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Roger Boye, Program Director
Boye has been a part of the cherub program since 1971. He was associate director before becoming program director in 1985.
Boye is an associate professor emeritus at Northwestern University and served as Medill assistant dean and director of the Medill undergraduate program for 19 years. He is faculty chair of Northwestern’s Communications Residential College and parliamentarian of the Northwestern Faculty Senate. For many years he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and the Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree and from Medill with a master’s degree.
Fun fact: His summer garden includes tomatoes, peppers, onions and corn.
Marjorie Geraci, Program Assistant
Geraci has been part of the cherub program since 2019.
Geraci started in January 2019 as program assistant for Medill pre-collegiate programs and also assists in the school’s efforts to promote our undergraduate program with high school journalists in Chicagoland area. She is also a freelance artist with bachelor degree in Fine Arts.
Fun fact: She does live wedding/event paintings, portraits (pet portraits are extremely popular right now) and other commissioned works of art.
Joe Grimm, Co-Head Instructor
Grimm has been an instructor since 2009.
Grimm is professor emeritus in service at Michigan State University. His students publish “bias busters,” a series of guides about cultural competence. The 20+ guides have covered African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, East Asian cultures, veterans, immigrants, Hmong Americans and U.S. Catholics. He worked as a recruiter at the Detroit Free Press for 18 years and recruited for the Freedom Forum and Patch.
Fun fact: “The Faygo Book” by Grimm came out in 2018. It follows “Coney Detroit,” another book about an iconic Detroit food.
Mary Lou Song, Co-Head Instructor
Song was a cherub in 1986 and has been a cherub instructor since 2003.
Mary Lou Song is an adjunct lecturer at Medill. She has more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur in technology. Mary Lou has been a cherub instructor for more than 20 years. She holds a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University, an M.A. in media studies from Stanford University, and an Ed.D. in leadership and learning in organizations from Vanderbilt University.
Fun fact: She learned to walk on fire.
J.A. Adande, Instructor
Adande has been an instructor since 2022.
J.A. Adande is the director of sports journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communication. He has worked in sports media for over three decades, including multiple roles at ESPN and 10 years as a sports columnist at the Los Angeles Times, in addition to jobs at The Washington Post and Chicago Sun-Times. Adande has covered a broad array of sports and events, including 20 NBA Finals, Super Bowls, the World Series, the Stanley Cup finals, the Olympics, the World Cup, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Masters. He continues to appear on ESPN’s “Around The Horn”, where he has been a panelist since the show’s beginning in 2002. He taught sports journalism and p.r. as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California from 2004-2015. Adande is a Medill BSJ graduate.
Fun Fact: He has been to every state in the union except Alaska.
Dr. Ava Thompson Greenwell, Instructor
Dr. Greenwell has been an instructor since 2019.
She has taught broadcast writing, reporting and production classes at Northwestern University since 1993. In addition to her teaching duties, she has held several administrative posts including associate dean for curriculum, director of the Teaching Television Program, co-curator for the nationally recognized Ida B. Wells award and director of the McCormick Tribune Fellows Program. Currently, she serves as co-director of the South Africa Journalism Residency Program. She has been a freelance correspondent for Chicago Tonight, a PBS news program. She also worked as a reporter at WFLA-TV, Tampa, FL; WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, MN; and WEHT-TV, Evansville, IN. She holds a BSJ and MSJ from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in African American Studies.
Fun fact: She has lived in Spain, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky and Minnesota.
John Kupetz, Instructor
Kupetz has been a cherubs instructor since the early 1980s. He has taught several staff members, including guest instructors Cynthia Wang and Bret Begun.
Kupetz is a professor at the College of Lake County, a Medill adjunct professor and faculty fellow at Northwestern’s Communications Residential College. Previously, he was a placement director and assistant professor at Medill for 10 years. He has master’s degrees from Medill and Bowling Green State University.
Fun fact: “There’s nothing at all interesting about me. I have no personality.”
Carlin McCarthy, Instructor
McCarthy has been an instructor since 2017.
McCarthy is currently a master’s degree candidate in the Engagement Journalism program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. She’s also an experienced broadcast news producer who most recently worked as a segment producer at NBC News Now’s Top Story with Tom Llamas where she was responsible for producing and editing segments and stories for air. Previously, she worked as an associate producer at ABC News’ World News Tonight with David Muir and as an assistant production coordinator at BuzzFeed. She has a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Medill at Northwestern University.
Fun fact: Has season tickets for the New York Liberty and saw the team win their first championship in franchise history!
Ceci Rodgers, Instructor
Prof. Rodgers has been an instructor since 2024.
