Student/Alumni Kudos Archive (2015-2018)

Dec. 7, 2018

Kasey Adrian won the fall 2018 Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Photo Contest for her image of a student walking home after a long day at the UA Library. Alana Minkler took second with a photo of a rock climber on Mount Lemmon, while Karyme Cuadras finished third with a portrait of a tattoo artist. Adrian will receive $200, with Minkler getting $125 and Cuadras $75. They were among 11 finalists in Prof. Kim Newton's beginning photojournalism class (JOUR 203). The others were Nicole Danigelis (two photos), Colin Green, Julia Keymer, Joseph Ledesma, Sofia Moraga, James Parisi, Mekayla Phan and Griffin Riley. All 12 photos will hang in the hallway near Marshall 327. Click here to see the images, and go to journalism.arizona.edu/Gyorke to see past winners.

Zeina Cabrera-Peterson defended her master's thesis, "Politicking While Black," before a packed house today in Marshall 340. Professors Jeannine Relly (chair) and Linda Lumsden with the J-school and Bryan Carter (Africana Studies) and Kevin Henry (Educational Policy Studies and Practice) were Cabrera-Peterson's committee members. Her family also attended the presentation, which compared the media coverage of three African-American U.S. House candidates in the 2018 midterm election. Click here for photos.

Kathleen Kunz accepted a full-time reporting position with the Tucson Local Media group, which includes the Tucson Weekly, Explorer, Marana News and others. "I couldn't be happier since this is where I wanted to end up after college," she wrote on Facebook. Check out an editor's note on Kunz.

The Dec. 7 Tombstone Epitaph at tinyurl.com/y8f9ctyh featured stories on Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada (Eddie Celaya), Tombstone's future (Cedar Gardner), native Aravaipa fish (Moe Irish), the St. David school superintendent (Hannah Dahl), climate change in national parks (Kaitlyn Fletcher), medical marijuana (J.D. Molinary), the desert's influence on beer (Chandler Donald), a Havasu Canyon trip (Michelle Jaquette), Kitt Peak renovations (Corinna Tellez) and Bisbee's meth woes (Harry Reed).

Professor Jeannine Relly's master's theory and practice class participated in the taping of Arizona Daily Star's Dec. 7 "The Point Being" podcast with Luis Carrasco, David Fitzsimmons and Jonathan Hoffman. Students Claude Akins, Monika Damron, Sascha Fruehauf, Ty Hudson, Alisa Ivanitskaya, Nina Kolodij, Meredith O’Neil, Alexis Richardson, Chris Stidley, Elizabeth Whitthorne, Ambur Wilkerson and Justin Wiley talked about themselves, their projects and research, and reacted to current events.

Winter graduates Michelle Jaquette, Rosalina Emnace, Maria Marzano and Simon Asher received J-school reporter's notebooks from Professor Nancy Sharkey at the Dec. 6 year-end bash for the Arizona Daily Wildcat at Gentle Ben's. Click here for photos.

Koleia Bungard, Ivan Ford, RuthAnn Grumbling, Olivia Jackson and Pablo Padilla shared their border research with the Nogales community during the Dec. 3 "Border Journalism and Anthropology Showcase." They are part of the Reporting in the U.S-Mexico Borderlands and Anthropology classes taught by Profs. Celeste González de Bustamante and Linda Green. Click here for photos.

Kristan Obeng, a digital apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, covered El Tour de Tucson and the Bicycle, Health & Fitness Expo at http://wke.lt/w/s/T5eCC. She did video interviews with fans, race winners, cyclists and an Olympian, and tweeted all the videos. She also produced a video about the expo. She produced a video for a play called "SNOOPY" and wrote an Instagram post to highlight a reporter's story about the re-opening of a South Tucson restaurant that was damaged by a fire. Finally, Obeng gave a presentation to her desk editor and a sports producer about a sports analytics analysis she did to help improve the Star's coverage.

Jordan Williams, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, published a Nov. 13 story, "Stolen birthday checks, illegal Tucson gun purchases lead to 40-month prison term."

Haille Saal, a sports apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, published several volleyball stories, including "One week after NCAA Tournament elimination, Arizona Wildcats reflect on season," "Wildcats know NCAA Tournament match with Tigers is a chance to earn their stripes" and "Wildcats prepare for second-round NCAA Tournament match against Tennessee." 

Sarah Workman, a features apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a handful of stories, including "This 11-year-old Tucson boy's tortillas are flying off the shelves," "Green tea: The new health food must have," "'Mamma Mia!' aims to have you dancing in the aisles," "Tamales aplenty at annual Tucson Tamal & Heritage Festival" and "Get your ski on with Warren Miller film screening at The Loft."

Alexa Agostinelli, a features apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published "In a galaxy far, far away — that's where the TSO is headed this weekend."

Nick Trujillo helped the J-school recruit students from Tucson High, his alma mater, in a Nov. 14 visit. Trujillo also told students about the opportunities of working at the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Pueblo High students invited Arizona Daily Star reporter Gloria Knott ('18) to visit their English class.They wrote her letters after reading her spring 2018 El Independiente story on the gender wage gap. Go to tinyurl.com/y9v82h4k to read the J-school's award-winning bilingual magazine and Knott's story.

Andrew Paxton, assistant editor at the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun, spoke to William Schmidt's 306 class on Nov. 14 about local reporting. Paxton is the school's former SPJ president. Read his work at www.gvnews.com.

Danyelle Khmara ('17) and Brenna Bailey ('18) accepted jobs as reporters at the Arizona Daily Star. Khmara is covering public safety after making her mark as an award-winning journalist at the Tucson Weekly. Bailey is the Star's new K-12 education reporter after a Pulliam Fellowship at the Arizona Republic and internships at Arizona Public Media. The two former Star apprentices are also Arizona Daily Wildcat alums.

Bethany Barnes ('13 M.A.) will join the investigative team at the Tampa Bay Times next month after a 2 1/2-year stint at The Oregonian, where she won numerous national awards for her education reporting. Barnes continues to share her knowledge with our students — visiting the J-school in April and doing a video chat in September. 

Fernanda Echavarri ('07) is joining Mother Jones as a reporter-producer on immigration and identity after a three-year stint at NPR's Latino USA in New York. "She'll also be, after a move, establishing a beachhead for us in Los Angeles," tweeted Clara Jeffery, editor of Mother Jones, a nonprofit, independent journalism site (motherjones.com) and magazine. Hear Fernanda's podcast, "The 30 Days" about a family reunited after a nine-year separation because of immigration laws. It was a joint project with Arizona Daily Star reporter Perla Trevizo and photographer Mike Christy ('11).

Daniel Scarpinato ('04) will become Gov. Doug Ducey's chief of staff after Kirk Adams announced he's resigning from the post. Scarpinato, who headed up Ducey's communications team, is a former Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Capitol Times reporter and a 2011 Arizona Daily Wildcat young alumni award winner. Click here to read a story by the Tucson Sentinel.

Arizona Daily Star investigative reporter Caitlin Schmidt ('14) spoke to students at the Nov. 13 Talk & 'Tizers about her work with public records — most recently for her reporting on Title IX issues in the UA athletic department. She met with grad students and faculty afterward at Gentle Ben's for appetizers.

Nov. 9, 2018

Jordan Williams received the school's prestigious Bolles Fellowship for spring 2019. The senior will cover the Arizona Legislature for Arizona Sonora News. Go to tinyurl.com/yddyared to read about Jordan in the November e-Cursor.

The Nov. 9 Tombstone Epitaph had stories on Martha McSally (Eddie Celaya), poverty (Nels Bergeron), pecans (Hannah Dahl), literacy (Clara Lovell), Eegee's (Michelle Jaquette), Red for Ed (Bria Fonteno), the Sasabe port (Corinna Tellez), the Bisbee 1000 (J.D. Molinary), climate change (Molinary) and new lie detection technology (Chandler Donald). To read the issue, go to tinyurl.com/ybgkmjap.

Kristan Obeng, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her "Where to see fall colors in Tucson," "Your guide to All Souls" and "Ghost tours to try" video stories get play on tucson.com, Facebook and youtube. The fall colors video had more than 3,000 views on Facebook. She also wrote a breaking news story, "Woman flips SUV near front of Tucson Bank of America." 

Sarah Workman, a features apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, did an earlier story on the "Glow Festival." 

Haille Saal, a sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, shared a byline with Caitlin Schmidt ('14), "Misconduct claims led to probes of 16 University of Arizona athletes, staffers since 2012," and wrote more UA soccer stories, including "Arizona Wildcats 'up for a fight' against Denver in first round of NCAA Tournament."

Alexa Agostinelli, a features apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published "EDM superstar Jai Wolf brings chillwave vibes to Dusk Music Festival" and "Tucson's Dusk Music Festival will feature the same diverse music at a new home this year."

Pascal Albright and other students in the school's Society of Professional Journalists chapter made buttons to promote the values of press freedom and raise funds for the club. The buttons are $2 each, or three for $5. To order, go to PayPal.Me/SpjUAChapter. In the notes section, signify which buttons (below) you want, your shipping address and an email to contact you with questions. Email Spjuniversityofarizona@gmail.com or albright1@email.arizona.edu if you have questions.

Members of the 2017-18 Arizona Daily Wildcat staff won a Pacemaker for the second year in a row – this time for online – under the guidance of editors Chastity Eva Laskey ('18) and Courtney Talak ('18) and adviser Brett Fera. The award was announced last month at the national convention in Louisville.

Eight students from the Arizona Daily Wildcat, UATV and KAMP Student Radio covered the UA-UCLA football game last month at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Zach Lazarus, Robby Leaño, Jack Cooper, Alec White, Rob Kleifield, David Skinner, Maddie Viceconte and Amy Bailey also got to tour ESPN's L.A. studios, thanks to J-school alums and ESPN content specialists Michael Schwartz ('06) and Eitan Cramer ('12).

Paige Helfinstine was one of five nominees for Homecoming queen. Students, alumni and faculty voted on the winners, Jalon Jackson (queen) and Ahmed Al-Shamari (king). Read the Arizona Daily Wildcat story at tinyurl.com/yd4y4hlv.

Sam McNeil ('14, M.A.), a video journalist for The Associated Press, talked to students Oct. 23-24, including Maggy Zanger's international crises course and Kim Newton's photojournalism classes. McNeil is based in Beijing, producing breaking news and features, after earlier work in Jordan and the Middle East. Check out his recent multimedia story, "Melting glacier in China draws tourists, climate worries."

Brittny Mejia ('14) of the Los Angeles Times covered back-to-back tragedies: the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where she had the lead byline on the profile of the responding sheriff who was killed; and the wildfire that engulfed Malibu and Thousand Oaks, including a story on humans and animals seeking refuge at Zuma Beach.

Brittny Mejia ('14) talked about her recent stories on immigration and race in an Oct. 30 video chat with Jeannine Relly's graduate students. The stories included a migrant minor held at an adult detention facility, female janitors' safety and parents dealing with their 3-year-old's trauma of separation at the border. Mejia also did strong reporting last spring in the series, "A Dream Displaced" with a story on gentrification.

Hannah Gaber ('16 M.A.) began a new job last month as a video producer for USA TODAY in Tysons Corner, Virginia, near Washington. As a former video journalist at the Arizona Republic, her podcasts and videos helped the newspaper and the USA TODAY Network win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for the project, "The Wall: Unknown stories. Unintended consequences." For the past year, Hannah worked on a film in Cyprus through a Fulbright research grant.

Amanda Martinez ('17) of the Rio Grande Sun won a Sunshine Award from the New Mexico Press Association and captured second place in both investigative reporting and business reporting.

Gloria Knott ('18), a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, received 42 letters from English students at Pueblo High School who read her spring 2018 El Independiente story on the gender wage gap. One student wrote, “Your article inspired me to work hard so women get treated the same.” Go to tinyurl.com/y9v82h4k to read the school's award-winning bilingual magazine and Knott's story.

Jill Jorden Spitz ('88), editor of the Arizona Daily Star, spoke to apprentice students in Susan Knight's class Oct. 24 about success, jobs and the current state of affairs in the media business. 

Erin Shanahan ('15) started a new job in June as the external affairs coordinator at the Bullock Texas state History Museum in Austin, assisting with marketing and photography, after previous work at The Learning House Inc.

Adam Green ('06) began a new sports radio job, co-hosting The Daily Blender with Jeffry O'Brien on 1580 The Fanatic in Phoenix (1 to 3 p.m., weekdays) after previous work at KTAR-AM 620.

Danielle Fork ('17) started work as a development coordinator at Promise House, a Dallas center serving neglected, abused and at-risk youth after previous work for Kirkman Broadcasting in Charleston, S.C.

Kimberly Kolliner ('15) has been hired as a weekday news reporter and weekend weather anchor at Sinclair's KMPH-TV (Fox 26) in Fresno, California, after previous work at KTVL-TV in Medford, Oregon.

Veronica Cruz-Mercado ('09) has joined Arizona Public Media, where she is a community engagement and outreach specialist after earlier work at UA BookStores and the Arizona Daily Star.

Abragail Kappel ('12), a former broadcast journalist, has been promoted to director of promotions and production for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the Triple-A baseball team for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Christopher Rowland ('86) joined the Washington Post as a health care business reporter after 17 years as the Boston Globe's Washington bureau chief (story: tinyurl.com/ybjw29xz).

Silvia Sanchez ('16) started as a border reporter for Univision Arizona after earlier work as a radio host at La Poderosa (105.3-FM) and internships at the Arizona Daily Star and KVOA-TV. Watch her announcement at tinyurl.com/yb2nht45.

Sarah Covey ('18) landed a position as a real-time editor at KGUN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Tucson.

Oct. 20, 2018

Led by Editor Courtney Talak, the spring 2018 El Indpendiente staff placed third nationally in the 2018 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Student Magazine Contest with the issue, "Equality. The Status of Women in Arizona." Talak designed the cover of the bilingual magazine. Other staffers were ; Nick Smallwood (photo editor); Andrew Koleski (copy editor); reporters Gloria Knott, Isaac Rounseville, Allison Suarez, Jessica Suriano, Talak and Lauren Whetzel. Click here to read the issue.

Students in adjunct instructor Irene McKisson's editing class prompted AP Stylebook editors to change an entry on "hedging" that "presumed maleness." Click here to check out the new and old versions.

Pascal Albright, Claudio Cerrillo, Zoe Crowdus, Ava Garcia, Dalal Radwan and Green Valley News' Andrew Paxton were among those participating in the James W. Foley Freedom Run/Walk on Oct. 20. The global event honoring Foley, a freelance journalist who was slain by ISIS, was sponsored by the Center for Border & Global Journalism and the school's Society of Professional Journalists' chapter. See the photos and watch the video.

Grad students Dalal Radwan and Ava Garcia traveled to Baltimore in late September for the Society of Professional Journalists conference. They met Diane Foley, mother of American freelance journalist James Foley, who was killed by ISIS in 2014. Radwan tweeted about the SPJ sessions at twitter.com/DalalRadwan91. Foley's parents visited the J-school in 2015 for a panel, "Reporting in a More Dangerous World," hosted by the school's Center for Border & Global Journalism (tinyurl.com/yat6ex8o).

Grad students Ava Garcia, Ambur Wilkerson and Jessica Suriano gave tours of the Marshall Building's third floor during the school's Family Weekend get-together on Oct. 6.

Grad students Monika Damron and Ty Hudson and Ph.D. journalism minor Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan staffed the school's Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) table Oct. 8 at UA’s Indigenous People’s Day on the UA Mall. UA President Robert C. Robbins watched the festivities and spoke at the event, while grad student Krissy Obeng did an interview.

Simon Asher photographed the Zenger Award for Press Freedom reception and dinner honoring Carmen Aristegui. Micheal Romero took video of the night. Click here to see Asher's images.

The first Tombstone Epitaph of the semester came out Oct. 5. It included front-page articles: "Residency issues cloud 2nd District" (by Eddie Celaya); "Sahuarita: A playground for young families?" (by Michelle Jaquette); "What's the buzz? Native bees do it better" (by Katie Fletcher); and "Companies face backlash for border business" (Cedar Gardner). Click here to see the issue.

Jordan Williams, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published her first investigative story, "Former BLM employee sentenced in Tucson federal court for embezzlement scheme," on a woman who stole $90,000 from the government for her own personal use.

Sarah Workman, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story on the Tucson film fest  and another story on "5 places in Tucson to get a perfect bowl of ramen," and a story on artists reinterpreting the Lotería card.

Haille Saal, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a feature story on UA soccer players  Amanda Porter and Jill Aguilera, as well as Brynn Moga.

Alexa Agostinelli, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story on the True Concord choir, a guide to the Oro Valley music festival and a feature story on Switchfoot. 

Elizabeth Quinlan, a copy desk apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote numerous headlines, including:  "Nobel or no, vitamins don't treat the common cold"; "Worrying about friends' kids but showing you care"; and "Is it time to end ethanol mandate for auto fuels? a.Yes: Law is a boon for farmers, but consumers get ripped off."

Kristan Obeng, a multimedia apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, covered the Dutch Bros. Coffee grand opening with Instagram photos and website posts and received a lot of Facebook clicks for her preview on events coming to Tucson. She also published a cool post about the school's news product development class.

Lauren Trench, an apprentice photographer at the Arizona Daily Star, had a photo published that accompanied a story on a student housing developer.

Simon Asher contributed to the drone photography for this story on Tucson nurse Sarah Sellers, who finished second in the Boston Marathon. Sandra Westdahl ('12) and Vanessa Barchfield of Arizona Public Media produced the segment.

Danyelle Khmara ('17) of the Tucson Weekly and Caitlin Schmidt ('14) of the Arizona Daily Star won a combined seven first-place awards at the Arizona Newspapers Association's 2018 Better Newspaper Contest. Khmara captured Story of the Year for "Death Sentence." Other first-place winners were Alexis Bechman ('08), Kendal Blust ('16 M.A.), Yoohyun Jung ('15) and Dan Shearer ('85). Other alums getting awards were Mike Christy ('11), Dave Ord ('84), Curt Prendergast ('11 M.A.), Lauren Renteria ('17) and Peter Sibley ('81). Go to tinyurl.com/y833h8z2 to see all the award recipients, which included adjunct instructor Cathy Burch and former adjuncts Stephanie Innes, Jim Nintzel and Rob O'Dell.

Arizona Republic reporter John D'Anna ('83) spoke Oct. 3 to students and held an information session for the Pulliam Scholarship. D'Anna, a member of the school's Journalism Advisory Council, gave reporting pointers and talked about his career — including a legal battle to protect his unpublished notes in a crime case (tinyurl.com/yc8sfmt9). He spoke to students from Director Carol Schwalbe's 506 grad class and Linda Lumsden's 205 class.

Arizona Public Media's Sandra Westdahl ('12) won five Rocky Mountain Emmy awards Saturday in Phoenix; and Anna Augustowska ('14 M.A.) captured an Emmy with three colleagues as director of the short film, "Our Desert Farms" (environmental category). Westdahl won as editor of the sports segment, "Coach," and shared four other awards as editor/producer for “Ephemeral” (arts/entertainment), “Danzacultura” (historic/cultural news), “The Full Nelson” (human interest) and “Coach” (sports feature segment). See all the winners at tinyurl.com/ycp5wmnk.

A.J. Flick ('83) saw her first book, "Toxic Rage: A Tale of Murder in Tucson," published this month by WildBlue Press. She covered the court case about the murder of Dr. Brian Stidham for the Tucson Citizen, where she worked until its closing in 2009. The print, digital and audio books are available on Amazon.com and Wildbluepress.com. Flick works for McFadden/Gavender Advertising in Tucson as a copywriter and edits manuscripts for WildBlue Press.

Stephanie Casanova ('14) has left the Manhattan Mercury in Kansas to be a reporter at Today's News-Herald in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Read her farewell column at tinyurl.com/yazg7k4g. Also an Arizona Daily Wildcat alum, she started her new job this month at the News-Herald (havasunews.com).

Jeremy Duda ('03) became the associate editor for the Arizona Mirror — a new independent, nonprofit news organization in Phoenix — after spending eight years as a reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times. Go to https://www.facebook.com/azmirror for more information.

The Sept. 25 gubernatorial debate had a J-school flair. Adjunct instructor Lorraine Rivera ('04) of Arizona Public Media moderated, and the interview panel included adjuncts Christopher Conover of AZPM and Joe Ferguson ('06) of the Arizona Daily Star. Steve Goldstein of KJZZ also was a panel member. Watch it at tinyurl.com/y8tne2q5.

Joe Ferguson ('06) of the Arizona Daily Star was part of an Oct. 1 panel, "Why a Free Press is Important to Democracy," at The Loft Cinema along with emcee David Fitzsimmons, Tucson Weekly Editor Jim Nintzel, Tucson Sentinel Editor Dylan Smith, GOP National Committeeman Bruce Ash and City Councilman Steve Kozachik. Beforehand, UA Law Prof. Jane Bambauer highlighted the history and importance of the First Amendment.

Sept. 21, 2018

Pascal Albright, an Arizona Daily Wildcat editor, accepted a framed proclamation on Sept. 18 on behalf of the School of Journalism from the Pima County Board of Supervisors and Chairman Richard Elías, who deemed October "Freedom of the Press Month" and honored the school for its "vital role in training those who report the news." Go to tinyurl.com/yd8zqxhp for photos.

