Shannon Littlejohn, president of Shannon Littlejohn Communications, former Wichita State University writer/editor and Wichita Eagle section editor, has been selected by the faculty at WSU’s Elliott School of Communication to receive the 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award.

Joining Littlejohn is the Elliott School’s “One to Watch” honoree, Roni Ayalla, a 2008 integrated marketing communications grad, community advocate and founder of Sandpaper Productions, a New York City presentation consulting company. The “One to Watch” award recognizes a graduate from the past 10 years who is engaged in outstanding work in his or her field.

“Elliott School graduates are known for their ability to work in multiple communication formats and for their ability to stay ahead of the curve,” said Eric Wilson, ESC instructor and outreach director. “Shannon and Roni embody these characteristics in their work experience, leadership and creativity.”

Shannon Littlejohn

Littlejohn grew up in a family that was passionate about words, she said, given to reading, singing and conversation, including discussions about good grammar.

After graduating from Wichita High School East in 1969, Littlejohn said she was distracted from college by an early marriage, adventures in California, single life in Kansas City and, finally, a move back to Wichita as a phototypesetter for graphic design and print shops.

She was working as a typesetter at The Wichita Sun when she met and was inspired by a crew of journalists, including the late Les Anderson and Randy Brown. It was Anderson who advised her to start working on a journalism degree at Wichita State.

“So many good things came my way through the Elliott School’s excellent faculty,” Littlejohn said, “especially Les Anderson. It’s been a pleasure to watch the school grow and evolve, yet maintain its dedication to real-world experiences.”

Littlejohn wrote and copyedited for The Sunflower student newspaper and Active Aging, and freelanced for the Wichita Business Journal, among others. She served two copyediting internships at The Wichita Eagle, which hired her in 1989 as a copyeditor for the editorial board, which she did for 11 years before being laid off.

She took the opportunity – and severance pay – to start Shannon Littlejohn Communications, which today has an active client list that includes the Kansas Leadership Center and Wichita State University. She also worked for WSU’s University Communications (now called Strategic Communications) for many years.

Littlejohn serves on the boards of Wichita Professional Communicators and the Wichita Public Library, and is a past board member of the Kansas Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Wichita Radio Reading Service. She has served since 1991 as a contest judge for the annual Kansas High School Scholastic Association journalism contest hosted on the Wichita State campus.

Roni Ayalla

Ayalla is a creative strategist and visual designer whose work puts her at the intersection of storytelling, education and advocacy.

Her business, Sandpaper Productions, was founded in 2012 with the mission of helping clients craft and refine narratives for high-stakes moments. Sandpaper Productions’ clients include corporate executives, nonprofit organizations, publicly elected officials, city governments and thought-leaders across many disciplines, but particularly the digital health care and criminal justice reform space.

In close collaboration with her clients, Ayalla’s designs have been presented at events such as the Skoll World Forum, TEDx, Health2.0 conferences and in countless venture capital pitches.

At WSU, Ayalla gained a diverse range of experience through cooperative education positions and was active in Public Relations Society of America, Wichita Professional Communicators and Kansas Professional Communicators.

“The Elliott School encouraged experimentation, creation and learning by doing,” Ayalla said. “Faculty and staff went beyond the call of duty to connect students to professionals in the field, creating a rich, supportive environment. Class work was always meaningful and high-stakes as we practiced theory and hard skills in true-to-life situations. My time at the Elliott School taught me to work hard, be humble and never stop learning.”

After graduating in 2008, Ayalla earned a master’s of communication in digital media at the University of Washington, Seattle. She served as a mayoral appointee on The Citizens’ Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board, which exists to provide guidance and a roadmap for the digital future of Seattle. Before relocating to New York in 2012, Ayalla was civic engagement and digital media programs director at the Metrocenter YMCA.

This year, Ayalla is working with JustLeadershipUSA, a startup dedicated to cutting the U.S. prison population in half by 2030. She will also serve as advisory board member of Voice Inc, a South Carolina organization that aims to strengthen youth voice by helping them identify their purpose, power and passion.