She has taught basic writing and reporting, broadcast and business reporting at Northwestern University’s Medill School since 2005. As faculty director of global journalism learning at Medill, Rodgers has overseen more than a dozen undergraduate and graduate courses with embedded travel to locations such as London, Tokyo and Argentina. She has also served as president of Northwestern’s Faculty Senate. Prior to Medill, Rodgers spent nearly two decades as a business correspondent and anchor for CNN and CNNfn, reporting from Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York and Tokyo. Her stories have appeared on CNBC, NBC, Reuters Insider, nationally syndicated TV show Business Week Weekend and the PBS show CEO Exchange. Rodgers has a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Northwestern University, and a master’s degree in journalism from Medill.
Fun fact: She was a White House intern her junior year of college.
Karen Springen, Instructor
Springen was a cherub instructor in 2010, 2017 – 2025.
She leads the graduate journalism Magazine Specialization, and teaches undergraduate and graduate reporting and writing classes. She also advises several student groups, including the student-run North by Northwestern magazine. For eight years, she directed Medill’s Journalism Residency program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University, where she was editor-in-chief of The Stanford Daily, and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. For 24 years, she reported full time for Newsweek. She has published stories in many publications, including Chicago magazine, Stanford magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Publishers Weekly. She regularly writes reviews for the American Library Association’s Booklist.
Fun fact: She ran the Boston Marathon while pregnant.
Erin Ailworth, Instructor
Erin Ailworth was a cherub in 1998.
Erin covers grain markets for Bloomberg. Prior to her current role, she spent a decade at The Wall Street Journal in a variety of roles. She was part of a team named Pulitzer finalists for the Journal’s coverage of PG&E and the wildfires in California.
She has also worked at the Boston Globe, the Orlando Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times.
Erin is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School and a lifetime member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, where she served four years on the national board. She is an alum of METPro and the Medill Cherubs program.
Fun fact: Once crashed in a bus with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan.
Bret Begun, Guest Instructor
He was a cherub in 1993 and a community associate in 1995. He has been an instructor for more than 20 years.
Begun is a senior editor at Bloomberg Businessweek. He was an articles editor for Details magazine and worked at Newsweek magazine for 13 years, principally as its front-of-the-book editor. He was Newsweek’s national affairs editor for the 2008 election and covered the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Olympic Games.
Fun fact: He can juggle.
Lindsey Kratochwill, Guest Instructor
Kratochwill was a 2010 and 2011 community associate, a 2012 instructor and has been a guest instructor since 2013.
After graduating from Medill in 2012, Kratochwill worked for print magazines— first at Fast Company, then at Popular Science. At Popular Science, she launched and hosted an original podcast. She went on to work as a producer for Panoply, and she served as a producer, editor, and managing editor for Wonder Media Network. As a freelancer, she’s made podcasts for companies such as Bloomberg, the Mash-Up Americans, Stitcher, Slate, and ABC. She’s currently pursuing a master’s degree in library and information science.
Fun fact: I play the mandolin.
Cynthia Wang, Guest Instructor
Wang was a 1988 cherub, a guest instructor for 25 years and a full-time instructor from 2012-2016.
Wang graduated from Medill in 1993. She worked for People Magazine for 18 years as an entertainment writer, reporter and editor. She has traveled to five Olympic Games, nine “American Idol” finales and seven “Survivor” locations. In 2011, Wang left People and moved to Australia to work as a staff writer for Who (People’s Australian sister magazine). She is currently a freelance entertainment writer and editor.
Fun fact: Wang’s first follower on Twitter/X was President Barack Obama.
Audrey Pachuta, Community and Academic Associate
Audrey Pachuta is a sophomore from Swedesboro, NJ, and was a 2022 cherub.
Pachuta is double majoring in journalism and political science and is a reporter for the Daily Northwestern. In her free time, Pachuta enjoys drinking black coffee and visiting independent bookstores.
Fun fact: She has a favorite sports team in three of the four continental US time zones.
Ashley Dong, Community and Academic Associate
Ashley Dong is a sophomore from the San Francisco Bay Area and was a 2023 cherub.
She is studying journalism and computer science and reports for The Daily Northwestern. When she’s not writing or snapping photos, Dong can be found singing Broadway ballads or playing pick-up soccer.
Fun fact: I based my fourth grade class vice president campaign around saving the monarch butterflies. I did not win.
Desiree Luo, Community and Academic Associate
Desiree Luo is a sophomore from the Bay Area. She was a 2023 cherub.
Luo is studying journalism, political science and French. She writes for The Daily Northwestern and North by Northwestern. In her free time, she enjoys visiting cafes, updating her Letterboxd and cheering on her favorite sports teams.
Fun fact: She loves broccoli.
Ben Shapiro, Community and Academic Associate
Shapiro is a Medill sophomore from outside of Philadelphia studying journalism and legal studies. Outside of class, you can find him reporting on Evanston city news for The Daily Northwestern and competing with Northwestern's Mock Trial team. Shapiro is passionate about student press freedom rights and always happy to give a cherub a crash course on their First Amendment rights.