Sixteen students attended the all-clubs leadership retreat, hosted by Prof. Susan Knight. They talked about ideas and events, and had a tasty lunch from Beyond Bread. Students included Ambur Wilkerson, Melissa Vasquez, Zeina C. Peterson, David Pujol, Jessica Suriano, Pascal Albright, Dalal Radwan, Monika Damron, Ava Garcia, Rocky Baier, Mekayla Phan, Claudio Cerrillo, Griffin Riley, Leia Linn and Kara Lipson, and Ph.D. journalism minor Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan. 

Alexa Agostinelli is working as an apprentice in arts and entertainment at the Arizona Daily Star, where she’s seen several of her stories published already. Her first story was on the band 3 Doors Down. Her second story was on a classical violinist.
 
Kristan Obeng, a graduate student apprenticing for the Arizona Daily Star’s digital team, posted her first story for the paper on Instagram, with a story about a boy denied participation in soccer after his challenges with cancer and chemotherapy.
 
Lizzie Quinlan is apprenticing on the Arizona Daily Star copy desk, where she is editing stories and writing headlines. One of her first heds: "Don’t overlook eye exams for children; what parents should watch out for."

Haille Saal has been covering the UA women’s soccer team as part of her apprenticeship at the Arizona Daily Star. Her stories have included, "Praise for senior," "Talley leads Wildcats," "Freshman adjusts," and "Amato still second on wins list."

Lauren Trench, a graduate student and Arizona Daily Star apprentice on the photo desk, had her first photo published when she was shadowing a photographer on a shoot on flood damage at the iconic Cow Palace. She also later had her photo gallery published online on a retro trailer park renovation.

Sarah Workman, who is apprenticing in features and arts at the Arizona Daily Star, had her first story published, on the Glow Festival in Oracle.
 
Simon Asher provided drone footage for the Arizona Illustrated story, "Monsoon Mushrooms." Nick Smallwood also worked on the segment. 

Students began brainstorming episodes for the “PreReq Podcast: An inside look at being a student in 2018” with AZPM producer Andrew Brown and Profs. Mike McKisson, Jeannine Relly and Celeste González de Bustamante. Read our website story for more details about the project.

Alex Eschelman, a summer intern at FOX Sports Arizona, did an interview with a former young reporter who interviewed then-Arizona Diamondback shortstop Didi Gregorius. Recent master's graduate Saul Bookman, who manages social and digital content at FOX Sports Arizona, helped Alex with the "Intern's turn" segment.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat is one of 24 finalists in the national Online Pacemaker competition. Winners will be recognized at #collegemedia18 in Louisville Oct. 25-28. Read more at tinyurl.com/ydgqos4s.

April Lanuza, Dalal Radwan, Alexis Richardson and Jessica Suriano recounted their summer internships and experiences at Talk & 'Tizers on Sept. 4. Lanuza started at CNN's Documentary Unit in Atlanta the day Anthony Bourdain died; Radwan was a reporter for Tucson Local Media; Richardson studied abroad in Costa Rica in Prof. Celeste González de Bustamante's class; and Suriano wrote features for the Arizona Republic as a Pulliam Fellow.

Ryan Gabrielson of ProPublica and Bethany Barnes ('13 M.A.) of The Oregonian donated membership scholarships to five J-school students for the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). The recipients are: Jasmine Ann Demers, Eddie Celaya and Marissa Heffernan of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, and graduate students Kristan Obeng and Jessica Suriano.

Arizona Public Media reporter Brandon Mejia ('17) accepted a job as an anchor/reporter for KYMA-TV in Yuma. He starts Sept. 24 and will be reporting for the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts on the NBC affiliate, and anchoring the 9 p.m. newscast for the Fox affiliate. Brandon should feel at home, joining fellow Wildcats Ciara Encinas, Carmen Valencia, Crystal Bedoya and Ernesto Romero (news director) at the station.

Adam Gaub ('06) co-anchored WCTI TV's Sept. 15 evening newscast on Facebook Live at a sister station in Greenville, N.C., because his station in New Bern, N.C., was flooded out from Hurricane Florence. Gaub is a morning executive producer for WCTI, which was featured on CNN (tinyurl.com/y7go2a6a). "It’s pretty cool, to me, that even without a physical building to go to and with no way to get their signal over the air on TV, they’re doing whatever they can to still make sure the news of their community gets out there," said Brett Fera ('05), UA Student Media adviser. Gaub is a former Arizona Daily Wildcat staffer and award-winning editor at the Maricopa (Ariz.) Monitor.

Arizona Daily Star Editor Jill Jorden Spitz ('88) and adjunct instructor Irene McKisson ('03), editor of the Star's #ThisIsTucson, listened to 18 students' pitches from Mike McKisson's Product Development class. Nine ideas will be selected, and teams will form around those user groups. At the end of the semester, two groups (from these nine ideas) will be selected for a fellowship at the Star to develop their product.

Arizona Daily Star reporters Gloria Knott ('18), Caitlin Schmidt ('14) and Shaq Davis ('18) spoke to Prof. Susan Knight's Star apprentice class on Sept. 5. All three said their apprenticeships helped them get full-time jobs at the Star, and they gave students tips on pitching stories and asking editors for help.

Ryan Finley ('02), sports editor of the Arizona Daily Star, gave Prof. Susan Knight's apprentice students tips on reporting, writing and interviewing on Sept. 19.

Bethany Barnes ('13 M.A.) spoke via Skype on Sept. 18 to Prof. Jeannine Relly's master's class about how she did the reporting for her story, "Targeted: A Family and the Quest to Stop the Next School Shooter." Read it at tinyurl.com/yd8ftle7.

Bakina Wellars ('17 M.A.) secured a teaching position at the University of Rwanda's School of Journalism and Communication. He placed first out of six people in a competition for the spot.

Brandi Milloy ('06) is the co-host of a new Food Network show, "Let’s Eat," about easy, fun recipes that anyone can make. Check out the Arizona Daily Wildcat story.

Jack McElroy ('75) marked his 17th year as editor of The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel.

Konstantinos Kalaitzidis ('95 M.A.) is now the public information officer at the Superior Court of California in Orange County.

Jeffrey Williams ('00) was promoted to assistant principal of instruction at Phoenix Union High School District.

Sarah Kezele ('11) made her debut at the BYU-UA football game as the new in-game host. She interviewed students in the ZonaZoo, oversaw contests with fans, high-fived Wilbur Wildcat and was included in the Arizona Daily Star's "Seen and Heard." Kezele also co-emceed the school's inaugural Hall of Fame event in April with John D'Anna ('83).

Aug. 31, 2018

Pulliam Fellows Brenna Bailey and Jessica Suriano did good work for the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com over the summer. Among Bailey's stories were "The worst disease you've never heard of" and "Do women face an unfair standard in the art world?," while Suriano's included "Sweet Samaritan" and "Ashley shakes up the world of romance novels."

Grad students Krissy Obeng, Ava Garcia and Zeina C. Peterson kicked off a project, "The PreReq Podcast: An inside look at being a student in 2018," a few weeks ago after interviewing students moving into dorms. They attended a podcast brainstorming session Aug. 31 with Arizona Public Media's Andrew Brown to go over recording equipment and plot out their episodes with grad students Dalal Radwan, Alisa Ivanitskaya, Meredith O’Neil, Ty Hudson, Ambur Wilkerson and undergrad Pascal Albright. Each person came up with ideas on post-it notes and sorted them on the wall. The project is led by Profs. Michael McKisson and Jeannine Relly. Also helping is Prof. Celeste González de Bustamante. 

New grad students attended a meet-and-greet with faculty, staff and other grad students on Aug. 17. The new M.A. candidates are Claude Akins, Samantha Bishop, Monika Damron, Sascha Fruehauf, Ty Hudson, Alisa Ivanitskaya, Nina Kolodij, Meredith O'Neil, Elizabeth Whitthorne, Ambur Wilkerson and Justin Wylie. Go to journalism.arizona.edu/grad.bios to meet some of the grad students.

Carmen Valencia accepted a job with KYMA 11 TV in Yuma as a multimedia journalist. She starts in early September as the dayside reporter and will join Ciara Encinas ('18), who began at KYMA in May, and Crystal Bedoya ('15), a digital content director. Valencia, an Arizona Daily Wildcat alum who led our local NAHJ chapter, had internships at KPNX-TV (NBC) in Phoenix, KOLD TV in Tucson and Arizona Public Media.

Jeanie Bergen ('07) saw her TV series, "E Is for Edie," picked up by Charter Communications. The series is inspired by the life of Bergen, who is a caregiver to her disabled sister. Bergen, who earned a coveted spot in Aaron Sorkin’s Master Class on screenwriting, will executive-produce the series, too! Click here to read more. 

Arizona Republic reporter John D'Anna ('83) saw his story about Sen. John McCain published on the Aug. 31 front page of USA TODAY. Read it here: tinyurl.com/ycq62wch. John is a member of the school's Journalism Advisory Council.

Students in adjunct instructor Tom Beal's science journalism class interviewed Mikayla Mace ('17 M.A.) of the Arizona Daily Star on Wednesday. Mace replaced Beal as the Star's science reporter when he retired, and she also covers higher ed and health. Read her work at https://tinyurl.com/yascl9rx.

Gabriella Vukelic ('17) celebrated her six-month anniversary at Newsday as the social media producer in Long Island, New York. She recently interviewed Bravo TV's: Princesses LI, and created bagel horoscopes for Long Islanders, "since we swear that our bagels are better than anywhere else." In April, she helped launch a Facebook parenting group called LI Parents. "I now run the page as the main person for social and we have hit over 1,000 members already – 6 months ahead of my goals," she says.

Justin Spears, a 2017 J-school grad, broadcasted ESPN 1490-AM's "The Sports Exchange" with Stacey Wampler outside Gentle Ben's on Aug. 31. Spears, an Arizona Daily Star journalist, gave a shout-out to Profs. Jeannine Relly and Rogelio Garcia, who stopped by to say hello.

J-school grad Ann Brown ('76) wrote the Arizona Daily Star's obit on Sen. John McCain. Brown, a retired Star reporter, editorial page editor and copy editor, rode on McCain's campaign bus through Iowa in 2007. National media outlets also interviewed adjunct instructor Jim Nintzel, editor of the Tucson Weekly, about McCain, including CBS (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr9HoAfmsn8).

Former Arizona Daily Star photographer Liz Mangelsdorf ('84) posted an image she took of Sen. John McCain during his first Senate run in 1986. Mangelsdorf, who later became a San Francisco Chronicle photographer, is now a computer/video/media teacher at Sequoia Middle School in Pleasant Hill, California. The school's top student award for outstanding newsperson is named after her father, the late Philip Mangelsdorf.

Kendra Paige Hall ('15) covered Sen. John McCain's Phoenix memorial service for Tucson's KVOA-TV. See her Twitter feed.

Saul Loeb ('04), of Agence France-Presse, photographed a military honor guard carrying the flag-draped coffin of Sen. John McCain after it arrived outside Washington. See his photos on Twitter.

Savannah Guthrie ('93), NBC's "Today" show co-anchor, interviewed Sen. Lindsey Graham about McCain. See her coverage on Twitter.

Hundreds of U.S. newspapers, including the Arizona Daily Star under Editor Jill Jorden Spitz ('88), launched a coordinated defense of press freedom on Aug. 16 and a rebuke of President Trump for denouncing the media as enemies of the people.

Mariana Dale ('14) launched a project with KJZZ Phoenix called Q&AZ. It's a big series in which reporters from the NPR station investigate and answer Arizonans' questions about their state, such as "How did Phoenix's Indian School Road get its name." Dale worked with a national group called Hearken, a Chicago-based startup that builds tools to help journalists strengthen audience connections.

Award-winning education writer Bethany Barnes ('13 M.A.) of The Oregonian was profiled in "The Grade." She tells Alexander Russo how she rebounded after being fired from her first job, and her thoughts on accountability reporting and storytelling.

Juliana Vasquez-Keating ('10) marked her sixth year as a morning news producer at KSAZ Fox 10 in Phoenix after previous work at KOLD 13 in Tucson

Nate Airulla ('18) is an account manager at Comdata, a FLEETCOR company in Phoenix.

Britt Theodora ('15) is a digital content manager and stylist assistant at Micaela Erlanger & Co. in New York City.

Betsy Kaplan ('17), a former intern for Playbill, is a film publicity assistant at 42West in New York City.

Ernesto Romero ('07) is news director with News-Press & Gazette Co. (NPG) in Yuma-El Centro for several television news stations, including KYMA.

Gabby Goduco ('18), a former KOLD-TV intern and UATV3 reporter, made the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad.

Brian Danziger ('16), a production assistant for the NFL Network, is also working for ABC 7 in Los Angeles as a news assistant.

Lexi Sutter ('12) is now a reporter for NBC 5 in Chicago after a stint as a reporter/fill-in anchor at ABC 15 in Phoenix.

Angelo Samora-Vargas ('12) is a journalist at KRGV-TV in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley, covering the border, community and investigations.

Aug. 10, 2018

Marissa Heffernan won Policygenius' inaugural $3,000 national scholarship for the fall semester. More than 300 applicants wrote an essay about an event that changed their understanding of money, and Heffernan told the story of handling the finances while building a treehouse with her grandfather at age 11. For more details and a link to her story, go to tinyurl.com/ybbu8jzz.

Rocky Baier, an intern for the Jerusalem Post, covered the countrywide protests for LGBTQ rights in Israel. She tweeted from Tel Aviv, where an estimated 15,000 people protested, and wrote a front-page story at tinyurl.com/y8tq76ng.

Emmalee Mauldin wrapped up her fourth and final NASA internship in Greenbelt, Maryland. She handled communications and social media for the Hubble Space Telescope project for the last eight months at the Goddard Space Flight Center, after spending eight months at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "I can't believe that it's over, but I'm ready to go home and finally graduate," she said on Facebook.

Carmen Valencia attended the National Association of Hispanic Journalist Conference in Miami. She toured Univision headquarters; sat in on a discussion, "Active shooter on campus," with journalist María Elena Salinas and victims from the Parkland shooting; and met up with Karen Cruz-Orduna, a former National Student Exchange student with the J-school who is interning at CBS Evening News in Los Angeles.

Marissa Heffernan, a summer apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published the off-lead on the Sunday business page (Aug. 5), "3 Tucson eateries promoting anti-straw movement."

Eddie Celaya, a summer apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published the lead package on the Aug. 2 business page, "Tucson's old Shari's Drive-In burger stand is now home to Smokey Mo barbecue."

Ahmaad Lomax, a summer apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, had the poster story in the Aug. 1 sports section on a Sabino High football transfer Cade Wechsler. 

Pablo Lopez, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, had the lead story in the July 30 metro page on a man shot by a deputy and the off-play story on the Aug. 6 metro page, "Exploding bullets halt smugglers."

Maritza Cruz ('18) wrapped up her Chips Quinn internship at The Mercury News and Bay Area News Group in San Jose. One of her photos made A1; she produced videos on President Trump's immigration policies and on the "World of Frida"; and she helped film B roll and take photos for a story on the Golden State killer.

Nick Smallwood, who is entering the master's program at the School of Journalism after graduating this summer, is now a production assistant for Arizona Public Media. He said he "had a great time" filming on Mount Lemmon in late July for "Arizona Illustrated."

Jamie Maese met UA School of Journalism Hall of Famer and NBC "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie ('93) in late July in New York. Maese, who is interning for MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" as an NAHJ Summer Fellow, thanked Prof. Nancy Sharkey for putting her in touch with Guthrie's assistant.

Andrew Paxton, an assistant editor and reporter at the Sahuarita Sun and Green Valley News, did an "old-fashioned data piece" on Sahuarita's town manager and attorney making more money than most of their state peers.

Chris Delgado ('17), a director at KGUN 9, gave UATV 3 and new GM Olivia Jackson a $1,250 grant check, courtesy of the Scripps Howard Foundation and KGUN 9. Delgado, the 2016-17 UATV general manager, nominated UATV for the grant. Jackson is a J-school student.

Danyelle Khmara ('17) was promoted to associate editor at Tucson Weekly and Tucson Local Media by Editor Jim Nintzel, an adjunct instructor. Read his editor's note.

Justin Spears ('17) is the new host of ESPN Tucson's Sports Exchange radio show (1490-AM, 104.9-FM) from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays. He'll still be working full time for the Arizona Daily Star, providing digital content and covering the Arizona Wildcats and high school football. Click here to read more.

Ivan Leonard ('17) accepted a full-time position as a sports reporter at the Sedona Red Rock News. Leonard, also an Arizona Daily Wildcat alum, had been writing for the Sahuarita Sun as a freelancer.

Jenny Hijazi ('17 M.A.), an online reporter and news assistant at PBS NewsHour, showed Prof. Jeannine Relly and Indiana Prof. Emily Metzgar the studio in Washington during a break from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Conference. See some of Hijazi's work at pbs.org/newshour/author/jennifer-hijazi

Andrew Koleski ('18), in his first week as a copy editor at the Yuma Sun, won the department's Catch of the Week trophy for correcting an error a letter writer's reference to Alexander Hamilton as a former U.S. president. 

Gloria Knott ('18), a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, made A1 with a story about a former El Charro waitress giving back $1,000 that she stole from the restaurant.

Arizona Daily Star reporter Caitlin Schmidt ('14) was interviewed by Arizona Public Media's Lorraine Rivera ('04), an adjunct instructor, on the status of Title IX investigations into the UA athletics department during the July 27 "Arizona 360" episode. Watch at the 15:17 mark.

Jackie Kent ('14) filled in as a morning anchor in late July for the first time at KRQE TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque. It also is her one-year anniversary at the station as a reporter and multimedia journalist.

Three J-school alums are doing good work at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Ed Lynch ('86) is deputy editor and managing editor for news since 2010, when the Honolulu Star-Bulletin merged with the Advertiser; Christine Donnelly ('88) is an editorial writer and answers readers' questions; and Kevin Dayton ('85) is the Hawaii state capitol bureau chief and a former Tucson Citizen reporter. All are former Arizona Daily Wildcat alums as well.

July 20, 2018

Jessica Suriano ('18) received an Arizona Press Club scholarship. Suriano, now an accelerated master's student at the J-school, is a Pulliam Fellow this summer on the features desk at the Arizona Republic. In May, she received the school's Mangelsdorf Award for outstanding newsperson.

Students in the UA International Journalism Study Abroad Program reported on environmental issues and social justice from Costa Rica. They included Sascha Fruehauf, Olivia Jackson, Alex Muñoz, and Lexi Richardson. Led by Prof. Celeste González de Bustamante, students are producing work to be published in an English language news outlet in Costa Rica. Photos

Rocky Baier, a summer intern at the Jerusalem Post in Israel, was promoted to Arts & Entertainment editor three weeks into her apprenticeship. She's been published nearly 10 times on stories about the Knesset; Boycott, Divestment and Sanction campaign, or BDS; virtual reality; the World Cup; among other stories. "The BDS story gained a lot of traction and was shared to a Facebook page with almost 2 million followers," she says. 

Alec White and David Skinner of the Arizona Daily Wildcat covered the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, along with Justin Spears ('17) of the Arizona Daily Star. Read the Wildcat's coverage and Spears' work.

Marissa Heffernan, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published the A1 centerpiece story, "UA's Compost Cats grow efforts through big grant," on July 9. She also published a story, "Sun is the center of free science event," on July 13.

Chandler Donald, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote an obit on UA archeologist Harold Dibbs on July 19 and published the lead story, "Zero waste: Art made from fruit stickers," on the Home  & Life section on July 8. She also had June 28 stories in Caliente, on metal bands and comedian Joe Rogan.

Melissa Vasquez, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a June 30 story,  "Community group marks 20 years of supporting immigrant students in Tucson."

Eddie Celaya, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a July 1 story, "Fundraiser to help pet rescue groups pay their vet bills."

Ahmaad Lomax, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story on July 19, "Tucsonans racing for a chance at national go-kart title."

Pablo Lopez, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story on July 16, "Former Border Patrol agent in Nogales says gambling led him to drug smuggling."

Simon Asher, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published photos on July 8, "Model airplanes at Pima Air and Space Museum."

Kathleen Kunz, an intern at the Tucson Weekly, wrote a story, "Under threat" on July 12 about an Arivaca man told by a judge to stop harassing is neighbors. Click here to read other stories by Kunz.

Dalal Radwan, an intern with Tucson Local Media, published a story on July 13, "Local youth adding artistic flare to Oro Valley community center."

Alex Eschelman continued her summer internship at Fox Sports Arizona. Follow her at twitter.com/eschelspecial, and see a list of all the school's interns.

Natalia Navarro ('17 B.A., '18 M.A.) accepted a position at Colorado Public Radio in Denver (www.cpr.org). She starts Aug. 6. "After a long job search, I am so relieved and excited to have found my new city," says Navarro, a former intern at Arizona Public Media and the Arizona Daily Star.

Jamie Verwys ('18) accepted a job as a government/metro reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald. She'll be working with another recent J-school alumna, reporter Emily Ellis ('18 M.A.). Content editor Steve Choice ('16 M.A.), designer David Diaz ('99) and reporter Lauren Renteria ('17) also are at the Herald.

Amanda Oien ('18) accepted a full-time job at Madden Media as a social media specialist. Oien, a stalwart at the Arizona Daily Wildcat and president of the school's Online News Association chapter, said on Facebook: "I am so happy and feel very grateful to have this opportunity and begin this next chapter in my journalism career."

