Third in a series
CoSIDA’s Postgraduate Scholarship program began in 1981 and celebrated its 35th anniversary just last year. As a follow-up to a feature in the February edition of CoSIDA 360 magazine that caught up with a number of past scholarship recipients, this series will go in-depth with several winners in a Q&A format.
For more information regarding the deadlines - all in April 2017 - for the 2017 postgraduate scholarship and other CoSIDA scholarships and grants, go to
http://www.cosida.com/sports/2014/1/30/scholarshipgrants_program.aspx
Related Stories
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CoSIDA Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients – Where Are They Now? Akilah Laster
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CoSIDA Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients – Where Are They Now? Jared Verner
Beth Haag (1989)
Current position: Lecturer in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University
Undergraduate school: Iowa State University
Graduate school: Iowa State University
How did the CoSIDA scholarship help advance your career?
It encouraged me to pursue my master’s degree. Without my master’s degree, I wouldn’t be teaching today at Iowa State.
How were you encouraged to apply for the scholarship?
I read about the scholarship in CoSIDA Digest. This was the first time my family had ever used FedEx, which is why I put the receipt in my scrapbook.
What was it like to be notified as a scholarship recipient?
It was an honor to hear from CoSIDA postgraduate scholarship chair Wylie Smith that I’d won the scholarship. I started as a volunteer student assistant in the sports information office the second week of my freshman year of college and worked in the office all four years of my undergraduate career. It was a labor of love. I was doing something I was passionate about with people who were like family to me, but doing my best in my classwork was also important to me. It was gratifying to be rewarded for succeeding in both areas.
What were some of the highlights of your athletics communications career?
• As the primary contact for the Iowa State men’s basketball team from 1993-2000, I had the opportunity to work with a “who’s who” in Iowa State men’s basketball:
- Coaches Johnny Orr, Tim Floyd and AP National Coach of the Year Larry Eustachy
- Future NBA players Fred “The Mayor” Hoiberg, Loren Meyer, Dedric Willoughby, Marcus Fizer and Paul Shirley
- Cyclone legendary broadcaster Pete Taylor
• In the eight seasons I worked with ISU men’s basketball, the teams had a combined 162-91 record, which included a school-record 32 wins in 2000.
• The Cyclones made five NCAA Tournament appearances in eight seasons, reaching the Elite Eight in 2000 and Sweet Sixteen in 1997.
• I had a chance to work at Iowa State’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearances in softball (1988) and volleyball (1995).
Describe how you moved into teaching at ISU.
I completed all my coursework for my master’s degree in May 1992, but I didn’t have my creative component completed to graduate. I then took a full-time job in sports information in August 1992, which sidetracked me from finishing my creative component.
My undergraduate adviser Jane Peterson stopped by my office in the athletic department and encouraged me to find a creative component topic that related to my sports information work so I could graduate with my master’s degree. I ended up analyzing the various audiences who used the men’s basketball media guide. One of the members of my graduate committee was Eric Hoiberg, who was on the ISU faculty, but he also had gone through the recruiting process with his son Fred. Thanks to a big push from Jane Peterson, I graduated with my master’s degree in December 1995.
After Iowa State’s Elite Eight appearance in 2000, I took a job in employee communications at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. In 2002 I started doing freelance work in TV sports production. Because I was using all my vacation time to do freelance, I decided in July 2004 to take a leap of faith and start my own full-time business: Endeavors in Communication. Later that fall, my former adviser Jane Peterson contacted me to ask if I was ready to teach. When she encouraged me to finish my master’s degree, it was because she envisioned me teaching PR classes someday.
I started teaching a public relations writing course in the spring 2005 semester. In the fall 2005 semester, I added teaching two sections of an InDesign/Photoshop/Illustrator course and became a full-time lecturer in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State. The foundation of everything I teach today is based on the skills and practical experience I learned through my sports information work. As my former boss Tom Kroeschell always said, “We’re the jack of all trades and master of none.” I’m grateful for the diversity in my public relations skills thanks to my on-the-job practical training in sports information.