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In Good Company
Angela Buonocore and David Finkel are crossover hits. Both have flourished in careers outside their original fields of study in UF’s College of Journalism and Communications.
Buonocore earned an advertising degree in 1978 and is now vice president for corporate relations for ITT Corp. Finkel graduated a year earlier with a degree in telecommunication, and ended up as a Pulitizer Prize-winning writer with The Washington Post.
That kind of success is nothing new for the college. Its alumni shine in careers ranging from public relations and advertising to journalism, telecommunication and mass communication. Since 1916, when the university first began teaching journalism courses, some of the country’s most prestigious and promising communication professionals have studied at UF — such as professional baseball radio voice Red Barber (1934), advertising executive Irvin Ashkenazy (1933), Gannett Broadcasting president Alvin Flanagan (1941), television producer and “This Old House” host Bob Vila (1969), Public Radio and ABC News correspondent Deborah Amos (1972), Miami Herald columnist and author Carl Hiassen (1974), Emmy Award-winning CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson (1982), and ESPN reporter and studio host Erin Andrews (2000). In fact, UF’s journalism and communications college is the second largest program in the nation, with more than 23,000 graduates.
Buonocore and Finkel are prime examples of the caliber of alumni. That both did well in communication-related careers outside their majors speaks well for their UF education.
Buonocore’s responsibilities at ITT include overseeing branding. Although most people know the name, many have no idea what the company does, she says. They’re unaware of some of the company’s engineering and manufacturing feats.
“We advance human progress with our products and services,” Buonocore says.
While those products carry weight in their industries, she believes ITT’s brand can boost recognition.
“We should take the best of both worlds — the corporate brand with all the attributes it has built over time and the product brands, which mean a lot to our customers in service and support,” she explains. “Product brands can coexist well with a corporate brand.”
Finkel, meanwhile, is spending time in Baghdad’s Camp Rustamiyah — one of Iraq’s most dangerous, distressing areas — writing a book about American soldiers serving there.
“I’ve never come across a story with the potential of this one,” he says.
That includes his 2006 Pulitzer-nabbing series on the U.S. government’s attempt to democratize Yemen, and stories filed from Kosovo, Afghanistan and southern Iraq.
He started the book in spring 2007, spending two months with the 800-troop infantry battalion. After filling 15 notebooks, he managed to answer his most pressing question: Is this story worth the sacrifice and risk?
“It’s the most essential story of my lifetime,” Finkel insists.