Caitlin Schmidt ('14), a reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, received good news when a judge denied a subpoena by ex-UA track coach Craig Carter for Schmidt's notes related to his legal battles. "Big win for free press," said Star co-worker and adjunct instructor Cathalena E Burch. Read the Star's story by recent J-school grad Gloria Knott.

Zach Clark ('12) left his ESPN radio talk-show host job at 1490-AM in late June. He has gone back home to Michigan, where his wife is "climbing her career ladder" in marketing. Read his guest opinion in the Arizona Daily Star. Tom Lapadat has taken over his 3-6 p.m. slot at 1490. Clark, an Arizona Daily Wildcat KAMP Radio alum, has been a good friend to the school, offering job advice to students at past events. 

Kendra Paige ('15), a reporter for KVOA TV's News 4 Tucson, did a story July 19 on credit card fraud at gas pumps. Click here to watch the report.

June 29, 2018

Pascal Albright, Simon Asher, Jane Bendickson and Kirshana Guy were mentors for the 2018 Donald W. Carson Journalism Diversity Workshop for Arizona High School students. Grad student Zeina Cabrera Peterson also pitched in as the group wrote about some tough subjects: school shootings, DACA, Native American success and health, sexual assault, opioid addiction, cultural competence, postpartum depression, mental illness, dress codes and a local monastery's future. The high school students were Julian Armenta (Tucson Cholla), Sadie Azersky (Tucson Canyon del Oro), Ivory Bacy (Tucson Sahuaro), Kaleb Clyde (Winslow), Dara Garcia (Tohono O'odham), Grace Hardy (Phoenix Washington), Nadira Mitchell (Tucson High), Rohan Patel (Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor), Madeline Richardson (Tucson The Gregory School), Stephany Rocha (Tucson High) and Jenny Sandoval (Tucson Desert View). The group produced The Chronicle newspaper and website. Click here to read a story about the workshop.

Nine students earned membership into Kappa Tau Alpha, the college honor society that recognizes academic excellence and promotes scholarship in journalism and mass communication: Matt Brockman, Vivian I. Colter, Emily Ellis, Marissa Heffernan, Dominika Heusinkveld, Angelo Lavo, Alexis Richardson, Haille Saal-Khalili and Chris Stidley.

Students under Prof. Kim Newton wrapped up their study abroad program in Italy. Advanced photojournalism students were Kayla Belcher, Hannah Dahl, Devyn Edelstein, Rosalina Emnace, Olivia Ledford and Caleb Villegas. Beginning photojournalism students were Dymond Bradley, Dani Cropper, Carmel Gisslow, Sydney Kenig, Tobias Kochenderfer and Maddie Viceconte. Click here to view their work.

Dalal Radwan, a graduate student, has published several stories as a summer intern at Tucson Local Media, including local Muslims beating the heat during Ramadan, published in the Explorer and Marana News and online. Click here to read more of her work. See a list of all the school's summer interns.

Pablo Lopez, a summer apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, saw his first story published on June 15, "Not one more day: Local officials call for end to separating families at border."

Kathleen B. Kunz, a summer intern at Tucson Local Media, saw her first story on road projects make the front page of the Explorer on June 6.

Chandler Jordan, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published two stories in the June 28 Caliente: one on metal bands, and the other on comedian Joe Rogan.

Chris Stidley, a graduate student and part of Prof. Carol Schwalbe's science journalism class, published a story, "From Photos to DNA: Citizen scientists focus on Gila monsters at Saguaro National Park," in the research section of the Western National Parks Association website. 

Simon Asher published his first photos as an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star of FC Tucson's June 9 victory over the Colorado Switchbacks U23. Click here and scroll down to see his images.

Genesis Lara landed a summer reporting internship in her hometown at the Nogales International. Read the newspaper's profile on her. 

Naomi Pier, part of Prof. Carol Schwalbe's science journalism class, published a story on leafcutter ants — "Ants go marching on: 30 years of Atta mexicana in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument — in the research section of the Western National Parks Association website. 

Andrew Koleski, a May graduate, accepted a job as a page designer and copy editor at the Yuma Sun. Koleski, a former Arizona Daily Star apprentice and Arizona Sonora News Service copy editor, starts July 16 and will work with Rogelio Yubeta Olivas ('85), a former Tucson Citizen journalist who is news editor at the Sun. "I am beyond happy to start my professional career doing what I love," Koleski said on Facebook.

Tirion Morris, a May graduate, is the new web editor at Tucson Weekly. "Tirion was an outstanding intern for us back in the fall, so we're thrilled she's joined the team," wrote Jim Nintzel, executive editor and a J-school adjunct instructor, in an editor's note. Morris joins Danyelle Khmara ('17), ex-grad student Christopher Boan and four J-school summer interns at the Weekly: Kathleen Kunz, Marissa Ryan, Tori Tom and Ava Garcia.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14), an Arizona Daily Star reporter, won the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona's S.T.A.R. Award (Supporting Transparency and Advocacy Recognition) for defending the principles of the First Amendment with her investigations into the UA's Title IX policies and procedures, amid a string of accusations involving the athletic department. Schmidt has a new beat at the Star as a government reporter with Joe Ferguson ('06), focusing on watchdog stories.

Madison Brodsky ('17) started a new job at Entertainment Tonight as an associate editorial producer in Burbank, California. Brodsky had been an entertainment reporter and on-camera host for TMZ/TooFab since graduating from our J-school.

Many of our alums went to work amid tighter security following the five killed at the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland. The Arizona Daily Star flew its flag at half-staff to honor the dead. Ex-grad student Christopher Boan reflected on working as an intern at the Annapolis paper in a column for the Tucson Weekly. Justin Sayers ('14 B.A., '15 M.A.), a reporter at the Louisville Courier Journal, said staffers were treated to free pizzas from a bystander who wrote, "Reporters are good for our democracy." And John D'Anna ('83) wrote about the bravery of journalists in a Facebook post.

Zach Clark ('12) left his ESPN radio talk-show host job at 1490-AM on June 26. He is going back home to Michigan, where his wife is "climbing her career ladder." Click here to read his guest opinion in the Arizona Daily Star.

Alexa Wallen ('18) accepted a job as a production assistant at FOX News with the Shepard Smith reporting and breaking news division in New York after a stint as a digital content producer for KVOA-TV.

Zach Smith ('18) is now a scouting assistant for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers after working as the head recruiting and player personnel intern for the UA football team and a scouting intern for the Chargers.

Kassandra Lau ('11) produces AZPM's public affairs program, "Arizona 360," with host and adjunct instructor Lorraine Rivera ('04). See episodes. Prior to joining Arizona Public Media in late 2017, Lau worked at KUSA-TV in Denver, KVOA-TV in Tucson and KLFY-TV in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Dan Shearer ('85) has been named editorial director for Wick Communications. Shearer will continue as editor of the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun, but he'll also work with editors at the company's nearly 30 newspapers to sharpen content, best practices and management skills, and keep on top of industry changes.

Saul Loeb, a 2004 J-school grad and photographer for Agence France-Presse, had a front-row seat for the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore. Click here to see some of his images.

Austin Alexander Counts ('11), owner of 4th Avenue Deli and a local musician, is featured in the June 14 Tucson Weekly. Check out Chow writer Mark Whittaker's cool profile, "The Sandwich Man."

June 1, 2018

Rebecca Noble ('17) won first place nationally in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence competition for large school feature photography, for her Arizona Daily Wildcat "Mutton Busted" images from the 2017 Fiesta de los Vaqueros. Rebecca is now a photographer for the Cody Enterprise in Wyoming. See her work at www.codyenterprise.com and all the winners here.

Kendal Blust ('16 M.A.) captured five first-place awards at the Arizona Press Club awards. Overall, those with UA J-school ties took 15 first-place awards, including recent grads Caitlin Schmidt ('14) and Mikayla Mace ('17 M.A.) of the Arizona Daily Star and two Arizona Daily Wildcat staffers, including J.D. Molinary. Read our story about all the winners.

Bethany Barnes ('13 M.A.), was named national education reporter of the year today by the Education Writers Association for her work at The Oregonian and series, "Benefit of the Doubt," which revealed how Portland Public Schools failed to act on reports of sexual misconduct. The report caused the district and union to review their policies. Bethany has been gracious with her time, speaking to students here in April and via Skype last fall. Click here for more details.

Camila Wesbrooks, a journalism major and UA women's tennis player, was named all Pac-12 academic honorable mention. Read more here.

Nearly 40 J-school students attained summer internships or apprenticeships, including Alex Eschelman at Fox Sports Arizona, Jamie Maese at MSNBC's "The Last Word," nine at Tucson television stations and seven at the Arizona Daily Star. Click here to see the full list of students.

Maritza Cruz ('18), wearing her UA T-shirt, and the Summer 2018 class of the Chips Quinn Scholars Program gathered in Nashville. She met Nashville Freedom Rider Ernest "Rip" Patton Jr. and attended orientation and multimedia training. Cruz is interning at the Bay Area News Group in San Jose as part of the program. Click here to see all the UA J-school's past Chips Quinn interns.

Gloria Knott ('18) accepted a full-time reporting job with the Arizona Daily Star. "I'll be doing a lot of digital and social media stuff, and writing some breaking news and cops stories, in addition to in-depth and long-form stories," she says. Gloria was a features apprentice and freelancer for the Star for the past year. Read her work here.

Saul Bookman ('18 M.A., '17 B.A.) is moving to Phoenix to be the new social and digital media content manager for FOX Sports Arizona. "I am so humbled by the support those close to me have given to make this happen!" the Arizona Daily Wildcat alum wrote on Facebook. Watch his master's project, "Sound, Mind and Body: The Gerald Brown Story."

Kendal Blust, a 2016 master's graduate, accepted a reporting job with KJZZ Phoenix public radio at a new bureau in Hermosillo, Sonora. Blust has been an award-winning reporter for the Nogales International for the last two years. Jonathan Clark, NI managing editor, praises Kendal and her work in a May 29 column, "Another reporting star moves on."

Murphy Woodhouse, a former J-school student, has left the Arizona Daily Star for a reporting job with KJZZ Phoenix public radio at its new bureau in Hermosillo, Sonora. He'll focus on Arizona's business relationship with Sonora. Woodhouse covered the county and transportation for the Star.

Gabby Goduco ('18), a member of the UA Pomline for four years, has made the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders training camp for the 2018-19 season. Goduco interned at KOLD-TV while as a student.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14), a reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, has been accepted into a mentoring program run by the Association for Women in Sports Media. Click here for more details.

Brett Fera ('05), director of UA Student Media, and former director Mark Woodhams organized an Arizona Daily Wildcat reunion in the Washington, D.C., area, hosted by Paul Allvin ('93) and Christine Verges Gacharná ('97). Among the other attendees: Lindsey Frazier Fera ('06), Patrick Klein, Eun Kim ('92), Saul Loeb ('04), Paula Johnston Kelso ('91), Carol Crane Burton, Kevin Klaus, Jay Parker, H Darr Beiser ('76), Margo Warren ('76), Corbett Daly, Eliza Tebo Berkon, Tim McDonnell, Michelle Weinberg ('07), Nancy Cleeland ('77), Robert Walker ('57), Michael Klein, Dana Crudo and Kellie Mejdrich ('12). Fera hopes to have future reunions in other locales, such as Phoenix, Southern California and the Bay Area. Click here to see the D.C. reunion photos.

Brittny Mejia ('14), a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, saw her story on Matthew Whitaker gain national attention: "While out for a jog, she discovered a baby buried alive. Twenty years later, they reunite." Whitaker plans to study journalism at UA.

Susan Carroll ('99), an investigative reporter at the Houston Chronicle, and her colleagues covered the aftermath of the Santa Fe, Texas, school shooting in "A blast. Then chaos."

Fayana Richards ('08) received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Michigan State this year after studying aging, caregiving and kinship in Detroit, and is a post-doctoral research associate for UMass-Amherst's Center for Community Health Equity Research.

Sam Brace ('06) is the director of product education for Simpleview in Tucson (simpleviewinc.com).

Alexis Blue ('05) has been an assistant director of media relations and communications at the University of Arizona since 2014.

Cindy Laughlin ('97 M.A.) is senior marketing coordinator with the EPS Group Inc. in Mesa after earlier marketing stints at Stantec in Tucson and RS Engineering.

Bryan Rosenbaum ('01) is a web developer and design specialist at Madden Media and is ready to celebrate his 11th anniversary at the Tucson firm after earlier work as an Arizona Daily Star sports designer and copy editor.

Rachael Myer Curley ('01) is account director at DRA Collective in Phoenix.

May 11, 2018

Jessica Suriano, Erik Kolsrud, Jordan Williams and Emily Ellis took top honors at the 52nd annual Just Desserts student awards ceremony May 10 at the Arizona Historical Society. Suriano, a senior, received the Philip Mangelsdorf Award for Outstanding Newsperson of the Year; Kolsrud captured the Sherman R. Miller Award for Outstanding Senior; Williams received the Brewster P. Campbell Award for Outstanding Junior; and Ellis was named Outstanding Graduate Student. Click here to read about all the winners. Click here to see the 2018 Just Desserts program, including the 78 spring 2018 grads and 15 summer 2018 grads. And click here to watch the Facebook Live video of the ceremony, and look at the first photo gallery and second gallery.

Daniel Young-Miller won the spring 2018 Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Photo Contest for his image of a skateboarder. Aly Cantor took second place with a photo of a student taking a nap, and Alexandra Pere finished third with an image of a dog. The photos and nine others from Prof. Kim Newton's 203 class are hanging in the hallway in front of his office (Marshall 327). Click here to see all 12 photos, including those by Matthew Crisara, Holly Halstead, Sasha Hartzell, Nathan Martinez, RJ Mosqueda, Zoe Roberts, Marissa Ryan, Caleb Villegas and Briannon Wilfong.

Bria Fonteno and Carmen Valencia co-anchored the spring 2018 "Arizona Cat's Eye," produced by the broadcast class taught by Profs. Rogelio Garcia and Celeste González de Bustamante. Other students contributing were Jessy Prettyman (executive producer); Valencia (producer); Robby Leaño (graphics producer); Leonard Moody and Leaño (show editors); Paige Helfinstine, Sabrina Jandro, Sarah Workman and Noemi Salazar (promotions); and Haley Cohn, Maria Arey, Valencia, Helfinstine, Jandro and Workman (social media). On May 2, the class critiqued the 30-minute episode, which features stories on the border. Click here to watch the show, which was taped at Arizona Public Media's studio.

Ciara Encinas, a May graduate, accepted a job as a morning reporter for KYMA-TV in Yuma. She starts this month. "Here is the post my mom has been waiting for since I was a third-grader," she wrote on Facebook. Ciara interned at KVOA-TV in Tucson, CBS News in Washington, D.C., and at KOLD-TV/Tucson News Now, and worked for the Arizona Daily Wildcat's UATV 3.

Andrew Paxton, a senior, will start as an assistant editor and reporter at the Green Valley News/Sahuarita Sun in May. "After more than five years of chasing stories, performing some alchemy, working with student reporters and learning everything I can fit in my head, I'm taking the next step to where I want to be," he said on Facebook. Paxton, an editor at the Arizona Daily Wildcat, will join senior David Joseph Del Grande, who also took a job at the News/Sun. Both are Pima College transfers.

Natalia Navarro defended her master's project, “Why America? A Citizenship Podcast" (Segment 1 and Segment 2) on May 2 in Marshall 341. Committee members were Celeste González de Bustamante (chair), Sarah Gassen (Arizona Daily Star) and Nancy Sharkey. Navarro was in the Accelerated Master's Program. 

Saul Bookman defended his master's project, "Sound, Mind and Body: The Gerald Brown Story," on May 1 in Marshall 340. Committee members were Jeannine Relly (chair), Paola Boivin (ASU) and Rogelio Garcia. Bookman, an editor at the Arizona Daily Wildcat, was in the Accelerated Master's Program. He showed his film on Brown, an Arizona School for the Deaf & Blind basketball coach, who received a donor kidney from a player's mom.

Emily Ellis defended her master's thesis, "Diseased Coverage: Foreign Media Framing of the 2009 Swine Flu Epidemic in Mexico," on April 27 in Marshall 341. Profs. Celeste González de Bustamante (chair), Linda Lumsden and Susan E. Swanberg were her committee members. Ellis, a dual M.A. student in journalism and Latin American Studies, will start as a border reporter for Herald/Review Media in Sierra Vista.

Alyssa Schlitzer Hill defended her master's thesis, "The Spread of Top Misinformation Articles on Twitter from 2017 to 2018: Social Bot Influence and Misinformation Trends," on May 1 in Marshall 344. Committee members were Jeannine Relly (chair), Mary Feeney (UA Libraries), Mike McKisson and Carol Schwalbe. Hill is moving to the Denver area and plans to work in web design.

Courtney Talak, a May graduate, was the editor and designer of the spring 2018 El Independiente, titled "Equality. The Status of Women in Arizona." Other staffers were Nick Smallwood (photo editor), Andrew Koleski (copy editor) and reporters Gloria Knott, Isaac Rounseville, Allison Suarez, Jessica Suriano, Talak and Lauren Whetzel. The El Inde adviser was Terry Wimmer.

Jasmine Ann Demers, a master's student, was named editor-in-chief of the Arizona Daily Wildcat for the summer and fall 2018. Demers had been the Arts & Life editor at the Wildcat. Read her bio.

Four former and current UA Journalism and/or Arizona Daily Wildcat journalists took home awards at the Society of Professional Journalists Region 11 conference April 27-28 in Los Angeles. J.D. Molinary was a finalist in general news reporting on his UA presidential search story; Rebecca Noble ('17) won in feature photography for her Tucson Rodeo photos; Sean Furrier ('17) won in online sports reporting for his Sean Miller era story; and Jorge Encinas ('16, M.A.) won for in-depth reporting for his El Independiente/ASN story on "Immigrant possessions disappear during deportation."

Pascal Albright, Andrew Paxton, Ava Garcia and Dalal Radwan attended the Society of Professional Journalists conference in the Los Angeles area April 27-28, and got to meet AP court reporter Linda Deutsch. 

Maritza Cruz, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, focused on Tucson’s past in a story about downtown’s La Placita as the center is torn down to build new apartments. Her editor told her that “even a copy editor” complimented the story, which her editor said was rare. Cruz also wrote a story about a Flam Chen block party, a story about a “Hippie Family Values" documentary film by a UA professor, and a story about the Jefferson Starship band.
 
Andrew Koleski, an apprentice copy editor at the Arizona Daily Star, increased his stories edited per shift. Some of his favorite recent headlines: “In Texas, Rio Grande Valley offers preview of Trump’s border visit” and “15 Palestinian protesters killed by Israeli troops at Gaza border” and “First lady looks for distraction at Palm Beach after affair talk.”
 
Elena Gonzalez, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote about a man who’s making snack bars out of meat, wrote a story on poke restaurants, and a story on new homeowners making repairs. She also worked with the staff that produces the weekly podcast, “The Point Being,” featuring Star editorial/opinions staff.
 
Leah Gilchrist, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote about the troubled Fiji fraternity returning to campus, and also had a story on how the Tucson Police Department is using data analysis to respond to the public more.
 
Tirion Morris, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, saw one of her enterprise stories along with a breaking news story the same week. She wrote a story about a company that rents apartments to felons and people who’ve been evicted, people who typically have a hard time finding housing. She 
also worked on the courts beat also, where she developed a story about a man convicted of selling recycled government property on eBay.
 
Steven Spooner, an apprentice photographer at the Arizona Daily Star, saw some his photos published on a conference on drought and climate change in the desert, and more than a half dozen photos of the March for Our Lives published, including here and here and here. He also had a gallery on Irish dance and another on the dance.

Kathleen Kunz, an apprentice arts reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, wrote about the Youth Philharmonia.
 
Allison Suarez, an apprentice reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, had two stories published: one on the Border Action Alliance running tours on the border to counter misconceptions, and the other on common healing desert plants.

The semester's final Tombstone Epitaph on May 5 focused on a celebration of the film, "Tombstone," shot 25 years ago in the town and starring Val Kilmer, by Elise McClain and Katie Caldwell. Other stories include: Bisbee's historic preservation (Jamie Verwys), bars/eateries off the beaten path (Savannah Shippen), female farmers (Amanda Stadek), St. David house painter's artwork (Nick Smallwood and Deanna Sherman), Czech performer (David Joseph Del Grande), black baseball (Miranda Rodriguez) and Arizona wine (Carly Oseran and Reed Wallace).

Three J-school alums from Arizona Public Media — Lorraine Rivera ('04), Sandra Westdahl ('12) and Andrea Kelly ('05) — won Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and are eligible for the national competition (read story). In all, AZPM received seven awards in Region 3, which includes TV and radio stations in Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

Pam White is the new chair of the school's Journalism Advisory Council. Pam is a former Emmy-winning reporter/producer extraordinaire with Arizona Public Media. She replaces Frank O. Sotomayor ('66), who will stay on as vice-chair. Click here to read more about the council.

Frank O. Sotomayor ('66), an inaugural member of the school's Hall of Fame, has returned to his roots as a sports stringer for the Arizona Daily Star, covering UA track and field for Sports Editor Ryan Finley ('02). Click here to follow Sotomayor's stories on Twitter.

