Marketing and Communications
Lace M. Smith, associate vice president of marketing and communications
As Associate Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Lace M. Smith leads the MarCom division on an interim basis. Her teams include the design group, content development, as well as web design, customer service and Lute Locker. Smith is responsible for the development and implementation of a content strategy that integrates website, social media and digital campaigns with print and external communications. This strategy aims to raise the visibility of PLU and inspire connection with prospective students and their families, current students, alumni, donors, influencers/thought leaders, and community members.
Smith joined Student Involvement & Leadership at PLU in 2005. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art from the University of Puget Sound and a MBA from PLU.
Smith most recently served as the Executive Director of Content Development at PLU and was directly responsible for curating adaptive and sharable content that can be centrally managed and delivered through evolving sets of media.
Simon Sung, executive creative director
Simon Sung graduated in 1990 from the University of Washington. During his tenure in the design field he has worked for various clients including Simon and Schuster, Random House, Crown, Disney, Chronicle Books, Starbucks and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Chris Albert, director of web development
Chris currently leads our web team in planning, designing, developing and implementing the PLU website. He started at PLU in 2008 as a content development specialist creating different ways to tell the PLU story. Before that he spent more than two years as a reporter at the Pierce County Herald, covering Bonney Lake and Puyallup.
John Froschauer, photographer
Prior to his time at the university, John spent 15 years working for himself with a main client, Associated Press and APImages, but also worked with regional and international news outlets along with corporate clients.
Way back when — in 1977 — John graduated from Ohio University with a B.F.A. in photography and an emphasis on photojournalism. John mostly spent his working life as a photojournalist with newspapers or news agencies.
Debbie Cafazzo, Constituent Communications Manager
Debbie Cafazzo, a communications manager in PLU’s University Relations Division, was a longtime education reporter at The News Tribune in Tacoma before moving to the public information office at Tacoma Public Schools. She joined PLU in 2019. Reach her at dcafazzo@plu.edu.
Thomas Kyle-Milward, Assistant Director of Media and Content
Thomas has worked at both The Oregonian and Tacoma’s The News Tribune over the past five years, specializing in copy editing, design, research, proofing and the occasional spot of writing.
A journalism graduate of the University of Oregon, he also ran The Daily Emerald copy desk and was recognized as a 2012 Dow Jones News Fund intern.
Josh Wiersma, videographer
Joshua is a senior from Gig Harbor, Washington, working toward a bachelor’s degree in communication with a focus in journalism. He is the current videographer for Marketing and Communications. An award-winning video specialist, Joshua has worked with a number of local clients — such as KBTC Public Television, The Doty Group and the Greater Tacoma Convention Center — to help capture and share compelling stories with broad audiences. Joshua formerly served as the lead videographer for the prestigious student-media organization MediaLab, for which he helped produce film and edit long-form documentary projects. He is aiming to move into the video production industry post graduation.
Logan Seelye, senior web designer
Logan graduated from Central Washington University in 2009 and did freelance work for several years. He started working at PLU in 2012. Since then, he’s been responsible for completely redesigning the university’s website, and was a huge contributor ahead of an award for outstanding design and functionality in 2015. He is also the author of the book, 10 and 90: The Tackle That Changed Everything, and an inspirational speaker. He is on a mission to share his story and positive attitude after a spinal cord injury in high school left him in a wheelchair and derailed his dreams of playing professional football.
When he’s not designing, writing or speaking, Logan enjoys going to the gym and relaxing at home with his wife, daughter and dog. They currently reside in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and are lifelong Seattle Seahawks fans.
Sam O’Hara ’16, Web/UX Designer and Animator
Sam O’Hara graduated in 2003 from Western Washington University. She received her MBA at PLU in 2016, and has designed for past clients including Disney and Nickelodeon, and was Stephanie Anne Johnson’s manager and publicist during her time on The Voice.
Guest Contributors
Kari Plog ’11
Kari Plog, digital content manager at public radio station KNKX, spent five years as a reporter and copy editor at The News Tribune in Tacoma. In 2015, the Society of Professional Journalists named her Western Washington New Journalist of the Year. She returned to PLU as part of its communications team in 2016. She joined KNKX in 2018.
Vince Schleitwiler
As a journalist, Vince Schleitwiler has written for the Village Voice, FILMMAKER, Crosscut, and the International Examiner, and once served as a high school movie critic for the Chicago Tribune. He has taught comparative ethnic studies at several universities, published a book, “Strange Fruit of the Black Pacific,” and collaborated on public arts and humanities projects on Japanese American history.
Lisa Patterson ’98
Lisa Patterson is the editor in chief of South Sound magazine and 425 magazine, both regional, award-winning lifestyle publications. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1998, and enjoys coming back to campus to talk to students about media-related topics.