance to the NDT, scheduled at California State University-Fullerton in March.

Tony Johnson and Mike Bausch, both of Boise, Idaho, and Jamie Piechura (Newcastle) and Kelly Nickel (Parker, Colo.) finished with 4-2 records and in the top third of the qualifiers as well. Johnson and Bausch will join Cram and Jensen as NDT qualifiers.

Jesse Ryan (Lander) won his fifth top speaker award of the year when he was named top speaker among 60 competitors at the Mark O. Hatfield debates at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., last weekend. His partner, Tony Roberts (Sheridan), was named the tournament's sixth-best speaker, and the pair advanced to elimination rounds at the tournament.

Lindsey DeVries (Glenrock) and Jeffrey Fife (Riverton) advanced to the semifinals and placed third overall at the Hatfield event. Kathryn Starkey (Jackson) and Nick Larmer (Gillette) also advanced to elimination rounds.

UW debaters received eight top speaker awards this season. Ryan received top overall speaker awards at the Mile High Swing, the Hatfield Debates, the Claremont Colleges Invitational, the Puget Sound Round Robin and the Puget Sound Invitational.

Other top overall speaker awards were given to Cram at the NDT District 9 Qualifier, Bausch at the Denver University Mile High Classic, and Johnson at the Laramie Scrimmage.

Headlines

COJO Department's 2007-08 annual report