Ike Valentine Iyioke
Class of 1999
Communications manager
University Relations at Michigan State University

"Without a doubt, my link up with the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism has been the icing on the cake in my writing career. When I left Lagos on a McArthur Foundation Fellowship, little did I imagine I’d berth at the shores of the center. And boy, was I lucky that I did!"

I happily accepted a communications manager position at MSU's University Relations office, effective Dec. 8, 2006. My primary beat covers international affairs and education. On a day-to-day basis, I place stories about MSU people and programs, find and develop stories, cultivate relationships with local, regional, national and international media, etc.

Up until then, I was the editor/information resources manager at MSU’s Center of Excellence at the College of Human Medicine. While in that role, I wrote stories, designed and edited The Voice newsletter for the center. Its contents cover topics such as direct (habit, heredity) and indirect (policy, environmental) causes of diseases among disadvantaged populations. I also developed needed expert systems by translating medical concepts into layman’s language. I formatted the articles to suit online publication. In addition, I was also the consultant/reporter for the MSU Pediatrics Department.

Earlier, I worked as a research assistant/technical writer at the MSU Center for Integrative Toxicology (formerly the Institute for Environmental Toxicology) for five years. While in this position, I conducted research, interpreted data and analyzed findings on topical environmental/health issues. Topics included the effects of radon, PCBs and lead on people and the environment; and common animal diseases such as mad cow disease. I developed needed expert systems by translating technical jargon and concepts into user-friendly language. I designed the institute's IET Update newsletter. I also edited the institute's bi-weekly bulletin; and assisted Jim Detjen with organizing the Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institutes for environmental journalists, etc.

I managed the Center for Integrative Toxicology's Web site as well.  It is the institute's foremost tool for its outreach program. The site outlines the latest news, regulations, ongoing research, related academic programs and myriad toxicology issues for journalists and the public.

Back in Nigeria, I worked as a features writer for the country’s flagship of print media, The Guardian Newspapers, in Lagos, for five years. I wrote in-depth, full-page feature stories on a variety of topics including health and the environment.

I have won a few honors, too. I was a 1994 Commonwealth Media Award finalist for environmental reporting; a 1996 MacArthur Foundation-Social Science Research Council fellowship recipient; and a recipient of the Nigerian Union of Journalists award for an aviation story of the same year. Also, I received a 1997 spring-semester scholarship award from the MSU School of Journalism; was a 1997 winner of Rennie Taylor/Alton Blakeslee Fellowship for the promotion of science writing along with Karlyn Haas – the first at MSU J-School; a 1998 spring-semester scholarship awardee from the MSU School of Journalism; and the 1998 winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) fellowship award for the SEJ annual conference.

Courtesy of the Knight Center, I attended the annual Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institute from 1996 to 1999; the 1998 SEJ conference in Chattanooga, Tenn.; and the epoch-making 2000 SEJ conference in East Lansing, Mich.

I have a master’s degree in environmental journalism from MSU and another master’s degree in international relations from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

—Ike Valentine Iyioke