Sara Hammond, a 1977 J-school grad, is retiring from Arizona Public Media as a science reporter and producer, and stepping down as vice-chair and member of the school's Journalism Advisory Council. Hammond, a former Arizona Daily Star reporter, excelled as a journalist and as a communications specialist at Raytheon, the UA Mars Mission and Arizona Cancer Center. Click here to read a 2017 Cursor story on her.

Tom Collins ('98), former editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, is in need of a kidney donor. Collins, a 2005 UA Law grad and former Tucson Citizen reporter, is executive director of the Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission. Click here for more details.

Paul M. Ingram, a former J-school master's student and a TucsonSentinel.com reporter/photographer, is one of seven U.S. journalists to be recognized in the Institute for Nonprofit News' Impact Prize photo contest for his 2017 image of a teen sprinting from the Nogales border wall.

Justin Sayers ('14) has a new assignment at the Louisville Courier Journal on the sports desk, where he'll be focused on breaking/trending news — and, as he joked on Facebook, "leading the local coverage of (UA quarterback) Khalil Tate's Heisman run." Sayers had been the paper's Southern Indiana communities reporter.

Kendal Blust ('16 M.A.) of the Nogales International covered the acquittal of a Border Patrol officer accused of killing a Mexican teen in 2012. Perla Trevizo, Curt Prendergast ('11 master's grad) and Mamta Popat of the Arizona Daily Star also reported on the acquittal of a Border Patrol officer accused of killing a Mexican teen in 2012. Federal prosecutors are considering a retrial.

Hannah Gaber ('16 M.A.) reflected on helping the Arizona Republic win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in a story on our website and UANews. She produced the podcasts, contributed video and audio, and organized images for “The Wall: Unknown stories, Unintended consequences,” a 2017 project by a team of journalists from the Republic and USA Today Network.

April 20, 2018

Betty Hurd captured the Mark Finley Gold Pen Award in the school's spring 2018 best beginning news writing contest. Trent Anderson finished second and Eva Halvax placed third. Sixteen students selected by their JOUR 205 instructors had an hour to write a story on April 16 after listening to a news conference and Q&A by Jim Critchley, retired Tucson Fire chief. See the school's website story, which includes a link to past winners.

 

Chastity Laskey, an impending graduate, took a job as a digital producer for USA Today/Gannett's Western Digital Hub at the Arizona Republic. Laskey, who started in Phoenix in early April, is a former editor-in-chief at the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

 

David Joseph Del Grande has accepted a position at the Green Valley News & Sahuarita Sun. “I’m honored to secure a reporting job right after graduation," he says. David, who interned at NJ.com last summer, will be working with Dan Shearer, editor of the News (gvnews.com) & Sun (sahuaritasun.com). Shearer is a 1985 UA J-school grad.

 

Jamie Maese has been awarded the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) Summer Fellowship position at NBC News in New York. Jamie will work on the MSNBC show, "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell."

Michelle Jaquette was selected to work in Congresswoman Martha McSally’s office this summer as a press intern. She completed her second interview for the post while in Washington D.C. for spring break, as part of Professor Susan Knight’s course Inside the Beltway: Press, Politics and Power in DC.

 

The leadership of the student chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists held a Skype session with investigative journalist Lottie Joiner on April 14 at the School of Journalism. NABJ chapter president Zeina Cabrera-Peterson and social media co-chairs Krissy Obeng and Vivian Colter interviewed Joiner, who is a senior editor at The Crisis, the magazine for the NAACP. Joiner also is a fellow at The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University through which they were connected. Joiner spoke about her career, her I-reporting, and coverage of race and civil rights. Click here for more information about Joiner's work.

Nick Smallwood took photos for the school's inaugural Hall of Fame induction brunch and ceremony on April 7.

Micheal Romero did the video filming for the Hall of Fame.

April Lanuza and Zeina Cabrera-Peterson helped host a visiting group from Tunisia this week: Internews country manager Saoussen Ben Cheikh, Manal Issa, Basheer Al Dhorai and Seyf M'Rabet. The four are learning mobile journalism, ethics and other journalism skills from the J-school and the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Arizona Sonora News Service students posted new stories on the ASN website, including Gloria Knott's piece on Arizona reading deficiencies; Shaq Davis' story on access to police body camera footage; myth-busting the taste of Arizona wine (Carly Oseran and Reed Wallace); and Erik Kolsrud's Arizona Legislature roundup and state dinosaur story.

 

The Spring 2018 Blue Guitar magazine, which is a project of the Arizona Consortium for the Arts, published essays written by seven students in Science Journalism (Fall 2017) and Environmental Journalism (Spring 2018): Jessica Blackburn, Laura Fuchs, Diego Huerta, Zoe Martín, Kellie Sheehan, Nick Smallwood and Chris Stidley.

 

The Arizona Daily Wildcat opinion board – made up of Courtney Talak, Andrew Paxton, Marissa Heffernan, Saul Bookman and Pascal Albright— wrote an editorial about joining other independent student newsrooms to confront financial challenges facing the industry. Click here to read it.

 

Former Arizona Republic video journalist Hannah Gaber ('16 master's grad) and Republic copy editor Becca Dyer ('85) helped the Republic and USA Today Network win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for the 2017 project, "The Wall: Unknown stories. Unintended consequences." Gaber helped with video, was the primary producer of the podcast, and contributed in the audio and organization of footage and images for many parts of the project. She is now making a film in Cyprus through a Fulbright research grant. Former J-school adjunct instructor Rob O'Dell had the lead byline on a watchdog story on migrant deaths and did much of the data analysis for the project, while Republic Page 1 Editor John D'Anna ('83) shoehorned the project into print and wrote headlines. Click here to meet the entire team. Read the Republic story and the Pulitzer website story.

Bethany Barnes ('13 master's grad), education reporter for The Oregonian, talked to Prof. Maggy Zanger's advanced reporting class April 11 about her story, "Benefit of the Doubt: How Portland Public Schools helped educator evade allegations of sexual misconduct." Bethany won the national Brechner Freedom of Information Award for the project.

Jenny Hijazi ('17 master's grad), a PBS NewsHour news assistant, talked to graduate students in Prof. Jeannine Relly's research methods class on April 19. Hijazi spoke by Skype from the PBS NewsHour offices about an experiment with virtual reality news that she conducted with J-school Director David Cuillier before she graduated.

Christianna Silva ('17) is a reporter for VICE Media in New York City after previous work at Newsweek. She interviewed Parkland, Florida, students about the new clear backpack policy following the mass shooting.

Zack Rosenblatt ('13) has a new beat at NJ.com — covering the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (NJ.com/eagles). Rosenblatt, a former Arizona Daily Star reporter, had been covering the NBA's Sixers.

 

The school inducted 14 individuals and two couples into its inaugural Hall of Fame on April 7 at the Center for Creative Photography: Gilbert Bailon ('81), the late Donald W. Carson ('54), Nancy Cleeland ('77), Richard Gilman ('72), Florence Graves ('76 master's), Savannah Guthrie ('93), the late Hugh ('52) and Jan Harelson, Jane Kay ('61), Doug Martin, Sherman R. Miller 3rd, Lynne Olson ('69), Mort Rosenblum ('65), Jacqueline Sharkey ('72), Don and Luda Soldwedel, Frank Sotomayor ('66) and the late Bill Walsh('84). Click here for the program.

Sarah Kezele ('11) and John D'Anna ('83) were the emcees for the school's Hall of Fame ceremony.

Lynne Olson ('69), a Hall of Famer, spoke April 8 after the sreening of "Good Night, and Good Luck," the final film in the school's spring Journalism on Screen series. The event drew more than 300 people to The Loft Cinema. Prof. Nancy Sharkey introduced the film and Will Conroy of the Arizona Inn interviewed Olson, who co-wrote "The Murrow Boys," spoke April 9 to Sharkey's feature writing class about her journalism career at The Associated Press and her seven books of history, including 2017's "Last Hope Island."

Jane Kay ('61), one of the nation's top environmental journalists, talked to students April 5 from Prof. Carol Schwalbe's and Prof. Susan Knight's classes about her landmark 1985 Arizona Daily Star series on TCE pollution in groundwater on Tucson's South Side. Kay was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.

Nancy Cleeland ('77), a member of the school's Hall of Fame, talked April 9 to Prof. Maggy Zanger's advanced reporting class and Prof. Geoff Ellwand's grad students in media law about her Los Angeles Times' Walmart series that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Cleeland, the lead writer, brought along hard copies of the stories to share with students on how Walmart's drive for lower retail prices had impacted international labor practices.

Malcolm Terence ('63), a former Los Angeles Times reporter, wrote a book, "Beginner's Luck: Dispatches from the Klamath Mountains," about life on a commune in the late 1960s and '70s, environmental activism and the conflict between resource exploitation and Native American rights.

March 30, 2018

Maritza Cruz has been named a Chips Quinn Scholar. She will intern this summer at the Bay Area News Group in San Jose, focusing on video journalism. Nearly 40 UA students have been named Chips Quinn scholars. Click here to see the list. Cruz, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, won a Hearst multimedia award last year for her Arizona Sonora News Service video on homeless youth, "Shelter me."

 

Current and former Arizona Daily Wildcat staffers J.D. Molinary, Rebecca Noble ('17) and Alex Furrier ('17, Eller MIS) joined Jorge Encinas ('16 master's) as finalists in the SPJ Region 11 Mark of Excellence Awards in Universal City, California, April 27-28. Molinary was nominated for his series on the closed-door search for a new UA president, including this story on confidentiality; Noble for her Tucson Rodeo photos; Furrier for his early 2017 statistical analysis of the Sean Miller era; and Encinas for his El Independiente/ASN story on "Immigrant possessions disappear during deportation."

Students in Prof. Carol Schwalbe's fall 2017 science journalism class published their 40-page ZooView magazine, which focuses on Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo and efforts globally to preserve animals from extinction. The students included editors Marissa Heffernan, Carly Oseran and Nick Smallwood; photographer Kacey Seeloff; and staffers Chris Blach, Tim Dabrowski, Sophie Daws, Clare DeCelles, Alyssa Hill, Hannah Hindley, Elizabeth Kinney, Nina Kolodij, Shanshan Niu, Tony Perkins, Naomi Pier, Chris Stidley, Spencer Streips and Ysabella Zammit. Read the issue here.

Arizona Sonora News posted new content on its website on March 30, including a story by Katie Caldwell and Ava Garcia on how a new bill could affect the San Pedro River. Others were stories on Arizona preparing for more wildfires (Michaela Webb); helping women recover from breast cancer (Sara Harelson); the emerging trend of pop-up shops (Marissa Einck); UA quarterback Khalil Tate unfazed by Heisman talk (Zach Smith); and a Legislative roundup: Juveniles, militias, dark money (Erik Kolsrud).

In the March 23 Tombstone Epitaph, students had stories on a Confederate flag parade (by Elise McClain), a domestic violence shelter (Maritza Cruz), free book boxes (Deanna Sherman and Nick Smallwood), the 1858 Dragoon Springs massacre (Jordan Treece), a Bisbee pop-up art gallery (Jamie Verwys) haunted tourism (Miranda Rodriguez) and cooking with prickly pear (Carly Oseran). Click here to read the issue.

The Blue Guitar magazine, which is published by the Arizona Consortium for the Arts, accepted essays by seven science and environmental journalism students: Jessica Blackburn, Zoe Martin Cowan, Laura Fuchs, Diego Huerta, Kellie Sheehan, Nick Smallwood and Chris Stidley. The essays will appear in the spring 2018 issue.

Steven Spooner, a photo apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, contributed to a March 30 gallery with Mike Christy ('11) on the March for Our Lives protest. Spooner covered his first Tucson Rodeo and had a number of photos, including this one, run in a gallery. He also had a gallery of his work published on a high school basketball game.

Andrew Koleski, a copy-editing apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote headlines from the death of Billy Graham to the arrest of high school students for school violence threats, and from charter schools to Vice President Biden. A few of his headlines: "Northwest hospital among first in AZ to use pill-sized pacemaker," and "Passenger: Unlicensed teen driver made wrong turn onto NSA campus," and "Korean handshake highlights opening ceremony at Olympics."

Elena Gonzalez, a features apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, jumped on the poke bowl trend in restaurants, with a story Feb. 27 that was a beginner’s guide to poke; the coverage included two photos that she shot. Her story lede: "A taste of Hawaii has caught a wave in the desert."

Maritza Cruz was a busy Arizona Daily Star apprentice for the rodeo parade, reporting two stories, including one about an 82-year-old veteran who’s been waving to the crowd for 21 rodeo parades.

Kathleen Kunz, an Arizona Daily Star apprentice, had multiple stories published, one about how doing art can shape lives; a preview of the Wa:k Pow Wow; and the another about Oscar Wilde’s “Salome."

UA's trip to the NCAA tournament didn't last long, but J-students Courtney Rice, Alec White, Saul Bookman and Simon Asher made the trip to Boise, Idaho, for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, UATV and KAMP Student Radio. The four, plus Nate Airulla, Robby Leaño and Leonard Moody traveled the week before to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 men's basketball tournament. Justin Spears ('17) also covered both tournaments for the Arizona Daily Star and chatted with Anthony Gimino ('90), Mike Luke ('09) and Ben White on 1290-AM's pregame show in Las Vegas.

Oregonian reporter Bethany Barnes ('13 master's) won the national Brechner Freedom of Information Award for her efforts that allowed readers to learn about a school district cover-up from records that officials fought to keep secret. Click here to read about her award.  She will speak about her investigation April 11 at 3:15 p.m. in Prof. Maggy Zanger's class in Room 342.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14) of the Arizona Daily Star and former J-school student Dylan Smith of the Tucson Sentinel won Sledgehammer awards, given annually by the Arizona Press Club to journalists who "relentlessly hunt for the truth." Schmidt, a two-time winner, exposed how UA put female students at risk because athletes went unchecked. Smith found a hidden provision in a bill that would have exempted the Border Patrol from Freedom of Information laws.

Associated Press video journalist Sam McNeil ('14 master's) is taking a long-term assignment for AP in Beijing after being based in Jordan.

Glenn Cook ('92) has been named executive editor and vice president for news at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Cook, an Arizona Daily Wildcat alum who started his career at the Arizona Daily Star, has worked at the Review-Journal for 21 years and won awards as an editorial and column writer. Click here to read the Review-Journal story.

Leighton Ginn ('92) is a media specialist at The River at Rancho Mirage near Palm Springs, California, and a freelance sports and entertainment journalist who previously worked at The Desert Sun, Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Bethany Conway ('11 M.A.) is an assistant professor of persuasion and political communication at Cal Poly, in San Luis Obispo, California.

Dan Kohler ('12) is a senior client manager for Amazon Marketplace, working with Quiverr in optimization and strategy for consumer brands, in Carlsbad, California.

Sean Fitzpatrick ('91), one of the founders of the Arizona Daily Star's website, is the new digital director for Wick Communications, which publishes newspapers in Arizona and nine other states.

Ashley Grove ('14) is a social media marketing production assistant for Beyond Indigo Pets, a company that focuses on veterinary marketing services.

Stephanie Corns ('02), a former Arizona Daily Wildcat managing editor, is director of corporate reputation at Charles Schwab, in San Francisco.

Anne Simmons ('05) is the public access television manager for the Bay Area Video Coalition in the San Francisco Bay Area.

William Murray ('80) is deputy spokesman for the International Monetary Fund in Washington, where he has been since 1998 after previous work as a Dow Jones Co. correspondent and bureau chief.

Jennifer Fitzenberger Zeagler ('99) is manager of online communications for UNS Energy/Tucson Electric Power after previous work as UA external communications director and a Fresno Bee reporter.

March 9, 2018

Students in Susan Knight's "Inside the Beltway: Press, Politics and Power in D.C." class visited Washington with her over spring break, meeting journalists and government officials, including UA alums. The students were Madeline Dunlap, Lizzie Quinlan, Rocky Baier, Michelle Jaquette, Bennett Adamson, Jane Garza, Jack O’Sullivan, Marissa Ryan and Nick Meyers. December grad Danyelle Khmara also attended. Grads Kellie Mejdrich (CQ Roll Call), Jenny Hijazi (PBS News Hour), Mary Brandenberger (DEA media affairs) and H Darr Beiser (retired USA Today photographer), and Washington Post reporter Jack Gillum talked to students. Colleen Bagnall with the College of SBS also hosted a reception for students and alums at the Watergate Hotel with J-school grads Paul Allvin (USO), Nancy Cleeland (OSHA, Dept. of Labor), Christine Gacharna (Essay Palooza), Francesco Peganini (U.S. Aid), Paula Kelso (Washington Post), Saul Loeb (Agence France-Presse), Michele Stevenson (retired Time magazine), Margo Warren (National Institutes of Health), Pat Zapor (Catholic Legal Immigration Network) and Beiser. Intercept reporter Jim Risen also attended.

Shaq Davis is a part-time reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, covering the night police beat. Read some of his work here, including the March 6 "Tucson high school students dress up as superheroes to teach kids about personal safety."

Gloria Knott wrote, "10 reasons journalists decide to write books," for the Arizona Daily Star on March 9. She also wrote 11 stories for the Arizona Daily Star in February, 10 of which were about the Festival of Books.

Tirion Morris, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, shared a byline with Curt Prendergrast ('11) with the March 1 story, "Plea: Agent wore uniform, drove stolen Border Patrol pickup in pot-smuggling effort."

 

J-school students Saul Bookman, Alec White, Simon Asher, Nate Airulla, Courtney Rice, Robby Leaño  and Leonard Moody covered the UA men's basketball run to a Pac-12 Tournament title in Las Vegas for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, UATV and KAMP Student Radio. See their coverage at wildcat.arizona.edu/.

Arizona Sonora News posted new stories March 2 on Dreamer parents (by Noemi Salazar Mata), soccer in Tucson (Zach Smith), a Sierra Vista domestic violence shelter (Maritza Cruz), gender wage gap Gloria Knott), Legislative roundup (Erik Kolsrud), Sonoran hot dog (Sammy Minsk), ACL tear (Conor Redmond) — and a podcast on a campaign to provide female inmates sanitary napkins (Brieana Sealy).

Carmen Valencia, Robby Leaño and Jessica Suriano spoke to 11 students from Hopi High School on March 1 about their journalism projects and life at the UA J-school.

 

Grad student Emily Ellis, an intern at Arizona Public Media, saw her story and radio segment on turquoise promoted by UANews in its e-newsletter. 

 

The UA student chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists hosted a Feb. 28 talk by award-winning journalist Valeria Fernández. She helped make "Two Americans," a documentary comparing the lives of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and a 9-year-old whose parents were arrested in an immigration sweep.

Justyn Thomas, a J-school student and four-year manager of the UA men's basketball team , was honored March 3 on Senior Day by UA coach Sean Miller after the Wildcats' win over Cal. Thomas traveled to Spain for the exhibition tour in August and the Bahamas in November, and will accompany the team for the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14) of the Arizona Daily Star has moved from the public safety beat to cover UA Athletics for at least the next month. Here's her recent story: "Turmoil in UA athletic department prompts review of policies involving sexual violence, discrimination."

Frank O. Sotomayor ('66), who chairs the school's Journalism Advisory Council, is covering UA track and field for the Arizona Daily Star. Read his story, "Wildcat standout Georgeanne Moline returns to Tucson with gold."

Kyle Mittan ('14) is a UA Communications specialist, helping manage content for the Lo Que Pasa employee newsletter, after previous work at the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald.

Amber Sumpter ('13) is a senior producer at News 13 in Orlando, a 24-hour cable news channel that covers Central Florida.

Bryon Wells ('99) is a writer-editor for the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of UAS (drones) Integration in Washington, D.C., after previous work at the Inter-American Foundation.

Emi Komiya ('13) is a broadcast specialist with the U.S. Marine Corps Community Services in Okinawa, Japan, after previous work as a multimedia journalist at KPNX in Phoenix and at KGRZ in Buffalo.

Devlin Houser ('11), a former Arizona Public Media contributing reporter, is a Spanish teacher at Tucson Magnet High School.

Maizie Simpson ('14) is assigning editor at Credit Karma, based in the San Francisco Bay Area after previous work at Magoosh, in Berkeley, California.

Feb. 23, 2018

Dominika Heusinkveld, a dual master's candidate in journalism and environmental science, saw her story, “B-36 played critical role in start of nuclear age,” published as a full-page spread on the front of the Home & Life section of the Feb. 18 Arizona Daily Star. She wrote the story in Prof. Nancy Sharkey's feature writing class.

Michelle Jaquette's story, "Troubled Tram: Sabino Canyon’s gas-powered shuttles could be on the way out in favor of an electric alternative," was published in the Tucson Weekly on Feb. 15. She wrote the piece in Prof. Nancy Sharkey's feature writing class.

The semester's first Epitaph hit the streets Feb. 16 with front-page stories on Tombstone's business slowdown (Kayla Belcher), the fight for Martha McSally's U.S. House seat (David Del Grande) and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement (Jessica Suriano). Del Grande and Courtney Talak are editors/designers this semester. Read the edition and go to arizonasonoranewsservice.com for more stories.

Maritza Cruz, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote a story, "Long-together Tucson couples give tips on making love last," in honor of Valentine's Day. The couples included Prof. Emeritus Jim Johnson, with his wife, Marilyn.

Leah Gilchrist, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story, "UA police hiring students to serve as community service officers" on Feb. 21. 

Elena Gonzalez, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote a story, "New mobile bike repair venture brings shop services to Tucsonans' front doors," on Feb. 8.

