Pate McMichael

McMichael joined the faculty in August 2022 after spending three years as a professional-in-residence (news) at California's Chico State University, where he advised The Orion, an independent student newspaper, and taught public affairs reporting, media editing and other classes. From 2007-2019, McMichael taught journalism at Georgia College, a public liberal arts university, where he advised the student newspaper, The Colonnade, at the rank of senior lecturer. His students received national, regional and statewide recognition during his tenure. 

He is the author of Klandestine: How a Klan Lawyer and a Checkbook Journalist Helped James Earl Ray Cover Up His Crime (Chicago Review Press, 2015) and Operation Chrysler: Stolen Valor Behind Enemy Lines During World War II (2019). His work has been anthologized in Words Matter (University of Missouri Press, 2016) and The Bitter Southerner Reader, Vol. 3 (2019). He has worked as a freelance journalist, publishing long-form narratives in Atlanta Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Bitter Southerner, Zocalo Public Square, Lake Oconee Living, Georgia Backroads, Athens Magazine, and St. Louis Magazine. He interned with The Brownsville Herald on the U.S.-Mexico border and also worked as a student reporter for the Columbia Missourian and Vox magazine.  

McMichael has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a B.A. in History from the University of Georgia.