College of Communications to host alumni seminar as part of Homecoming activities

September 29, 2010 -- Two graduates of Arkansas State University’s College of Communications will return to campus Saturday, Oct. 2, for the Alumni Seminar. Radio-television alum Darrell Greene from WHBQ-TV in Memphis and Communications Studies alum Rhonda Davis, an attorney, are the featured speakers for the event which will be from 10-11:30 a.m. in the ASU-TV studio in the Communications/Education Building, 330 University Loop West. Refreshments will be served from 9-10 a.m.

Also, the college will have a tailgate party from 3:30-5:30 p.m. prior to ASU’s Homecoming battle with the University of Louisville at 6 p.m. Cost of the tailgate is $2 per person. Persons must RSVP by sending an e-mail to comm@astate.edu. Walk-ups are welcome until all food is gone. For more information, contact Dr. Osa Amienya, interim dean of the College of Communications, at osami@astate.edu.

Greene graduated in May 1991 and landed a job in Montgomery, Ala., at WAKA-TV two weeks after receiving his diploma.  He worked as the weekend sports anchor for one year and was promoted to sports director.  While there, he called play-by-play for the Troy State Trojans football team and hosted the Larry Blakeney coach's show. 

His next stop was up the road to Huntsville, Ala., and WAFF-TV in 1993.  While working as sports director there, he covered NCAA football, baseball, basketball, and hockey championships, the World Series with the Atlanta Braves, and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which included non-stop coverage of the Olympic bombing.  Greene and his crew were among the first to arrive on the scene after the bomb exploded, and he was the first non-network reporter to file a story that night. He followed up with live-shots and radio reports for two straight days. 

During his tenure in Huntsville, Greene was nominated for two Emmys.  He also won several Associated Press (AP) and National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association (NSSA) awards including "Outstanding Sports Anchor", "Best Sports Story", "Best Sports Feature", and "Alabama Sportscaster of the Year" two years in a row.

In 1997, Greene moved to New Orleans, La., to work for WVUE-TV as a weekend sports anchor and eventually as sports director.  From 1997-2004, he covered the New Orleans Saints and worked as a game-day sideline reporter for "The NFL on FOX” in 2002 and 2003.  He again won several AP awards for "Best Sportscast" and "Best Sports Feature" while covering the Saints, and the first post-September 11 Super Bowl in 2002. 

Greene changed gears in 2004 when he moved into the news department at WVUE, becoming a weekend news anchor and reporter until moving to the desk full-time as the morning news anchor.  In August of 2005, Greene was on the news desk as Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and was one of the first to report the levee breaches in New Orleans later that morning.  He and his colleagues filed hundreds of reports in the days and weeks and months after the storm. More awards followed, including honors for breaking news coverage and his work in the field.

In August 2007, he accepted a job at WFTV in Orlando, Fla., as the nightly anchor and daytime reporter for three years.  While there, he covered the Caylee Anthony disappearance story, space shuttle launches and more hurricanes.

He accepted the position of main anchor at WHBQ-TV in Memphis in July 2010 He anchors the 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. newscasts Monday through Friday. 

Rhonda Davis received a bachelor of arts in Speech Communication, with an equivalent bachelor of science degree in Business Administration.  She was a four-year member of the ASU Forensics and Debate Team and Marching Indian Band Rifle Line.  Davis received the Best Speaker Award for three of the four years of her collegiate career and Best Debater her senior year.  In spring 1986, she received a Distinguished Service Award and was recognized with the Wilson Award for the Most Outstanding Graduate at Arkansas State University.

She received a Rotary International Graduate Scholarship to Macquarie University Law School, Sydney, Australia, and graduated from University of Mississippi Law School.  At Ole Miss, she was editor of the Journal of Space Law and was a member of the National Trial Team and the Jessup International Law Moot Court Team.

Davis is licensed to practice law in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Ohio.  She began her career as an assistant attorney general in Tennessee's Office of Attorney General Antitrust Division, prosecuting bidriggers and pricefixers.  In 1994, she focused on litigation in practice with A. William Zavarello Co., L.P.A. in Akron, Ohio. 

In August 2007, she started Rhonda Davis and Associates. For her clients, she pursues cases for personal injury, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, nursing home litigation, and does pro bono work for groups which help the underprivileged and mentally and physically disabled.

She served as President of Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers in 2006-07, and Women's Caucus Chair (2007-08), Board of Governors, and Executive Committee for American Association for Justice. Supreme Court of Ohio appointed her to its Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness, where she served for six years. Davis sits on Akron Bar Association Grievance Committee and is a frequent lecturer across the country on litigation practice and theory, as well as professionalism and ethics.

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