Kathleen Kunz, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote a story, "UA Dance concert an international affair," on Feb. 13.

Brandon Dawkins, a J-school senior, said he will transfer after graduating in May to play quarterback at another school (see Star story). Brandon co-anchored our "Arizona Cat's Eye" show last fall with Page Jones and joined other students in interviewing alumna Savannah Guthrie of NBC's "Today Show" last spring.

Michelle Floyd ('17) and Zack Rosenblatt ('13) covered the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles . Michelle, a former UA softball pitcher, helped with production for the NBA. She's also a production associate for the Pac-12 Network and Fox Sports, and does work for UA Athletics Creative Services. Zack, a former Arizona Daily Star reporter and Arizona Daily Wildcat alum, wrote about Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia Sixers for NJ.com. Read his work.

Laurann Robinson ('10) is a reporter, traffic anchor and fill-in news anchor at KETV in Omaha, Nebraska, after previous work at other Nebraska cities and San Diego.

Morgan (Rost) Matchett ('04) is development director at The Drawing Studio Inc. after previous work for Tucson’s Child and Family Resources, the Humane Society and Tucson Citizen.

Eddie North-Hager ('94) is director of media relations and social media at USC, where he has been since 2006 after previous reporting positions in the L.A. area and the Tucson Citizen.

Kelly Hultgren ('13) has been working for four years in New York City as a reporter, project manager and podcast producer for Jean Chatzky, financial editor of NBC’s Today Show.

Mark Armao ('15) is a reporter at the San Diego Daily Transcript, which covers real estate, development and construction.

Morgan Toone ('13) is a marketing consultant at KVOA-TV in Tucson.

IN MEMORIAM
Minnette "Toby" Burges, a 1972 alumna and 1983 University of Arizona Law grad, died on Feb. 10. Burges, a former Arizona Daily Wildcat editor, was hired by Stars and Stripes out of college after an internship there before becoming one of Tucson's top employment discrimination lawyers. As a J-student, she won a top-20 Hearst award in editorial writing. A public memorial will be March 10 at 1 ART Gallery, 1 East Broadway, from 4-8 p.m. Click here to read her paid obit.

Feb. 9, 2018

Jordan Glenn ('17) placed among the top 20 nationally in the Hearst Multimedia Features Competition. His documentary and story, "Out of the Gates," finished 13th and appeared on Arizona Sonora News. Glenn, now with KOLD TV (see note below),  joins Danyelle Khmara, Maritza Cruz, Annie Dickman ('15) and the school's bordering110.com project as recent UA Hearst winners.

Leah Gilchrist, an Arizona Daily Star apprentice, had her first story published for the newspaper on Jan. 27, “Public has variety of ways to gather news, reports, crime stats from local police agencies.”

Elena Gonzalez, a Star apprentice, had a quick-turnaround deadline on her story on Feb. 2, “Tucson teens put constructions skills to the test in regional competition.” 

Tirion Morris, a Star apprentice, saw her first story published in the Star on Feb. 2: “Ex-employee sentenced to prison for embezzling $500k from Tucson auto dealership.”

Apprentice Kathleen Kunz’s preview about vintage baseball ran on Feb. 6, “Watch some good ol’ fashioned baseball in Tucson this weekend.”

Steven Spooner, a photo apprentice at the Star, had a couple of his photos featured in a gallery on the “super blue blood moon.”  He also had one of his photos featured online with a story on former UA basketball player Eugene Edgerson being sworn in as a police officer.

Maritza Cruz, an apprentice at the Star, saw her first story published for the paper on Feb. 8, "Drag show to keep Welcome Diner open after hours."

Andrew Koleski, a copy desk apprentice, wrote a headline, “Air Force continues A-10 wing upgrade; ‘good news’ for D-M.” Professors Susan Knight and Sarah Gassen, along with all of the apprentices, were happy to see Andrew included Don Carson’s middle initial in the following headline: “Donald W. Carson, former UA journalism professor and department head, dies at 85.” Carson was a stickler for middle initials.

Katelyn Caldwell and Julia Leon and are working for KVOA-TV as digital content producers and finishing up the last semester of their senior years.

Jordan Glenn ('17) accepted a job as a digital content producer at Tucson News Now (KOLD 13 and FOX 11) after earlier work at the White Mountain Independent.

Kendra Paige Hall ('15) will start in late March as a reporter for KVOA TV, where she started out, after earlier work at ABC 7 television in Amarillo, Texas. 

Hank Stephenson, an alum and the K-12 education reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, talked about public records on Jan. 31 with Prof. Jeannine Relly's research methods master's class. Check out Stephenson's work for the Star, including his story about the TUSD blacklist.

Rebecca Noble ('17) is doing good work as a photographer for the Cody Enterprise in Wyoming. She had to don skis to shoot a recent assignment, a Nordic trail event. See the paper's website at codyenterprise.com.

Sam McNeil ('14), a master's grad and multimedia journalist for The Associated Press, did a  story and video, "Mars on Earth: Simulation tests in remote desert of Oman," that got good play and was featured on A11 of the Arizona Daily Star on Feb. 9.

Zack Rosenblatt ('13), settling into his new job at NJ.com, wrote a story about Super Bowl MVP and UA Wildcats alum Nick Foles, and covered the Philadelphia Eagles' winning parade. Rosenblatt, a former Arizona Daily Star sports reporter, is covering the Philadelphia 76ers. Read his work at tinyurl.com/y9svtyf6.

Hope Miller ('13) joined the NBC affiliate, KSBY 6, in San Luis Obispo, California, as a content producer after work as a copy editor at the Alaska Dispatch News and a web producer for KTVA in Anchorage.

Nicholas Smith ('06) is working in Vienna, Austria, as support staff in strategic planning and economic services for the OPEC Fund for International Development. A former freelance journalist and managing editor for GlacierHub.org, he earned his master's in journalism from Columbia in 2014.

Kristina Dunham ('04) marked her sixth anniversary at the Santa Fe New Mexican, where she is copy chief and a page designer. She works with another alum, Brian Barker, who is deputy managing editor.

Norman Peckham ('95) is an educational technology trainer at Mesa Public Schools, and the former Tucson Citizen reporter received his master's from Boise State a few years ago.

Jackie Kent ('14) is as a reporter and multimedia journalist at KRQE News (CBS) in Albuquerque after earlier stints for the NBC affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska, and KOLD-TV in Tucson.

Michael Lafleur ('00) is an assistant district attorney at Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in the Boston area, and the former Tucson Citizen reporter recently got married.

John D'Anna ('83), an editor at the Arizona Republic and member of the school's Advisory Council, explained why access to public records are important to professional and student journalists as well as to the public in a video for azcentral.com.

Michael Hernandez ('17) is a multimedia reporter for KRWG Public Media at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces (see his work at krwg.org).

Mariana Dale ('14) and Matthew Casey ('13) are senior field correspondents at KJZZ Radio in Phoenix, which is also a National Public Radio affiliate (see their work at kjzz.org).

Jan. 19, 2018

Erik Kolsrud, the school's Bolles Fellow covering the Legislature this spring, filed two stories Jan. 19 for the Arizona Sonora News Service— one on Gov. Ducey's opioid plan and a Legislative roundup.

Danyelle Khmara wrote the cover story, "Death Sentence," for the Jan. 18-24 Tucson Weekly, on a young man killed in Pima County Jail last year.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat's coverage of new UA football coach Kevin Sumlin include stories from Eddie Celaya (contract), Saul Bookman (African-American coaches) and Alec White (news conference). Bookman and White also did an exclusive interview video with Sumlin (Part 1 and Part 2).

Kristina Bui ('13), a Guild organizer and copy editor at The Los Angeles Times, helped lead the way as journalists voted 248-44 to unionize. “This was a long time coming, and we're all thrilled that this has finally happened. ... The newsroom is demanding a seat at the bargaining table," Bui said in an L.A. Times' story on Jan. 19.

Julianne Stanford ('17) is reporting on military affairs for The Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Washington. Click here to read her recent stories.

Jen Duffy ('07), a former Arizona Daily Star reporter, is director of communications for Experience Scottsdale after work at MGM in Las Vegas and Loews Hotels.

Kostas Kalaitzidis ('95, M.A.), a former Tucson Citizen reporter, marked his five-year anniversary as a public information officer for the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

Berenice Rosales ('07), a former Star reporter, is a consular officer for the Consulate General of Mexico, based in Nogales, Arizona.

Jan. 12, 2018

Danyelle Khmara finished in the top 20 nationally in the Hearst Feature Writing Competition. Her story, "Home is a Tenacious Heart," tied for 16th and was published in the Tucson Weekly, where she works full-time now. There were 154 entries received from 82 schools.

Emmalee Mauldin received another internship with NASA, this time with the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, doing social media and news releases for the Hubble Telescope Program. She spent the last six months in Houston, where she worked for NASA's Johnson Space Center and weathered Hurricane Harvey after losing most of her belongings in the flooding.

Robby Leaño and Ireland Stevenson covered the UA football team's loss to Purdue in the Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, California, for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. They were joined by Arizona Daily Star sports reporter Justin Spears ('17). 

Issac Andrews, Ellen Ranta and Louis Vitiritti graduated with journalism degrees in December, joining a dozen other winter grads: C.J. D'Innocente, Betsy Kaplan, Deborah Lee, Clarisse Markarian, Leah Merrall, Monica Milberg, Briana Otanez, Noah Saunders, Monique Stewart, Gabriella Vukelic, Kylie Warren and Jules Zappone. 

Caitlin Schmidt ('14) of the Arizona Daily Star was selected as a Justice Reporting Fellow for the Feb. 15-16 John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America in New York City. Check out Schmidt's latest reporting on the Rich Rodriguez firing here and here. 

The UA J-school will have quite a contingent of alums covering the Winter Olympics for NBC in South Korea, next month. Scott Karpen ('09) will help produce the alpine skiing events and work with announcer Dan Hicks ('84), while Savannah Guthrie ('93) is scheduled to co-host the "Today Show" from PyeongChang. Karpen also will help produce the Winter Paralympics.

Brandon Mejia ('17) is a news and public affairs reporter at Arizona Public Media.

Hannah Palaniuk ('17) will be a news producer at the ABC affiliate in Honolulu (KITV) after two years at Tucson's KVOA-TV.

Gary Crooks ('82), former opinion page editor of the Spokesman-Review, is communication director for Democrat Lisa Brown's congressional campaign in Eastern Washington.

Dec. 15, 2017

Anchors Page Jones and Brandon Dawkins led a 27-minute broadcast of Arizona Cat's Eye that includes sports anchor Gabby Goduco and on-screen reporters Ciara Encinas, Kylie Warren, Reed Wallace and Alexa Wallen (producer). Other staffers include Savannah Shippen, Courtney Rice, Zoe Wesley, Chloe Persichetti and Megan Gibbs. See the fall 2017 episode here.

Brandon James ('17) landed a year-long paid internship with Hendrick Motorsports in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a content communications specialist.

Carly Rashoff ('17) accepted a full-time job on the business development team at Salesforce in the San Francisco Bay area, supporting the Health&Life Sciences vertical.

Brittny Mejia ('14) of the Los Angeles Times has reported on the wildfires in the L.A. area, including, "Thomas fire could become largest on record in California." Check out her other stories here. Also, read stories by her Times' colleagues and fellow J-school grads, Nicole Santa Cruz, '09 and Marisa Gerber, '11.

Sarah Kezele ('11) is hosting WCC All-Access, a new 30-minute monthly magazine show about West Coast Conference sports, which airs on Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), NBC Sports California (Bay Area), ROOT Sports Northwest (Washington), Stadium (national on Sling TV), and TheW.tv (online). See more info here.

Briana Sanchez ('15) is a photographer/videographer at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after previous work at the West Central Tribune in Willmar, Minnesota.

Ashley Nevel ('13) is the social media/game recap reporter for the Grand Canyon men's basketball team at Cox Communications in Phoenix

Jade Nunes ('15) is a business development manager at FITCH, a global retail and brand consultancy in Scottsdale, after previous work at WestStar Multimedia Entertainment Inc. and Habitat for Humanity.

Lisa Schnebly Heidinger ('87) was featured in an Arizona Public Media segment on Dec. 8 for her new book about her great-grandmother, "The Journal of Sedona Schnebly," which tells the story behind the Arizona town's foundation — and how it was named.

Dec. 8, 2017

Courtney Talak was selected by the university-wide Arizona Student Media Board to be the editor in chief of the Arizona Daily Wildcat for Spring 2018.  Professor Susan Knight was a member of the media board.

Rocky Baier won the Mark Finley Gold Pen Award in the school's spring 2017 best beginning news writing contest for JOUR 205 students and will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Zachary Ogden finished second and Owen Zerambo third. All 17 participants received engraved gold pens. They interviewed Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías and had an hour to file a story. See more details.

Editors Andrew Paxton and Chastity Eva Laskey oversaw fall 2017 El Independiente, "Racism in Arizona," a 64-page issue with each story translated by the UA Spanish Translation and Interpretation Program. Other staffers included Issac Andrews, Brenna Bailey, Sarah Covey, Leah Gilchrist, Chad Hanna, C.J. D’Innocente, Jireh Lopez Jimenez, Erik Kolsrud, Deborah Lee, Sophie Manley, Clarisse Markarian, Tirion Morris, Monique Stewart and Steven Spooner.

Brenna Bailey, an intern at Arizona Public Media, has received a paid internship at Arizona Public Media in the spring. She has interned at AZPM for several semesters and did a radio report, "English Only: Millennials Reflect on Growing Up Latino in Arizona Schools" on Nov. 28.

Six of of the school's 13 December 2017 grads attended a get-together Dec. 7 at Gentle Ben's. Director David Cuillier handed out UA Journalism reporter's notebooks to Gabriella Vukelic, Betsy Kaplan, Danyelle Khmara, Leah Merrall, Monica Milberg and Kylie Warren. The other grads are C.J. D'Innocente, Deborah Lee, Clarisse Markarian, Briana Otanez, Noah Saunders, Monique Stewart and Jules Zappone. The ceremony was part of the Daily Wildcat/UATV3/KAMP Radio's end-of-semester bash, organized by Adviser Brett Fera. 

Ashley Mikelonis will graduate this semester with a Master's of Arts in Journalism. Here thesis is titled, "Exploring the Success and Defeat of Ronda Rousey: A Content Analysis of Twitter and Newspaper Coverage from 2014-2016." Her thesis chair is Jeannine Relly and other committee members are Linda Lumsden and Terry Wimmer.

Broadcast students previewed this semester's Arizona Cat's Eye on Dec. 6. Brandon Dawkins and Page Jones are the anchors. Stay tuned for a link to the school's television news show, which was filmed at the Arizona Public Media studios. Click here for photos.

Students shared their border reporting projects in Prof. Celeste Bustamante's class with the Ambos Nogales community on Dec. 4. The presenters included Amanda Oien, Maria Inés Taracena, Zeina C. Peterson and April Lanuza, Emily Ellis, Philip Rody, Kristan Obeng, Angela Martinez, Daniel Rezetko and Natalia Navarro. Click here for photos.

Students in Prof. Carol Schwalbe's Science Journalism class presented their 15-minute documentary, "A Modern Zoo" on Nov. 30, with Elizabeth Kinney, Allysa Hill, Carly Oseran, Marissa Heffernan and Nick Smallwood presenting their segments. The students — with help from alums Alan Davis, John de Dios and Julian Ibarra — profiled wildlife conservation and education at the Reid Park Zoo. The class also will produce a magazine, ZooView, by early next year. For more class projects, go to medium.com/sciview.

Jessica Suriano, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a Sunday A1 lead story, "Fentanyl seizures skyrocket at border in Arizona," on Nov. 26; and "Local credit-card scheme aided by Ukrainian hackers, Hong Kong company" in the Dec. 1 edition.

Jessica Blackburn, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, "UA aquatic center trespassers risk injury, arrest and punishment," published on the front page of Sunday's metro page.

Grad student Emily Ellis, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story on the front page of C1 on Dec. 3, "Salvadorans in Tucson fight against possibility of losing OK to stay in US."

Ava Garcia, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published "Vintage instruments fill home of music," on the Dec. 3 Home and Life front page.

Paul Barlyn, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published "Small filmmakers find a home in Tucson" on the Home and Life front page on Nov. 26.

C.J. D'Innocente, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, shared a byline with former student Murphy Woodhouse with, "Number of failed restaurants jumps to 21 in November."

Six J-school majors were among 78 students to receive $750 Magellan Circle Scholarships from the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences: Hannah Dahl, Fatuma Abas Haji, Gloria Knott, Alejandro Munoz, Elizabeth O'Connell and Haille Saal-Khalili. The Magellan Scholars met their patrons Dec. 7 at a breakfast.

The Dec. 1 Tombstone Epitaph featured stories on citizenship (by Deborah Lee), wild horses (Janie Todorovich), Chinese immigrants (Lee), holiday traditional food (Tirion Morris), guest farm workers (Steven Spooner), Bisbee Festival of Lights' fire (Leah Gilchrist), minorities in prison (Lee), Bisbee's bag ban (Garret Green), boredom (Jamie Lindsay) and mine tours (Hannah Bloom). Read the PDF.

Pascal Albright helped with the audience Q&A at the Dec. 3 showing of "Obit" at The Loft Cinema.

Zack Rosenblatt ('13) accepted a job to cover the Philadelphia Sixers for NJ.com and move back to his hometown, Cherry Hill, N.J. Rosenblatt, also an Arizona Daily Wildcat alum, has been an Arizona Daily Star sports reporter for the last five years. Read his last story in the Star.

Briana Sanchez ('15) is a photographer/videographer at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after previous work at the West Central Tribune in Willmar, Minnesota.

Jade Nunes ('15) is a business development manager at FITCH, a global retail and brand consultancy in Scottsdale, after previous work at WestStar Multimedia Entertainment Inc. and Habitat for Humanity.

Ashley Nevel ('13) is the social media/game recap reporter for the Grand Canyon men's basketball team at Cox Communications in Phoenix.

Melanie Hunter ('12), a traffic anchor and reporter at KVOA-TV in Tucson, is moving to Sacramento, California, for a similar job at KCRANews (also an NBC affiliate).

Ryan Bertrand ('17) accepted a job with the NFL Network, working in the news department in Culver City, California. 

Mary Brandenberger ('99) is now the section chief for national media affairs at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) after a previous job as press secretary for the U.S. Department of Justice's community policing services office;

Shane Dale ('04) is a digital sports journalist at ABC15 in Phoenix, co-host of the "Wildcat Country" radio show on 1580-AM in Phoenix and author of "Territorial," a book about the UA-ASU football rivalry.

Nov. 17, 2017

Ashley Mikelonis defended her master's thesis on Nov. 11 that compares the Twitter and newspaper coverage of Ronda Rousey during the MMA star's success and defeat. Her thesis chair is Jeannine Relly, and Profs. Linda Lumsden and Terry Wimmer are her committee members.

Grad student Tony Perkins of Arizona Public Media hosted MetroWeek on Nov. 18 on PBS 6. The show featured his report on the research being done at Biosphere 2, including work with hydrology and soil use, combining energy generation with food production, and how coral reefs will survive in a warming climate. If you missed the show, you can watch it here.

Ava Garcia, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, "UA researcher Justin Schmidt is feeling the sting — of 83 different insects so far," published on the front page of the Home & Life section on Sunday, Nov. 19. She also had a spread in the Nov. 16 Caliente, "How artist Chris Gall sees Arizona."

Briana Otanez, an apprentice for #This is Tucson with the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, "Czarina Salido fighting to help young Native American girls discover STEM" published on Nov. 11. Otanez also wrote "Put two turkeys on your shopping list and help a family in need" on Nov. 16. 

Paul Barlyn, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw his story, "UA Tech Park on Tucson's south side is at least a decade out" published on Nov. 11.

Jessica Blackburn, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her Q&A with Vanessa Helms, "Experienced victims advocate returning to Pima County Attorney's Office," published on Nov. 11.

Jessica Suriano, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, "Prescription drug smuggling busts spike on Arizona-Mexico border," published Nov. 11.

Elizabeth O'Connell, a sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, is covering UA soccer and volleyball and saw her story,  "Arizona Wildcats face tall task in second round of NCAA soccer tournament," published on Nov. 16.

CJ D'Innocente, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, helped alum Joe Ferguson and Suriano cover the local election and also saw his story, "Most hotel, apartment pools do well in county health inspections," published in early November.

The UA National Association of Hispanic Journalists volunteered at Casa de los Niños on North Fourth Avenue on Nov. 18. Students, led by Melissa Vasquez, helped pack hygiene items for youths and contributed items.

Arek Sarkissian ('03), previously with the Naples Daily News, has been hired by POLITICO Florida to cover its regulated industries beat.

Staci Matlock ('86), editor of The Taos News, guided the weekly to the top prize in the New Mexico Press Association's 2017 Better Newspaper Contest and other first-place staff awards, including for her editorial: “In effort to attract businesses, don’t mess with public process."

Nov. 10, 2017

Four School of Journalism students were selected to receive complimentary memberships in the Investigative Reporters and Editors, generously funded by alum and award-winning investigate reporter Ryan Gabrielson. The two awardees representing the school are Michelle Jaquette and Erik Kolsrud, and the two students repenting the Arizona Daily Wildcat are J.D. Molinary and Chastity Laskey.

