A visiting cousin's thank-you gift led Dr. Marianne Barrett into the world of flame orange, passion red and electric blue. Now, words like stringing, crimping and knotting fill Dr. Barrett's off-time vocabulary in her oh-so dazzling private world of beads. Creating personalized jewelry is her way of de-stressing, although she admits beading takes up a lot more time than expected.

Her contributions to electronic media education earned her the title of Frank Stanton Fellow by the International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) in 2002. The former ESPN programming executive was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in 2005.
With necklaces under her belt, Dr. Barrett plans to train her tools on earrings in the near future.
If you're lucky to get a pair, don't forget to show them off. "I love it when I see someone wear something I made," Dr. Barrett says, beaming.