Our Mission

DIRECTOR

Kortnie Horazdovsky is the director of the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism. She’s a born-and-raised Alaskan who graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she was the editor of the Sun Star, the student newspaper. Though her college years and internships were print-based, she spent her professional journalism career at Channel 2 News/Alaska’s News Source, where she spent 12 years in many roles, from digital reporting and management to newscast producer, the investigative team, the assignment desk and executive producer. Her passion for sustainability in local journalism brought her to ACEJ in 2023.

BOARD CHAIR

Lori Townsend is the News Director for Alaska Public Media. A Midwestern transplant, Townsend came to Alaska in 1999 to work as a broadcast trainer for Koahanic Broadcast Corporation. In 2003 she was hired as reporter/host of Alaska News Nightly for the Alaska Public Radio Network, a statewide coalition of 26 independent public radio stations. In addition to her newsroom duties, she hosts two statewide news and public affairs programs, Talk of Alaska for radio and Alaska Insight for television. She has worked in print and broadcast journalism for more than 27 years.

BOARD MEMBER

Mark Trahant is editor-at-large for ICT, a daily digital news platform that covers the Indigenous world, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and First Nations. He is a past Atwood Chair of Journalism at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Trahant is former editor of the editorial page for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He also worked at The Seattle Times, Arizona Republic, The Salt Lake City Tribune, Moscow- Pullman Daily News, the Navajo Times, Navajo Nation Today and the Sho-Ban News. He is a member of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribe and is former president of the Native American Journalists Association. He was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

BOARD MEMBER

Elizabeth Arnold is a professor of Journalism and Public Communications at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She is a former NPR political correspondent. For twenty years she was a familiar voice on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and a regular presence on PBS Washington Week, covering Congress, the White House, and the West. Over the last decade, she has reported on the impacts of climate from some of the most remote areas of the Arctic. Arnold has received numerous awards, including a duPont Columbia University Silver Baton and the Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress.

BOARD MEMBER

Rosey Robards is the director of the Alaska Teen Media Institute, where teens produce a monthly, public affairs radio show and other journalism content. She graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a degree in Journalism and Public Communications in 2005. Her byline has appeared in the Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage Press and The Northern Light. Robards is the current executive director of the Alaska Press Club, an organization that provides resources and networking opportunities for journalists in the 49th state.

BOARD MEMBER

Kristin Hall is the Development Director for KYUK, the longest running Indigenous-owned and operated radio station in the country. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she moved to Bethel, Alaska in 2009 with plans to stay for just two years. She found her start in public radio as a volunteer DJ at KYUK. Hall ended up spending seven years in Bethel, and now lives in Anchorage. She never misses Science Friday or Marketplace. Kristin is an active member of the Y-K Delta Women in Philanthropy, and enjoys travel, sled dogs, and camping.