Freshman Marquies White shared his stories as first-generation college student with professors Terry Wimmer and Carol Schwalbe and Zac Ziegler of Arizona Public Media. Freshman Pascal Albright moderated the school's First Gen club event on Nov. 9, with help from club adviser Susan E. Swanberg. Click here to see the Facebook Live replay.

Master's student Emily Ellis participated Nov. 9 in the UA Center for Latin American Studies' 13th Annual Tinker Symposium, highlighting graduate student field research in Latin America.

Students from Prof. Carol Schwalbe's science journalism class went on an overnight field trip to Biosphere 2 in early October, and Liz Connell’s video about the agrivoltaics project is featured on the Institute of the Environment website. Marissa Heffernan provided additional footage. Go here to see some photos.

Senior Brenna Bailey and graduate student Natalia Navarro attended the Journalism and Women Symposium annual Conference and Mentoring Project in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They received travel assistance from the School of Journalism and spent three days attending journalism sessions led by women journalists from across the country. Bailey and Navarro hold leadership positions in the local JAWS group.

Grad students in Prof. Carol Schwalbe's JOUR 506 reporting class live-tweeted the All Souls Procession on Nov. 5. Lauren Trench, Chris Stidley, Jasmine Demers, Dalal Radwan, David Martinez and Kate Chisholm posted photos at tinyurl.com/uaj506.

Essays by Tim Dabrowski, Hannah Hindley, Carly Oseran, Tony Perkins and Chris Stidley appeared in the fall issue of The Blue Guitar literary and arts magazine, which is published by the Arizona Consortium for the Arts. The students wrote the essays for JOUR 465/565 Science Journalism. The magazine's co-editors are Rebecca “Becca” Dyer and Richard Dyer, both UA journalism grads.

Fatuma Haji, Erik Kolsrud, Isaac Rounseville and Alexis Whitaker are among 53 student ambassadors for the University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Click here to read their profiles.

Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, an American Indian Studies doctoral student and journalism minor, talked about covering tribes and Native American representation in the news to Prof. Jeannine Relly's master's class on Nov. 7. Ramon-Sauberan hails from the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Members of three UA School of Journalism clubs — Journalism and Women's Symposium, National Association for Hispanic Journalism and National Association for Black Journalists — hosted a discussion on Nov. 2 between people who work on DACA issues and journalists who cover DACA. The event was titled Off the Record, to give all parties an opportunity to discuss the issues of coverage openly. About 30 students and professionals attended.

Joni Hirsch Blackman ('82) published her new book "This Used To Be Chicago," with Reedy Press in September. The book tells the stories behind more than 90 Chicago buildings. Joni, a journalist who lives in Naperville, Illinois, and the Armin and Esther Hirsch Foundation fund the school's Don Bolles Fellowship. It provides expenses for a UA J-school student to live in Phoenix and cover the state Legislature each spring. Erik Kolsrud is the school's 2018 Bolles Fellow.

Murphy Woodhouse, now a reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, met with students from the UA chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for appetizers and talk about his kick-starting a career in a U.S.-Mexico border town, for the Nogales International. 

Los Angeles Times reporter Nicole Santa Cruz ('09) spoke with Prof. Jeannine Relly's master's class on Nov. 3 about the newspaper's Homicide Report and other projects. Santa Cruz, a member of the school's advisory council, was named one of L.A.'s top Latina journalists by the California Chicano News Media Association. Click here to see her work.

Oct. 27, 2017

The Arizona Daily Wildcat took several honors at the College Media Association Pinnacle Awards ceremony in Dallas on Oct. 27, including first in best online sports section, second in best social media main page and sports section, and third in best general news photo (Sydney Richardson Walton), best sports game story (Ryan Kelapire) and best general news story (J.D. Molinary).

Sara Harelson and her family were one of 15 recipients of the UA Alumni of the Year Award on Oct. 27. Matt and Julie Harelson, Sara's parents, and Scott and Marisa Harelson — all major supporters of the school — and rest of the family were honored at the Student Union, representing the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The Marshall 342 reporting lab is named after Sara's grandparents, Hugh and Jan Harelson.

April Lanuza, Zeina C. Peterson, Natalia Navarro, Emily Ellis, Philip Rody and Daniel Rezetko traveled Oct. 13-15 with Prof. Celeste González de Bustamante and Anthropology Prof. Linda Green to the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez area last weekend to work on multimedia reports comparing the border there with Nogales. They toured the newspaper El Diario de Juárez, talked with Rocio Gallegos (a co-winnner of the school's 2012 Zenger Award) and interviewed activist Dolores Huerta.

Amanda Oien attended the Online News Association conference in Washington, D.C., with Prof. Michael Mckisson and adjunct instructor Irene McKisson of the Arizona Daily Star.

J.D. Molinary of the Arizona Daily Wildcat won first place in best news story and shared a second place in best sustained coverage at the Arizona Newspaper Association awards on Sept. 30. The Wildcat, under adviser Brett Fera ('05), took first places in general excellence, page design and special section. Grad student Christopher Boan won third place in best sports story for his work on the Sahuarita Sun, while David Del Grande took third in best feature story. In all, J-school alums, students and adjunct faculty captured 13 individual first-place awards. Alexis Bechman ('08) of the Payson Roundup was chosen as Journalist of the Year in the non-daily division and won her fourth Freedom of Information award, and master's grad Kendal Blust ('16) of the Nogales International took three first places. Caitlin Schmidt ('14)) of the Arizona Daily Star and Joe Ferguson ('06) also won FOI awards. Read about the winners. 

Tirion Morris wrote the lead story in the Oct. 20 Tombstone Epitaph on poverty and food in Cochise County. The edition also included front-page stories on a man who wants to use drones to catch border crossers (by Erik Kolsrud); Crystal Palace Saloon remodeling (by Hannah Bloom); and H2-A visas (by Steven Spooner). Read the issue.

Ian Green took photos of the school's Zenger Award dinner, including shots of New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet with his award. See the photos. Green, a copy desk editor and photographer for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, also helped Prof. Rogelio Garcia with a video of the Q&A. Also, see the Facebook Live replay, which includes Director David Cuillier's student-faculty spotlight and speeches by Prof. William Schmidt and Baquet.

Andrew Paxton, Jamie Verwys, Pascal Albright, Marquies White, David Del Grande, Ava Garcia, Chastity Laskey, Nick Meyers and Dalal Radwan participated in the Society of Professional Journalists' Foley Freedom Run on Oct. 14 to honor freelance journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped and slain by ISIS in 2014. Paxton, Verwys, Albright and White also helped give parents tours of the school during a Family Weekend mixer afterward. 

Alexis Whitaker talked to prospective students about journalism at the UA's Meet Your Major on Oct. 4, along with academic adviser Paloma Boykin.

Zeina Peterson and Saul Bookman (NABJ), Marquies White and Pascal Albright (First Gen), Erik Kolsrud (ONA), Leah Gilchrist and Tirion Morris (JAWS), Andrew Paxton (SPJ) and Angela Martinez, Carmen Valencia, Melissa Vasquez and David Pujol (NAHJ) were among the student club officers and members who spoke at the Oct. 5 all clubs student-faculty mixer at Magpies, organized by Prof. Susan Knight.

Michelle Jaquette is on the cover of the school's alumni magazine, The Cursor, and featured in the watchdog reporting cover story. Read the magazine.

The school announced its inaugural Hall of Fame class of 14 people and two couples: Gilbert Bailon, Don Carson, Nancy Cleeland, Richard Gilman, Florence Graves, Savannah Guthrie, Jane Kay, Doug Martin, Sherman Miller, Lynne Olson, Mort Rosenblum, Jacqueline Sharkey, Frank O. Sotomayor and Bill Walsh; and Hugh and Jan Harelson and Luda and Don Soldwedel. They will be inducted Saturday, April 7, 2018, at a venue to be announced. Read the story.

Lorraine Rivera ('04), host of Arizona Public Media's "Arizona Week," gave students in the UA National Association of Hispanic Journalists club some career tips on broadcast journalism Oct. 24 in the Reading Room. Students enjoyed authentic tacos while listening to Rivera, an adjunct professor who emceed the school's Zenger dinner. 

Caitlin Schmidt ('14), an award-winning reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, spoke to Prof. Jeannine Relly's graduate students Oct. 10 about using public records in the law enforcement beat and sports desk investigations. She shared public records with the class, including from the Tucson Police Department Office of Internal Affairs and several databases. 

Alums Sam Stanton and Cynthia Hubert of The Sacramento Bee helped cover the devastating wildfires in California's wine country.

Bethany Barnes, a 2013 master's grad, gave the Columbia Journalism Review, insight into her investigative story: "Benefit of the Doubt: How Portland Public Schools helped educator evade allegations of sexual misconduct." Catch up with the investigation.

L.A. Times reporter Nicole Santa Cruz ('09) was honored as one of the 45 most influential Latina journalists in Los Angeles by the California Chicano News Media Association (CCNMA). Santa Cruz is a member of the UA J-school's advisory council.

Leon Drouin-Keith ('91) has been named the weekend global news manager for The Associated Press. He returned to the AP's Nerve Center in New York after a five-year stint in Bangkok, where he served most recently as deputy director for news gathering in the AP’s Asia-Pacific hub. In 2015, he helped edit the "Seafood From Slaves" investigative report, which won the AP's first Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2016. Drouin-Keith was assistant city editor at the Arizona Daily Star from 1997 to 2000, before joining the AP's Los Angeles bureau as a reporter.

Sept. 29, 2017

Erik Kolsrud has been named the 2018 Don Bolles Fellowship winner. In the spring, the senior will report from the Arizona Legislature in Phoenix for the school’s Arizona Sonora News media service, under the guidance of professor Terry Wimmer. The fellowship is named after Bolles, an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic who was killed in a car bombing in 1976. The award has been handed out since 1977. Read a story about Kolsrud, and see a list of past winners.

Jessica Suriano saw her first major apprentice story for the Arizona Daily Star, "Prosecutors: Crime group used computer hackers in $400K Tucson fraud case," run as the lead off-play on the Sept. 25 front page.

Amanda Oien and Erik Kolsrud helped Prof. Michael McKisson give UA President Robert Robbins the lowdown on drones, 360 cameras, virtual reality journalism and the school's bordering110.com project at the Sept. 22 SBS Showcase at the Student Union rotunda. Master's grad Anna Augustowska ('14) filmed the event for the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Danyelle Khmara (Tucson Weekly) and alums Joanna Willett ('13) and Caitlin Schmidt ('14) participated in the Sept. 27 Pizza & Portfolios, giving job-preparation advice and reviewing students' resumes, cover letters and clips.

Carmen Valencia and David Pujol were interviewed by KOLD-TV reporter Kevin Adger on Sept. 20. They and their fellow National Association of Hispanic Journalists club members were planning a donation drive for victims of the Mexico City earthquake. 

Seventeen students participated in the all-clubs leadership retreat on Sept. 16, including freshmen Marquies White and Pascal Albright in the school's new First Gen club. Th others were Zeina C. Peterson, Natalia Navarro, Andrew Paxton, Amanda Oien, Brenna Bailey, Nick Meyers, Melissa Vasquez, Erik Kolsrud, Ava Garcia, David Joseph Del Grande, Angela Martinez, Chastity Eva Laskey, Courtney Talak, Tirion Morris and Dalal Radwan.

Christianna Silva ('17) accepted a job as a reporter for Newsweek in New York. Silva, who finished up an internship at NPR in Washington, covered the Arizona Legislature as the school's spring Bolles Fellow, and received the school's Philip Mangelsdorf Award for Outstanding Newsperson of the Year in May.

Bethany Barnes ('13) of The Oregonian did a Sept. 19 Skype interview with Prof. Jeannine Relly's master's theory class. Barnes, a master's grad, talked about how she used public records and tracked down victims for her emotional investigative story: "Benefit of the Doubt: How Portland Public Schools helped educator evade allegations of sexual misconduct." Click here to read about Barnes' reporting process, and read her winning order for the records request.

Andrea Kelly ('05), assistant news director at Arizona Public Media, spoke about the station's code of ethics and editorial standards and policies with Prof. Jeannine Relly's master's theory and practice class today. Kelly has a master's degree in legal studies from the UA law college.

Hannah Gaber ('16), a master's grad, is leaving the Arizona Republic as a video and multimedia journalist to make a film in Cyprus through a Fulbright research grant. She contributed to a USA Today Network project on the border, "The Wall." She did more work on these podcasts connected to the report.

Brett Fera ('05), student media adviser for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, spoke at a Wildcat alumni meet-up on Sept. 21 at the Rail Yard near downtown. The event was hosted by former adviser Mark Woodhams. Click here to see some photos.

 

Brittny Mejia ('14) of the Los Angeles Times worked on a major project, "Leaving America: With shaky job prospects and Trump promising crackdowns, immigrants return to Mexico with U.S.-born children."

Sept. 15, 2017

Grad students April Lanuza, Emily Ellis and Zeina Peterson presented their summer projects to other M.A. students, faculty and staff in Marshall 340 at the Sept. 14 "Talk & 'Tizers." The group went to Gentle Ben's afterward for appetizers. Lanuza interviewed Latinos living in the oil boomtown of Williston, North Dakota. Ellis did archival research in Mexico City and an internship with journalist Franc Contreras. And Peterson mentored teens in the school's Journalism Diversity Workshop for Arizona High School Students.

Carmen Valencia and Moe Irish staffed the school's table with Prof. Celeste González de Bustamante at the Sept. 13 Study Abroad Fair at the Student Union's Grand Ballroom. They talked to students about the school's reporting trip to Costa Rica in Summer 2018. Click here for more info.

Emmalee Mauldin continued her a science journalism internship at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, despite losing her car and many belongings in the flooding after Hurricane Harvey. "I was rescued by a series of heroes," says Emmalee, who stayed with another NASA employee until she found a new place to live. 

Gabriella Vukelic, a summer intern at Family Circle, saw some of her work published in the magazine's October issue that hit the stands Sept. 12.

Hannah Dahl of the Arizona Daily Wildcat wrote about a new, long-lasting sunscreen developed by UA scientists that won’t break down or absorb into your skin. Read it here.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat staff was named one of the nation's 43 finalists in the Pacemaker competition for collegiate newspapers. Chastity Laskey is the current editor, and Brett Fera ('05) is the Wildcat's adviser.

Brandon Dawkins accounted for six touchdowns — three passing and three running — in UA's 63-16 win at UTEP last night. Check out the Arizona Daily Wildcat's coverage from the J-school's Saul Bookman and Alec White and photographer Heather Newberry. Dawkins is closing in on the UA football career rushing record for quarterbacks.

Justin Spears ('17) accepted a job with the Arizona Daily Star as its online sports producer. Spears, an Arizona Daily Wildcat/UA-TV3 and KAMP Student Radio alum, had been working for Cox Media's Pac-12 Diehards after graduation, and was freelancing for the Star.

Brenna Goth ('13) started "a new adventure" as a correspondent for Bloomberg BNA. The former Arizona Republic and Arizona Daily Wildcat reporter is cover business and government news in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

Arek Sarkissian ('03), the Tallahassee bureau chief for the Naples Daily News, helped cover Hurricane Irma after it slammed the state Sept. 9-10.

David McGlothlin ('16), associate editor of AZ Big Media in Phoenix, had two holes-in-one during a round of golf Sept. 8. "Unfortunately, I think this was the peak of my golf career and it's all downhill from here," joked McGlothlin, who covered the state Legislature as a Bolles Fellow in spring 2016. Click here to read his story about the day.

In memory
Peter Potter, a 1973 J-school master's grad, died at 89 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Potter was a longtime copy editor at the Tucson Citizen. Read his obit here. 

Sept. 1, 2017

Alec White was hired by the BBC World News Service to shoot video and gather audio of Glenn Schneider, an astronomer at the UA who is “addicted” to solar eclipses. This report ran Aug. 19 as a preview to the Aug. 21 eclipse. Alec is a reporter for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, an on-air host for KAMP Student Radio, and the sports director for UATV-3.

Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan of the Tohono O'odham Nation tells how she and her family were harassed by a man this summer while picking fruit in Saguaro National Park-West. She is an American Indian Studies Ph.D. student and a journalism minor. Her interview comes at the 31:00 mark of the "Traditional food foraging" radio segment.
 
Recent grad Stephanie Soto was hired by Telemundo. She will be reporting out of Tucson after a month of training in Phoenix. Stephanie, a former digital producer at KOLD-TV, narrated our "Welcome to the School of Journalism" video. "Stephanie is committed to news excellence and our viewers will benefit from her outstanding journalistic work,” said Telemundo's Miguel Gaytan (read the news release).
 
Master's grad Jenny Hijazi ('17) has accepted a news assistant position at PBS NewsHour. She'll be moving to the Washington, D.C., area the beginning of September. 
 
Karen Lizarraga ('17) accepted a job as digital marketing manager for fashion designer Shahida Clayton's clothing brand, Shahida Parides, and will work out of Tucson.
 
Arizona Public Media received 13 nominations for the Oct. 14 Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards, including producer/photographer/editor Sandra Westdahl ('12) for five segments and Sara Hammond ('77) as co-producer of "OSIRIS-REx: Countdown to Launch." AZPM also is up for Overall Excellence, which it won last year. See the list. 
 
Journalist Kristen Cook ('92), a perennial Arizona Press Club winner, is leaving the Arizona Daily Star and hopes to write a book. Read her heartfelt "resignation letter."
 
Arizona Daily Star reporter Caitlin Schmidt ('14) did strong public records reporting with the story, "Tucson detective fails to properly investigate dozens of abuse."
 
Master's grad Hannah Gaber ('16) was one of 17 Arizona Republic and azcentral reporters and photographers caught up in the tear gas and pepper spray after the Aug. 22 Trump rally in Phoenix. "I was actually right where it all began," she says, "and saw people throwing bottles and stuff at the police. I didn't get it as bad as some though. I was live-streaming, so my boss saw it as it was happening and called me hollering, "Get away from the gas!" Despite that, Gaber says she continued to film for as long as she could. Read a Republic editor's story here, and watch the video of the turmoil.
 
Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Susan Carroll ('99) and her colleagues covered the epic flooding in the Houston area after Hurricane Harvey. Carroll, who joined the Chronicle in 2006, focused on the U.S.-Mexico border for the Tucson Citizen and Arizona Republic after graduating from UA.

Master's grad Bethany Barnes ('13), a reporter for The Oregonian, wrote about how an educator continued teaching for years after female students repeatedly accused him of sexual misconduct. Read the story here.

Jen Levario Cieslak ('02) designed Barnes' package for The Oregonian and the front page of the Aug. 22 Oregonian on the eclipse. Her editor produced a timeline on the process. 

Jeanie Bergen ('07) is now a story editor in L.A. for Awesomeness TV’s "Zac & Mia," a new dramedy about two teens with cancer who fall in love. It's set to air later on go90.

Master's alum Judy Nichols ('97) and her husband, Tom Nichols, another former J-school student, both quit their jobs in 2014, sold their Scottsdale home and hit the road in their "Epic Van," blogging about their adventures on their New American Nomads website. The former Arizona Republic reporter/editors and Arizona Daily Wildcat alums are now volunteering at a redwood state part near Eureka, Calif.

Aug. 18, 2017

The school's new master's students met faculty and current grad students Aug. 18. Welcome Chris Boan, Matt Brockman, Katie Caldwell, Vivian Colter, Jasmine Demers, Krys Estes, Ava Garcia, Dominika Heusinkveld, Danyelle Khmara, David Martinez, Krissy Obeng, Zeina Peterson, Karissa Pottorff, Dalal Radwan, Alyssa Schlitzer, Chris Stidley, Jessica Suriano and Lauren Trench, and Ph.D. minor students Kate Chisholm and Maria del Mar Navarro.

The school's digital-winning Bordering110.com project — reported on by Julia Leon, Brenna Bailey, Maritza Dominguez, Mark Flores, Jenny Hijazi, Erik Kolsrud, Genesis Lara, Chastity Laskey, Amanda Oien and Stephen Oliver — was presented at the at Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in Chicago. The project took first place in the Best of Digital Competition in the Individual/Single Class website category. Read a story about the conference.

Danyelle Khmara was hired as a staff writer at the Tucson Weekly, where she has been freelancing and producing cover stories. Khmara is enrolled in the school's Accelerated Master's Program. Read the editor's note about her.

Incoming graduate student, Dominika Heusinkveld, published a science story on Scienceblogs, a highly-regarded science blog network, "NASA team provides free satellite public health data to researchers and communities." She wrote the story in Prof. Susan Swanberg's class last semester.

Gloria Knott, a summer apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, will continue to freelance food stories for the Star and at Edible Baja. For the Star, she also wrote about a mermaid parade in downtown Tucson.

Jamie Verwys detailed the lack of inspections of the city's splash pads as a summer apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star. She is the opinions editor at the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Ciara Encinas completed her internship at CBS News in Washington, and got to do a mock news update in the studio. Encinas visited the White House and Capitol, and went on shoots with field producers and reporters. She worked in the Newspath department, editing stories to send out to network affiliates such as Tucson's KOLD.

Ashley Fredde, an intern at Good4Utah in Salt Lake City, received some major air time this summer for her on-air segments about "bath bombs" and "Chunky Monkey Overnight Oats."

Amanda Oien finished her internship at Experience Arizona by doing a piece on indoor skydiving. Among other stories, she did a video piece on  also can watch her video story, "The Bisbee Fly Swatting Contest."

Brenna Bailey, an intern at Arizona Public Media, wrote about a decreasing freshmen class, "UA looks to nontraditional students to offset enrollment losses," on Aug. 8.

