Young Hyatt, a 1994 political science graduate and a 1997 college student personnel graduate, has been the dean of students at the University of Alabama, Huntsville since January. Prior to that appointment she was the associate dean for students for four years at the University of South Florida (USF). Young Hyatt has also served as the chair of the Board for the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA); as director of student life at the University of South Florida, Petersburg; and as associate and assistant director of Student Activities at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Young Hyatt began her professional career working as a graduate assistant in the Office of Student Activities at Western Illinois University.

In her role at UAHuntsville, Young Hyatt is responsible for creating and maintaining a healthy, safe, and supportive environment for students. During her time at the University of South Florida, Young Hyatt developed the Student Life & Engagement Group, and also created and managed a co-curricular transcript program, which was used on all USF campuses. She is an active member, serving in numerous leadership roles, of NACA, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and Leadershape, Inc. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alabama NASPA. She has presented at professional conferences throughout the United States and has published in various professional journals. She is an active member within her community including in her church, and assisting with various service projects within the Huntsville community. She has participated in Western's annual CSP institute.

During her time as an undergraduate, Young Hyatt was an active member of the Student Government Association and University Union Board. She received her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida.

Konkol, a 1995 communication graduate, has been a writer with the Chicago Sun-Times since 2004. In April, Konkol and his reporting team received a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. Pulitzer judges recognized the trio for "their immersive documentation of violence in Chicago neighborhoods, probing the lives of victims, criminals and detectives as a widespread code of silence impedes solutions." Born and raised in south suburban Chicago, Konkol's assignments at the Sun-Times include Chicago neighborhoods and his blog, "Konkol's Korner."

He has also covered transportation, courts, Chicago City Hall and Cook County government in his 16-year reporting career. At Western, Konkol served as the Western Courier's news editor from 1993-1995. While still a student, he also worked as a news reporter for the Macomb Journal (now The McDonough County Voice), covering city and county government.

After leaving Macomb, Konkol started his career at Star Newspapers, a Chicago Sun-Times publication. He wrote for the Daily Southtown and the former Sun-Times Red Streak before joining the Chicago Sun-Times news staff seven years ago.