Six Emersonians to Receive Awards During Alumni Weekend

Emerson will recognize six esteemed alumni during Emerson College Alumni Weekend in September. This year’s recipients are being recognized for excellence in political communications, theatre, speech pathology, film, TV, radio, podcasting, social media, and more.

Emerson Alumni Weekend is September 26-28, and the Extraordinary Together: Alumni Awards Celebration is on Saturday, September 27, from 6:00-10:00 pm at The Newbury Boston. WERS Hall of Famer Matt Shearer ’09 is emceeing the event. As a reporter for WBZ NewsRadio, Shearer, who runs the station’s TikTok channel, has become New England’s most viral journalist, according to the Boston Globe.

The celebration will honor Emerson alumni for significant contributions to their profession and community, and will include a cocktail reception, three-course dinner, dancing, and entertainment. Tickets are still available to honor exceptional Emersonians, reconnect with friends, and celebrate the power of our community. The Alumni Awards  is a ticketed event and requires you to “Book” this event during registration.

Register for Emerson College Alumni Weekend 2025

Two Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees

The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed upon an alum by the Emerson College Alumni Association. Established in 1978,  the award recognizes an individual’s contributions to their profession and/or community and personal commitment to the mission of Emerson College.

Chelsey Cartwright ’13 is program manager for the Democracy Truth Project at the League of Women Voters of the United States, where she works to counter mis- and disinformation, and advance a deeper understanding of the democratic and electoral process.

She previously was deputy White House liaison for the Department of the Interior under President Joe Biden. Prior to that, she was Southern regional political director for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, and Northeast regional political director for Biden’s campaign.  She was also director of constituent services for now-Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley’s office when she was a Boston City Councilor, and worked in former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s administration as a constituent services aide and deputy director of the Office of Boards and Commission.

At Emerson, Cartwright assisted the women’s basketball team, and regularly helmed WERS’ The Secret Spot show as DJ C Royale. She found her true calling at the Cultural Center, working with SpeakUp and EBONI.

Jonathan Stuart Cerullo ’82, MA ’23 is an award-winning director-choreographer and executive producer whose career spans more than 43 years across Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours, international productions, symphony concerts, cabaret, film, television, and circus arts.

Earlier this year, Cerullo directed and choreographed the New York Off-Broadway premiere of Mr. Puppy, The Musical, as well as directed industry presentations of Green, The Musical, and Abril. Other recent credits include conceiving and directing A Lotta Night Music, a 55th Anniversary Gala for Amas Musical Theatre, where he is also an Artistic Associate. His Broadway credits include Band in Berlin, Anna Karenina, The Three Musketeers, Say Goodnight Gracie, and as a professional dancer performing in Legs Diamond; the National Tour of Cats as Skimbleshanks, and as Big Daddy in Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity.

Cerullo is a member of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society where, in 2023, he received the prestigious SDC President’s Award; Actors Equity Association; and the Dramatists Guild.

Young Alumni Achievement Award

Established in 2003, the Young Alumni Achievement Award is bestowed upon an alum who has graduated within the past 10 years and has made significant achievements and contributions to their profession and/or community. 

This year’s honoree is Kimberly Lin, MS ’20. Lin is a user experience researcher at Google, where she works to make Google products more accessible and center the voices of end users.

In addition to guiding the inclusive design of web, mobile, and hardware products, including Chrome, Android, Pixel, Nest, and Gemini, Lin’s background informs the development of Google’s AI-powered assistive technologies, including Live Captions, Live Transcribe, and Project Relate, all of which aim to improve speech recognition for people with communication disabilities. She has developed Google training on inclusive research and design, and advises product teams on accessibility best practices.

Prior to joining Google, Lin was a speech-language pathologist at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Boston, where she provided therapy to children with complex medical needs, including brain injuries, autism, and developmental disabilities.

WERS Hall of Fame Award Winners

The WERS Hall of Fame Award was created to honor alumni and faculty who contributed to the station’s success or distinguished themselves through their accomplishments in the industry.

Doug Herzog ’81, LHD ’08, P ’13 formerly was the president of Viacom’s Music & Entertainment Group, where he oversaw Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, TVLand, and Logo. He is widely recognized in the industry for leading and building some of cable television’s most successful network brands, as well as launching long-running hits that permeated the cultural zeitgeist. Under his leadership, Viacom became home to acclaimed franchises, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, South Park, Key & Peele, and Inside Amy Schumer, among others.

Herzog’s Viacom career began in 1984, when he joined MTV. Prior to his return to the company in 2004, Herzog served as president of Entertainment at the FOX Broadcasting Company, and as president of USA Network, where he ignited the network’s original scripted programming with the award-winning Monk.

During his first term at Viacom, Herzog started as MTV news director, creating the network’s influential news department, and eventually rose to president of MTV Productions, overseeing all the channel’s original programming.

Herzog has served as an Emerson College Trustee since 2010.

Georgette Pierre, MA ’09 is a creative producer, storyteller, and voice actor with more than 15 years of experience crafting compelling narratives across various media platforms.

She served as the local morning host for The Rickey Smiley Morning Show at 99Jamz in Miami, and formerly was the host of Emerson College Alumni Association’s podcast, Making It Big in 30 Minutes. She also was a co-host of The Creative Cut Up podcast, hosted by writer, director, and producer, Felicia Pride, MA ’05.

Her passion for storytelling is evident in her personal projects, including the Black + Nuanced Podcast; and her two digital series: relationship themed, #DearGeorgette, and candid interview series, After Dark with Georgette Pierre. She also has had bylines on Entertainment Weekly, VH1, MTV Hip Hop (formerly MTV RapFix), Blavity, and Killer Boombox.

Pierre has voiced campaigns for Botox, Saysh , MTV/Homes.com, Intuit Credit Karma, Grace Goldstein in NBA 2K21, Waze, Spotify, Shipt, Flamingo, Rinvoq, and the intro of the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary Afrofuturism: The Origin Story among others.

Barry Scott ’85 is a writer and radio disc jockey whose show, The Lost 45s, began at Emerson in 1982, and was picked up by commercial radio stations to become syndicated worldwide in 1993. The show endured for more than 40 years and continues in worldwide syndication and as a weekly podcast at lost45.com. The Lost 45s was recognized by many national publications, including Billboard, Rolling Stone, Spin and the New York Daily News.

Scott raised more than a million dollars to fight AIDS, co-creating the “Aim for the Heart” Radiothon and a series of concerts starring KC & The Sunshine Band, Captain & Tennille, The Cowsills, David Cassidy, and the Bay City Rollers. Barry also hosted a dance show for many years, has been a club DJ, and has worked for assisted living and memory care facilities, playing music and trivia. 

His first book, We Had Joy, We Had Fun, published by Faber & Faber, was an international bestseller. Scott has appeared on VH-1’s Behind The Music, CNN, Good Morning America, and Entertainment Tonight.