Julianne Stanford ('17) accepted a reporting job at the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Washington, where she'll cover the Naval base and shipyard. "If anyone has recommendations for a good pair of rain boots, let me know," she writes on Facebook. Stanford had five internships while at the J-school, including a Pulliam Fellowship. Read earlier stories on her Maggie Award and her internships.

Master's grad Mikayla Mace ('17) received the top student paper award from the Graduate Student Interest Group from Ohio University's Burton Speakman at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in Chicago. Mace, now a science reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, presented her paper, “Newspaper Coverage of Mars in the U.S. and the U.K. 2011-2016.”

Jenny Hijazi ('17) presented her master's paper at the AEJMC Conference in Chicago, a collaboration with School Director David Cuillier: “Effects of virtual reality news video on transportation, attitudes, fact-recall and intentions to act.”

Steve Choice ('16) presented his master's paper, “Love and courage: Resilience strategies of journalists facing trauma in northern Mexico," at the AEJMC Conference in Chicago.

Bakina Wellars ('17) had his master's paper, "Influence of Foreign News Programs on the International News Agenda of Rwandan Television and Newspapers.” presented by Prof. Carol Schwalbe at the AEJMC Conference in Chicago. Wellars could not attend after being named an acting journalism dean at the Catholic Institute of Kabgayi, Rwanda.

Alum Ryan Gabrielson of ProPublica gave insight into Joe Arpaio — and how Gabrielson and alum Paul Giblin won a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for revealing that immigration enforcement by Arpaio's office undermined investigations and emergency response.

Alicia A. Caldwell, a UA Comm alum took J-school classes, had her first byline Aug. 9 for the Wall Street Journal, "Arrests at southern border rise for third straight month." She's now an immigration reporter for WSJ, based in Los Angeles, after a 12-year stint at The Associated Press.

La Monica Everett-Haynes ('01) is director of communications services for student affairs at San Diego State University after the former Tucson Citizen reporter left the UA as a senior communications manager.

Michael Chihak ('71), former Citizen publisher, has retired as news director at Arizona Public Media and is teaching Reporting Public Affairs for the UA J-school this fall.

Andrea Kelly ('05), a former Arizona Daily Star reporter, has been promoted to assistant news director at AZPM.

Frank Sotomayor ('66) was the subject of an Aug. 5 column by the Arizona Daily Star's Ernesto Portillo Jr., "1983 project launched new era of Hispanic journalism." Read Sotomayor's e-book, "The Pulitzer Long Shot."

Aug. 4, 2017

Master's student Chris Stidley's research paper, 'The Thalidomide Tragedy: An Agenda-Setting Analysis of Early News Media Coverage,' has been accepted by the American Journalism Historians Association for presentation at its annual conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, in October. The paper was her final research project in the spring 2017 session of American Journalism History.

Clarisse Markarian, a business apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw four of her stories published in one week, including the "Cash mob aims to infuse Tucson businesses." Others included 3-D home tours, state sick leave and a 90-year-old business owner.

Elise McClain, a Tucson Weekly summer intern, wrote the July 20-26 cover story, "Trumpcare is dead." "A great job with a complicated story that was changing right up until deadline," said editor Jim Nintzel, a J-school adjunct instructor.

Jessica Suriano, a summer intern at the East Valley Tribune, wrote a poignant story about a Mesa teen with a terminal illness. Suriano also has been accepted into the school's Accelerated Master’s Program. 

Master's grad Anna Augustowska ('14) and her team's documentary, "Our Desert Farms," was named an official selection for the IFF Earth Talks international film festival in Prague in early October. Of the 853 films submitted from 81 countries, only 80 made the final cut. Augustowska is a video and multimedia producer for the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Master's grad Alex Devoid ('17), who is doing a fellowship at the Arizona Republic, saw his "Trump waives environmental laws to speed border wall construction" story run on A1 on Aug. 2. 

Master's grad Hannah Gaber ('16), a video and multimedia journalist for the Arizona Republic, helped produce an Aug. 3 interview with Sen. John McCain following his cancer diagnosis and vote on health care. Her duties include production of the weekly video and podcast The Gaggle. Check out her other work here.

Master's grad Mikayla Mace ('17), the Arizona Daily Star's new science reporter, had the Aug. 2 A1 centerpiece on record July rainfall accompanied by a lightning photo by Mike Christy ('11). Mace also wrote the Sunday, July 30 A1 centerpiece on wildfires threatening area telescopes.

Ivan Leonard ('17) is now a freelance high school sports reporter for the Sahuarita Sun.

Rebecca Noble ('17), an intern at the Billings Gazette in Montana, saw her wildfire photos were the lead art on A1 twice in late July. Check out some the photos and her Shakespeare in the Park images of MacBeth.

Julianne Stanford ('17) saw her story on Hepatitis C and the opioid epidemic run on the July 25 front page of the Arizona Republic. "Everyone says that newspapers are dead, but I still think making A1 is probably one of the greatest feelings ever," said Stanford, a Pulliam Fellow for the Republic and azcentral.com.

Hank Stephenson is the new K-12 education reporter for the Arizona Daily Star. Read his Aug. 3 story on a TUSD "Stuff the Bus" event. Stephenson covered the Legislature for Arizona Capitol Times and won numerous investigative reporting awards from the Arizona Press Club, including the 2016 Virg Hill Journalist of the Year.

Ari Wasserman (’09) is now the Ohio State football beat writer for The Athletic — a website for fans of pro and college teams in Ohio, Michigan, Chicago and Toronto. Read about him here. Wasserman, previously of Cleveland.com, covered football for the Arizona Daily Wildcat and was an assistant sports editor.

Morgan Loew ('98), an investigative reporter for KPHO-TV, CBS 5 in Phoenix, did a breaking news report on July 31 after a judge ruled that ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was guilty of criminal contempt. Watch it here. "I've covered big stories and small ones. This is big," says Lowe. Alums Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin won a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for stories that showed immigration enforcement by Arpaio's office undermined investigations and emergency response.

After 19 months, John D'Anna ('83) and the Arizona Republic won a legal battle to protect his unpublished notes in a crime case. The decision "provides some critical protections for journalists that will allow us to continue to do our jobs, remain independent and keep our promises to our sources," says D'Anna, a Republic editor and member of the school's Journalism Advisory Council.

Brandi Milloy ('06), an English major and Journalism minor, was a guest judge on “Food Network Star” in late July with Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis. Milloy also is a PopSugar Food host online (via YouTube and other social platforms), a Cooking Channel personality and a contributor to NBC's "Today Show," appearing with J-school grad Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer. See her website and a 2008 Arizona Daily Wildcat story.

Abe Kwok ('88) is deputy opinion page editor at the Arizona Republic and writes a weekly column.

Brian Ballou ('92) is a reporter for the Sun Sentinel in South Florida and helped The Boston Globe win a 2014 Pulitzer Prize. Read his work here.

July 21, 2017

David Del Grande, a summer intern for NJ.com, saw his story, "Museum discovers lost wines almost as old as the country itself," get picked up by The Associated Press, New York Times, ABC, CNN, The Seattle Times, The Daily News, the Japan Times, the Arizona Daily Star and others.

Nick Meyers, an Arizona Daily Star apprentice, had the A1 centerpiece in the July 17 newspaper: "Tucsonans head by van twice a week to dentists across the border" for cheaper care. Meyers is also news editor for the Arizona Daily Wildcat and an assistant editor at the Tucson Weekly.

More summer interns continued to get published, including Paige Carpenter (Edible Baja, "Five Yummy Meals in Tucson under $10"); Paul Barlyn (The Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pa., "Man charged with DUI"; and Anna Frazier (Capitol Weekly, covering California, "Proposition bills." Click here to see all the school's interns and apprentices.

Taylor Dayton ('17) accepted a job offer from WDIO-TV in Duluth, Minnesota, to be the weather anchor for the ABC affiliate's Monday-Friday morning show. Dayton, a student meteorologist at UATV 3, also enrolled in Mississippi State's distance education program to pursue another degree in Meteorology.

Brandi Walker ('17) accepted a job as a news assignment editor with KGUN 9 in Tucson. "Thank you to all who have helped me grow as a journalist!" she said on Facebook. Brandi, a former Arizona Daily Wildcat reporter and photographer, apprenticed at the Arizona Daily Star in the spring and is a former Tucson News Now intern.

Elizabeth Eaton ('16) started July 10 at BioCentury Publications in Redwood City, Calif., near San Francisco. She's a staff writer "reporting on the ins and outs" of the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology, such as clinical trials and company business deals, she says. The former Science News intern is writing for BioCentury's daily site, and hopes to do long-form pieces for its weekly publications.

Justin Spears ('17), a who covers the Pac-12 for Cox Media, did his first freelance story July 12 for the Arizona Daily Star on a Tucson Saguaros pitcher. He also made his professional radio debut on 1290-AM on July 10. Check out his Pac-12 posts here.

Michelle Floyd ('17), a former UA softball pitcher, was named the NFL-AIM Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year and honored in Flagstaff with Joe Namath and others. Read her blog about the ceremony.

Julianne Stanford ('17) saw her Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting package on aging facilities at UA, ASU and NAU ("State funds to address maintenance needs for state's universities") published by the Arizona Daily Star on July 4 — along with an Arizona State Museum sidebar. She's now doing her Pulliam Fellowship at the Arizona Republic, where one of her stories focused on how to prevent "hacking" a heart pacemaker.

Master's grad Alex Devoid ('17) published his first story for the Arizona Republic, on the Mexican wolf recovery plan. It was the July 3 centerpiece on A1. Alex has an environmental reporting fellowship at the Republic.

Photojournalist Noelle Haro-Gomez ('15) moved to the Tri-City Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in southeastern Washington that serves Pasco, Kennewick and Richland. Noelle left the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pa., at the end of May.

Brian Danziger ('16) accepted a job as a production assistant for NFL Network and Spectrum Sportsnet.

Jordan Christopher McMahon ('14) landed an editorial fellowship with WIRED magazine. 

Master's alumna Bethany Barnes ('13), a reporter for The Oregonian, who was chosen as a USC Annenberg Journalism Fellow for her health journalism project. Click here to see the other recipients.

Alicia A. Caldwell has left The Associated Press in Washington to cover immigration for the Wall Street Journal. Alicia, a 1998 UA Communication grad who took J-school classes, met with Prof. Susan Knight and students during a spring 2016 trip to D.C. Alicia received an Arizona Daily Wildcat Young Alumni Award in 2008.

NBC honored J-school grad Savannah Guthrie ('93) on her fifth anniversary of co-anchoring the "Today" show. Click here for the clip.

June 30, 2017

Mikayla Mace, who received her M.A. in Journalism in May 2017, will begin working at the Arizona Daily Star as a reporter covering science and the University of Arizona.

May grad Madison Brodsky landed a full-time job with TMZ and toofab.com as an entertainment reporter. Brodsky logged long days (and nights) as an intern for TMZ/toofab in L.A., where she reported from the Academy Awards and did many actor interviews.

Danielle Fork accepted a position with Kirkman Broadcasting in Charleston, South Carolina — home of three ESPN radio stations and two The Zone sports radio stations. They cover SC Gamecocks, Clemson Tigers, Atlanta Braves & Falcons, College of Charleston and the Citadel. "I've learned some sports TV," she says, "so now I'm ready to learn some sports radio and sports sales!"

May master's graduate Bakina Wellars was named acting dean of the faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies at the Catholic Institute of Kabgayi, Rwanda. 

Grad student Emily Ellis published a story on Mexico's first indigenous woman presidential candidate for Public Radio International (PRI).

Kim Newton's photojournalism students finished up their study-abroad program in Orvieto, Italy. They were: Elizabeth Quinlan, Raquel (Rocky) Baier, Hailey Freeman, Corinna Tellez, Michelle Jaquette, Nels Bergeron, Nikki Baim, Elena Gonzalez, Sara Harelson, Shea Kelly, Octavio Lopez, Jessica Emmert, Julia Togneri and Connor Redmond. Click here to see their photos and videos.

Summer interns at Arizona Public Media include Caryn Vieira ( tinyurl.com/ycyolf2k), Brenna Bailey (tinyurl.com/y7fhur2t) and Chastity Eva Laskey (tinyurl.com/ybgusbn8). Angela Vera also is writing broadcast scripts for AZPM's PBS NewsBreak. See a list of all our summer interns.

Summer apprentices at the Arizona Daily Star are Auroa Begay, Shaquille Montrel Davis, Clarisse Markarian, Nick Meyers, Nick Smallwood, Jamie Verwys and Lauren Whetzel. Click on some of their names for samples of their work.

Reporter Danyelle Khmara and photographer Nick Smallwood teamed up for an Arizona Daily Star story on greyhounds that was picked up by the Arizona Republic. Khmara, a freelance reporter, also wrote the cover story for the current Tucson Weekly on homeless companions.

Maritza Cruz, a summer intern at Edible Baja magazine, published a story on "Barrio Barista: Blends, Brews and Burritos" and wrote about how to make a watermelon slushie. Read her staff profile here.

Emmalee Mauldin began her NASA journalism internship in Houston, where she helped out with an astromaterials division event and had time to visit the Space Center Houston. 

David Joseph Del Grande covered the New Jersey gubernatorial primary (see video) as a summer intern for the breaking news team of NJ.com, which serves 15 print newspapers in New Jersey. He also wrote about people protesting a bear's death. He's doing an in-depth story on a local school district in financial disarray and hopes to cover some criminal trials.

Betsy Kaplan published seven articles during the first week of her summer internship at Playbill, including her first one on Tony winner Ben Platt and a Tony trivia quiz.

Michelle Jaquette saw her final apprentice piece for the Arizona Daily Star, "Controversial charity take steps to address violations" run on C1 in the Sunday, June 11, paper.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14) of the Arizona Daily Star for winning the Don Bolles Award for investigative reporting from the Arizona Press Club for uncovering wrongdoing in the Pima County Sheriff's office. And congrats to alum Hank Stephenson of the Arizona Capitol Times for being named the Virg Hill Journalist of the Year – and for winning first place in community investigative reporting for his stories on Arizona House speaker David Gowan's high-spending ways. Press club website

Those with UA Journalism ties also won 14 Arizona Press Club awards in the community news writing and student contests. Hank Stephenson ('10) and Bill Coates ('78) took first in investigative reporting and column writing, respectively, while current UA student Ezra Amacher of the Arizona Daily Wildcat placed first in sports beat reporting and adjunct instructor Megan Kimble of Edible Baja was first in education reporting. Glenn Gullickson ('86) was second runner-up for Community Journalist of the Year at the West Valley View in Avondale. Christianna Silva ('17), Kendal Blust ('16), Murphy Woodhouse ('14) and Adam Gaub ('06) won second-place awards, while Justin Spears ('17), adjunct Jim Nintzel, Stephenson and Blust took third-place honors.

May grad Christianna Silva wrote three stories in four days in her digital news internship at NPR in Washington, including today's "H.P. Lovecraft's Monster Is Wrapping Family Game Night Up In Tentacles," "The Internet of Things is Becoming More Difficult to Escape (below) and "The Millennial Obsession With Self-Care." Follow her stories here. 

Houston Chronicle reporter Susan Carroll ('99) received an IRE innovation in investigative journalism award with Matt Dempsey on behalf of the Chronicle's "Chemical Breakdown" team that investigated an explosion that killed four at a DuPont plant. View all the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference awards here.

Kelly Lewis, a 2008 J-school grad, started the travel outfit Damesly less than a year ago, and it's already No. 4 on Travel + Leisure's list of 10 female-focused companies to know in this month's issue. Lewis also founded Go! Girl Guides (travel guidebooks for women) and the annual Women’s Travel Fest.

Jade Nunes ('15) left her Habitat for Humanity communications job in Tucson to work on the editorial team for "The Kim Komando Radio Show" in Phoenix. Nunes manages the Twitter feed and pulls analytics for Komando, a digital expert who is on air in 400-plus markets across the U.S. and Armed Forces Network.

June 2, 2017

The school's "Bordering110.com" project captured first place nationally in the Best of the Web competition from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Ten students — Brenna Bailey, Maritza Dominguez, Mark Flores, Jenny Hijazi, Erik Kolsrud, Genesis Lara, Chastity Laskey, Julia Leon, Amanda Oien and Stephen Oliver — compared the towns of Nogales with two in Montana/Alberta with help from Celeste Bustamante and Mike McKisson. The project will be presented at the 2017 AEJMC conference in Chicago on Aug. 10.

Carmen Valencia began an internship this week at the NBC affiliate in Phoenix on the 12 News watchdog investigative reporting team with Joe Dana and Wendy Halloran. "I love it," Valencia told internship coordinator Renee Schafer Horton. "The environment and the people are awesome." The station's website is at 12news.com.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat/UATV-3 interviewed new UA President Robert Robbins on his first day on the job, June 1, led by journalism majors Chastity Laskey (editor), Nick Meyers, Jamie Verwys, Kathleen Kunz, Alec White, Hector Ponce and Simon Asher and Heather Newberry.

Leah Merrall's final apprenticeship story for the Arizona Daily Star, "Tucson-area schools shell out $2.3 million for Arizona's new minimum-wage hike," was the A1 centerpiece on Sunday, May 21.

Alex McIntyre ('17) took second place as college photographer of the year in the Arizona Press Club awards for his work at the Arizona Daily Wildcat. He also landed a six-month internship at the Bloomington (Indiana) Herald-Times.

Jordan Glenn ('17) took a reporting job at the White Mountain Independent in Show Low, Arizona. Beyond city government and general assignment, he plans to tackle outdoor/environmental stories and a video series — and help with wildfire coverage. The twice-weekly's website is at wmicentral.com.

Alex Devoid ('17), a recent master's graduate, accepted an environmental reporting fellowship at the Arizona Republic. He'll work with reporter Brandon Loomis on in-depth stories "on the resources that matter most to Arizona: our water, our air, our land, our wildlife," according to editor Nicole Carroll.

Rebecca Noble ('17) began her photography internship at the Billings (Montana) Gazette and joked about one of her first assignments. "Today they sent the intern from Arizona who hasn't seen winter in four years up to a blizzard at 10,000 feet," she said. 

Mike Christy ('11) of the Arizona Daily Star tied for third as news photographer of the year at the Arizona Press Club awards and also snagged a third place in the picture story division.

Alum Hank Stephenson of the Arizona Capitol Times won the Arizona Press Club's Sledgehammer Award for efforts to expose the truth.

Curt Prendergast ('11) of the Arizona Daily Star took first place with Perla Trevizo for Spanish-language news reporting in the Arizona Press Club Awards.

Alfredo Edwardo Araiza ('80) of the Arizona Daily Star placed second in the portrait division at the Arizona Press Club awards.

Colleagues, family and friends paid tribute to J-school alum Bill Walsh on May 19 at the Washington Post, where he worked as one of the nation's top copy editors for 20 years. Read more about Bill, an Arizona Daily Wildcat Hall of Famer, and read his wife's eulogy at journalism.arizona.edu/walsh.

May 19, 2017

Mikayla Mace, Stephen Choice, Jenny Hijazi and Bakina Wellars had their master's research papers accepted to be presented at the national AEJMC conference in Chicago in August. "We’re 4-for-4 this year," Prof. Carol Schwalbe says. "It’s relatively rare for master’s students to present a paper at a national conference." Mace won first place in her division. Click here for a full story.

Ten students from the school's fall U.S.-Mexico border reporting class placed 16th in the Hearst Team Multimedia Competition Top 20 with their project, "Bordering 110°." Julia Leon, Brenna Bailey, Maritza Camila Dominguez Azua, Mark Flores, Jenny Hijazi, Erik Clark Kolsrud, Genesis Lara, Chastity Eva Laskey, Amanda Oien and Stephen Oliver compared the towns of Nogales with two in Montana/Alberta with help from Profs. Celeste Bustamante and Mike McKisson. It was the school's second Hearst this year, with Maritza Cruz placing 11th with her Arizona Sonora News video, "Shelter me."

In a new website, students from Linda Lumsden's history class posted interviews with 15 Tucson journalists. "Sonoran Desert Journalists" includes anecdotes about covering 9/11 (Ryan Finley), the Gabby Giffords shooting (Christopher Conover), undocumented migrants (Margaret Regan) and the jaguar ‘Macho B’ (Tony Davis). The student interviewers included Nick Cada (Alfredo Araiza), Reina Morrison (Douglas Biggers), Victor Herrera II (Cathy Burch), Ashley House (Conover), Chris Stidley (Davis), Gabrielle Mix (Carmen Duarte), Christian Torres (Joe Ferguson), Fernando Galvan (Finley), Marie Teemant (David Fitzsimmons), CJ D’Innocente (Sarah Gassen), Joshua Steele (Stephanie Innes), Nathan Delfs (Irene McKisson), Elsayed Issa (Todd Miller), Zeina C. Peterson (Regan) and Ashley Mikelonis (Zac Ziegler). Click here for a full story.

Anchors Riley Brown and Spencer Halliday, along with Danielle Fork, Chris Delgado, Andie Milkis, Jamie Hewitt, Cherie Cole, Jamie Lobel and Steph Soto produced the latest "Arizona Cat's Eye." The student-run news broadcast includes stories on the new UA president, local job growth, the UA Campus Pantry and a blind radio DJ, to name a few, plus a promo with alumna and "Today Show" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. Watch the episode. 

Graduate student Anna Mae Ludlum defended her master's project proposal titled "Apologias of the Millennial Generation." Her committee members serving are: Jeannine Relly (chair), Nancy Sharkey, and Renée Schafer-Horton.

At the SBS Convocation at McKale Center, Nick Johnson watched a special message from his sister, who is serving overseas, when he went on stage. Click here for photos. Go here for photos of the SBS grad students' ceremony.

Justin Spears accepted a job with Cox Media Group in Atlanta, covering Pac-12 sports for a new site that will include stories and a podcast. Spears received the Donald Still/Arizona Daily Wildcat award from Student Media adviser Brett Fera at Just Desserts

Student Tobey Schmidt and recent master's grad Kendal Blust each had front-page bylines in the latest Tucson Business and Daily Territorial editions, respectively. Blust, whose "mothers" story is at tinyurl.com/lstg8xp, works for the Nogales International. Schmidt, whose "YWCA" story is at tinyurl.com/mjql88n, starts an internship at Alaska's Skagway News soon.

Pitcher Michelle Floyd, a graduating journalism senior, and the UA softball team won the Pac-12 title yesterday for the first time since 2007. 

Fernanda Echavarri ('07) received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for Radio Journalism for "The Strange Death of José de Jesús." Echavarri, of NPR's "Latino USA," worked on the two-part documentary with Marlon Bishop. She will be honored May 23 at Washington's Newseum. Click here to see the winners. Echavarri also was nameda finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists for the story.

Jazmine Woodberry ('12) won a prestigious Ragan & PR Daily ACE award for "industry newcomer." Judges in the global communications contest said Woodberry, of Longboard Asset Management in Phoenix and a former Arizona Daily Wildcat reporter/editor, "knew what journalists wanted." Click here to see the awards.

The Kentucky Derby had more UA connections: Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Dan Desrochers, a 2015 J-school grad, and Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Justin Sayers ('14) helped cover the event at Churchill Downs. Trainer Todd Pletcher, a UA Race Track Industry Program grad, won his second Derby with Always Dreaming. 

IN MEMORIAM
Lynn C. Elder, a 1976 journalism master's graduate. Lynn, 68, of Naples, Florida, worked as a reporter and copy editor for newspapers in New York and Massachusetts. Later, she wrote fiction, including an autobiographical novel, and several plays and screenplays. Our condolences to her family. Click here to read the obit.

May 5, 2017

Christianna Silva, Chastity Eva Laskey, Jamie Verwys and Jenny Hijazi captured top honors at the school's 51st Just Desserts student awards celebration May 4 at the Arizona Historical Society. Silva, a senior, received the Philip Mangelsdorf Award for Outstanding Newsperson of the Year; Laksey captured the Sherman R. Miller Award for outstanding senior; Verwys received the Brewster P. Campbell Award for outstanding junior; and Hijazi took home the award for outstanding graduate student. Click here for a story and list of all the award and scholarship winners and watch our Facebook Live video of the event.

Senior Julianne Stanford won a prestigious Maggie Award in the "Best Print Article/Student" category on April 29 for her reporting on Central American children who fled gang violence, poverty and political instability to find refuge in the United States. Kendal Blust won the award last year, making it two in a row for the school. Read the story (pages 16-20)

Nels Bergeron won the spring 2016 Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Photo Contest for his image of a homeless man at a bank. Simon Garelick-Mettler took second with a shot of basketball's Kadeem Allen, and Cory Kennedy was third with a bungee-jump image. The photos and nine others from Prof. Kim Newton's 203 class are now on display in the hallway near Marshall 327. The other photographers are: Katie Fletcher, Addie Stansbury, Tommy Kearn, Sienna Leone, Gabbi Sam, Victor Garcia, Michaela Webb, Pearl Dixon and Jiaqi Gao. Click here to see the images.

Alex Devoid defended his master's thesis, "Collaboratively Mapping Militarized Borders and Law Enforcement: A Crowdsourced Mobile App,” on May 5 in Marshall 340 before committee members Celeste González de Bustamante (chair), Chris Lukinbeal (via Skype) and Michael McKisson. Devoid is getting an M.A. in Journalism and Latin American Studies. 

Riley Versfelt defended her master's thesis, "Finding Hope Through Dance: The Healing Properties of Dance for Victims of Sexual Abuse," May 1 in Marshall 340. Celeste Bustamante (chair), Rogelio Garcia and Mike McKisson were her committee members. 

Jenny Hijazi defended her dual master's project, "Peripheries: Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Storytelling Through Borderland Reporting," on April 24 in Marshall 340 with committee members Leila Hudson (chair), Celeste Bustamante, Mike McKisson and Maggy Zanger. Hijazi, whose master's is in journalism and Middle Eastern and North African Studies, provided virtual reality goggles to view some of her stories. 

UA senior Brittan Bates, a Pueblo High School journalism volunteer this semester, gave five Pueblo seniors and newspaper adviser Rana Medhi a tour of the school on April 29. Nancy Sharkey and outreach coordinator Mike Chesnick also talked to the group about the school.

Senior Jordan Glenn spent four months making "Out of the Gates," a short documentary on Tucson's Amelia Hauschild, the West's youngest female jockeys. You can also read his earlier Arizona Sonora News story on Amelia.

Students produced the spring 2017 edition of El Independiente: "Living in Shadows: The long-term undocumented." Elisabeth Morales, Christina Duran, Brittan Bates, Jorge Encinas, Andrew Paxton, Erik Kolsrud, Lauren Renteria, Jordan Glenn, Taylor Dayton, Chastity Laskey, Amanda Oien and Fatuma Shiwoko wrote stories, and Lilly Berkley, Reina Morrison, Ashley House and Paxton did reporting and deign for two double-truck graphics. Gisele Smith and Maxie Ruan helped with the production. Read the issue.

In "Mexico: The Storytellers," 21 students in Celeste González de Bustamante's U.S. Press and Latin America class presented their research on April 25 at a symposium at UA Special Collections: Christina Duran, Genesis Lara, Victor Garcia, Monique Irish, Brenna Bailey, Julia León, Maritza Domínguez, Zeina Cabrera-Peterson, Fernando Galván, Natalia V. Navarro, April Lanuza, Justin Spears, Hannah Bloom, Amanda Oien, Carmen Valencia, Mike González, Elena González, Simone McCarthy, Emily Ellis, Elise McClain and Melissa Vásquez. Click here for photos.

Senior Madison Brodsky talked to Rogelio Garcia's 385 broadcast class about how to break into the entertainment news industry. Brodsky is wrapping up her internship with TMZ's toofab.com, where she reported from the Academy Awards and interviewed actors such as Salma Hayek and Rob Lowe (see clip)

Gloria Knott, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote the cover story on the Tucson folk festival for Caliente on May 4.

Five members of our student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists — Brenna Bailey, Chastity Eva Laskey, Ava Garcia, Jamie Verwys and Andrew Paxton — attended the SPJ Western Regional Conference in San Diego last weekend. The Arizona Daily Wildcat won two awards at the event.

The Graduate Student Interest Group has accepted Mikayla Mace’s manuscript, “Newspaper Coverage of Mars in the United States and the United Kingdom 2011-2016,” for presentation at this summer’s annual AEJMC Conference in Chicago. The paper was blind reviewed.

Graduate student Ashley Mikelonis defended her thesis proposal titled "Exploring the Success and Defeat of Ronda Rousey: A Content Analysis of Twitter and Newspaper Coverage" on Thursday. Her committee members are Jeannine Relly (chair), Linda Lumsden and Terry Wimmer.

Graduate student Anna Mae Ludlum defended her master's project proposal titled "Apologias of the Millennial Generation" on Wednesday. Her committee members serving are: Jeannine Relly (chair), Nancy Sharkey, and Renée Schafer-Horton.

José Galvez ('72), who helped the L.A. Times win a 1984 Pulitzer Prize for its Latino series, became the first Mexican-American photographer to have a solo exhibition at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, N.Y. 

IN MEMORIAM

Andrea Esquer, a 1988 journalism grad, died April 15 at 51. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer five years ago, she was the public information officer for the Maricopa County Department of Transportation. Andrea, a 2011 ASU law grad, also was the press secretary for former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and worked for the Department of Energy and NASA. Services are Friday in Phoenix.

April 21, 2017

Hannah Dahl won the Mark Finley Gold Pen Award in the school's spring 2017 best beginning news writing contest for JOUR 205 students on April 17. Gabrielle Mix finished second, and Michaela Webb took third. Dahl will receive $1,000 in scholarship money, followed by Mix ($750) and Webb ($500). Click here for more details.

Ciara Encinas landed a CBS News summer internship in Washington D.C. Encinas, a KOLD-TV/Tucson News Now intern and reporter for the Arizona Daily Wildcat's UATV 3, will work with the CBS Newspath team —reporting on stories, coordinating scripts and assisting on shoots, to name a few duties.

David Del Grande accepted a summer internship with NJ Advance Media and NJ.com, which creates content for 15 print newspapers in New Jersey, including The Star-Ledger in Newark.

Ten students from the school's U.S.-Mexico border reporting class produced the multimedia project, "Bordering 110°," which compares the towns of Nogales with two in Montana/Alberta. Brenna Bailey, Maritza Camila Dominguez Azua, Mark Flores, Jenny Hijazi, Erik Clark Kolsrud, Genesis Lara, Chastity Eva Laskey, Julia Leon, Amanda Oien and Stephen Oliver used drones, 360° video and audio to enhance the project. See it here.

Chastity Laskey was named editor-in-chief of the Arizona Daily Wildcat for the summer and fall. "I'm very thankful for all the experiences the Wildcat has given me ... every day I get to meet and work alongside great journalists and amazing people," said Laskey, a Wildcat reporter and editor for the last six semesters.

Mikayla Mace defended her master's thesis, "Newspaper Coverage of Mars in the United States and United Kingdom 2011-2016" on April 14 in Marshall 340. Mace, who wants to be a science journalist, received her B.S. from UA in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, with a minor in Astronomy. Carol Schwalbe (chair), Jeannine Relly and Susan E. Swanberg were her committee members. 

Bakina Wellars defended his master's thesis, "The Influence of Foreign News Programs on the International News Agenda of Rwandan Television and Newspapers," on April 14 in Marshall 341.Carol Schwalbe (chair), Jeannine Relly and Sally Ann Cruikshank (Auburn) were his committee members. Wellars plans to return to Rwanda and teach. 

Andrew Paxton and other students in SPJ sponsored a panel discussion, "The Future of Press Freedom in an Era of Fake News," on April 12 at the UA Main Library. David Del Grande filmed the event for Facebook live. Click here to see it. 

Justin Spears saw his Arizona Sonora News story about Tombstone charging $3 to visit the Boothill Graveyard run on A1 of the April 10 Arizona Daily Star. Read it here.

Michelle Jaquette, a Star apprentice, saw her story, "Tucson Water old treatment plant on South Side now unnecessary," published on April 15.

Isaac Andrews wrote a story for the Arizona Daily Wildcat on fake news, quoting school Director David Cuillier and Arizona Daily Star editor Jill Jorden Spitz ('88). Click here to read it.

Michelle Floyd, a UA softball pitcher and journalism major, received the Wildcat Way Award of Distinction at the April 19 CATSYS athletic awards. Floyd met Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton, a former Wildcat star who co-hosted the event at McKale.

Houston Chronicle reporter Susan Carroll ('99) contributed to a series ("Special Education Denied") that finished as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service (read her story). ProPublica and the New York Daily News won the award, led by Sarah Ryley's reporting on police abuse of eviction rules. Another J-school alum, 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner Ryan Gabrielson, works for ProPublica. 

The school welcomed three new members to its Journalism Advisory Council, all UA journalism grads: Hipolito Corella ('90), senior editor at the Arizona Daily Star; Chyrl Hill Lander ('76), former Star journalist and adjunct instructor; and Nicole Santa Cruz ('09), reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Click here to read about all the council members.

Kayla S. Samoy ('15) started last week at The Associated Press in Chicago as a news associate, responsible for South Dakota, Indiana and Texas.

Samantha Munsey ('12) of the Arizona Daily Star won two second-place awards in the regional Best of the West competition for online presentation and for border reporting in the Star's Beyond the Wall project with a team that included Curt Prendergast ('11) and Mike Christy ('11).

Savannah Guthrie ('93), co-anchor for NBC's "Today Show," gave advice and reflected on her career in a a Skype interview on April 20 with 50 students in Marshall 340. See photos here and stay tuned for a video.

Frank O. Sotomayor ('66) talked to Jeannine Relly's beginning reporting class about diversity, content and sourcing. Sotomayor, who chairs our Journalism Advisory Council, also gave insight into his new online book, "The Pulitzer Long Shot" — about the L.A. Times series he co-edited on Latinos that won the 1984 Pulitzer for public service.

April 7, 2017

Maritza Cruz placed 11th among 20 national finalists for the Hearst Multimedia News competition for her Arizona Sonora News video, "Shelter me: Homeless youth find help in Tucson."

Emmalee Mauldin was awarded a NASA journalism summer internship at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Among her duties, she will create electronic templates with "information for the public about the Lunar or meteorite samples," with descriptions about where the astro materials came from, how they were discovered, who discovered them, what missions they went on, she says. The position is similar to her current job at Steward Observatory, she says.

Julianne Stanford was named a finalist for the MAGGIE awards April 28 in L.A. for her El Independiente story, "Seeking safe haven," and was selected to participate in the Hertog Foundation's War Studies Program this summer. Click here to read a full story.

Christianna Silva landed a summer internship at NPR in Washington, D.C., on the digital news desk. "It basically means I'll be writing — a lot," she says. Silva, the school's Bolles Fellow, is covering the state Legislature now and is a past intern at FiveThirtyEight. She will follow master's alum Jorge Encinas, who is a current NPR intern in D.C.

Tobey Schmidt will be a summer intern at The Skagway News, an award-winning community paper in Alaska. She follows Julianne Stanford, another UA J-school student who beat out national applicants for a Skagway spot last year. "I've always wanted to explore Alaska, and this will be a perfect opportunity for me to do that and work on my career," says Schmidt, a current intern at Inside Tucson Business and Campus Rec outdoor marketing coordinator.

Danielle Fork worked for ESPN during the NCAA men's basketball Final Four in Glendale.

Saul Bookman, Justin Spears, Alec White and Danielle Fork shared their experiences covering this year’s NCAA tournament for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, UATV3 and KAMP radio during a Sports Journalism Club talk, "Tales from the Tournament," on April 4 at the Reading Room. The four gave about 15 to 20 students tips on how to become successful at covering sports.

Brenna Bailey, Courtney Talak and Chastity Laskey led a JAWS Tucson club roundtable discussion about what it means to be a woman journalist on April 3 in the Reading Room. Among professional journalists attending were Andrea Kelly ('05) of Arizona Public Media, and Becky Pallack, Mamta Popat, Yoohyun Jung ('15) and Mike Christy ('11) of the Arizona Daily Star. Professors Susan Knight and Celeste González de Bustamante also attended.

Arizona Daily Star apprentice Gloria Knott had the lead story in a Sunday Home & LIfe on seniors, "Tucsonans turn to tai chi for health and serenity," and the cover story for Caliente on the street fair.

Star apprentice Brandi Walker had a front-page story, "University of Arizona researcher offers diet tips to help prevent cancer."

Star apprentice Mikayla Mace had a front-page story, "Science fair gives students chance to solve real-world problems," and a business story, "Tucson-built cameras go very big and very small."

Frank O. Sotomayor ('66) published his online book, "The Pulitzer Long Shot," with the help of web designer Kedi Xia ('13). Frank, who chairs our Journalism Advisory Council, co-edited a series written and photographed by Mexican-American journalists at the Los Angeles Times that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1984. The series, Frank says, "broke through the fog of often-stereotypical coverage about Latinos."

Staci Matlock ('91) is the new managing editor of The Taos News. Staci, a master's classmate with Professor Jeannine Relly, was a longtime reporter at The Santa Fe New Mexican. While in Tucson, she started the bilingual Sonoran Journal and was editor of Tailwinds, an outdoor sports publication.

Josh Morgan ('12) is joining the Greenville (S.C.) News as a staff photographer. Formerly at the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal and a freelancer, he spent the last few months shooting photos at the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Meryl Engle ('16) is a program/production coordinator at NBC’s “Dateline” in Los Angeles. “I help with anything needed from story conception to broadcast," she told Prof. Susan Knight. "Some days I'm in court covering stories. Some days I'm interviewing victims’ families for web pieces."

Among J-school grads covering the Final Four in Glendale were Zack Rosenblatt ('13) of the Arizona Daily Star; Sarah Kezele ('11), a West Coast Conference correspondent for Campus Insiders; Zach Clark ('12) of ESPN Tucson. Anthony Gimino ('90) of AllSportsTucson also got to cover his first Final Four; and Adam Green ('06) of Arizona Sports and KTAR in Phoenix was there at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The American Copy Editors Society has set up the Bill Walsh Scholarship, a national award for journalism students seeking an editing career. Walsh, a 1984 UA J-school grad and Washington Post copy chief, died March 15. Click here to donate.

March 24, 2017

Michelle Jaquette, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, had two stories published in the March 11 paper: the lead off-play on A1, "City Council weighs harsher penalties for hate-driven misdemeanors," and the lead story on C1: "Arizona DES vocational rehab program spends more than its peers."

Michael Hernandez, an intern at Arizona Public Media, did a March 15 story on Gov. Ducey's plan to fund all-day kindergarten in Arizona.

Elena Gonzalez, an intern at Tucson Weekly. She wrote the cover story in the most recent issue, "Eat this, Tucson: Passionate food and drink creatives bring deliciousness to this special food region."

Twelve students from Prof. Celeste González de Bustamante's Press and Latin America class traveled to Mexico City to interview journalists, tour media outlets and other sights and present their projects at the end of the trip. They were Amanda Oien, Brenna Bailey, Maritza Dominguez, Fernando Galvan, Victor Garcia, Moe Irish, April Lanuza, Julia Leon, Natalia Navarro, Zeina Peterson, Carmen Valencia and Melissa Vasquez.

Nine honors students with Prof. Nancy Sharkey traveled to New York City to tour media outlets, including the "Today Show" with alum Savannah Guthrie ('93). The students were Mariah Hope Latimer, Lauren Olson, Caryn Vieira, Christina Duran, Adam Kull, Teresa Velasco, Jessica Suriano, Leah Merrall and Isaac Rounseville. 

Justin Spears, Saul Bookman, Danielle Fork, Chris Deak, Simon Asher, Alec White and Courtney Talak helped cover the UA men's basketball team's Pac-12 championship and NCAA tournament run to the Sweet 16 for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, UATV3 and Kamp Student Radio. See the coverage.

Michelle Floyd threw just the ninth perfect game in UA softball history on March 11 in an 18-0 win over Hartford. FYI, J-school alum Kenzie Fowler ('13) was the last UA softball pitcher to pitch a perfect game in 2010. See the Star's story.

Bill Walsh, a 1984 J-school grad and Washington Post copy chief, died March 15 after being diagnosed with cancer nearly nine months ago. Bill, 55, wrote three books on copy-editing and started theslot.com in the mid-1990s. A member of the Arizona Daily Wildcat Hall of Fame, he was a good friend to the school and met UA students on a tour of the Post last spring. Read our website obit and the Post's obit.

Arizona Sonora News Service published Jorge Encinas' story for his master's project, "Immigrant possessions disappear during deportation." Encinas has a month left in his internship with NPR's Code Switch team in Washington. UANews also ran our website story on Encinas.

Eric Swedlund ('02) reviewed a new album by fellow J-school alum Austin Counts ('11)  "Pima County Soul" — in the Tucson Weekly.

March 10, 2017

Stephanie Soto narrated a new promotional video for the UA School of Journalism. The video was produced by master's alum Anna Augustowska for the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The video is on the school’s Youtube channel and will be added to the school’s website.
 
Danyelle Khmara wrote the cover story for the Feb. 23-March 1 issue of the Tucson Weekly: “Tucson Hip Hop fest is more than dope flow and strident rhymes.”
 
Madison Brodsky, an intern at TMZ and toofab.com, covered the Oscars and interviewed celebrities after the Best Picture mix-up. She also interviewed Elton John and did a story on his Oscar viewing party’s chef.
 
Brenna Bailey, Courtney Talak and Chastity Eva Laskey started up a local club group affiliated with the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS).
 
Brandi Walker, an apprentice reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, “Babies exposed to opioids are-focus of Tucson drug-program,” as the A1 centerpiece on March 6.
 
Leah Merrall, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, “Arizona LGBT students face hostility, survey says,” run as the A1 centerpiece in the Feb. 27 paper. Other stories by Merrall of note: “Tucson nonprofit provides discounted hearing aids in exchange for volunteer work” and “New ridesharing service helps Tucson seniors stay active” and a Sunday business section cover story, “Tucson couple makes their mark on tattoo scene as artist, removal tech.”
 
Courtney Talak, a photography apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published these galleries recently: “Ted Walker Youth Day at Old Tucson”; and “Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase”; and saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy (“A decade later, a cowboy and reporter reconnect”); and more Tucson Rodeo photos and a Salpointe basketball game; and Tucson rodeo parade collection; and a photo on Seattle Sounders soccer player; and “Record number of MLS teams” photo.
 
Gloria Knott, a features apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, did a story, “The two sides to Tucson’s steampunkers” and also had these stories published: “Fort Lowell Day features games and an amputation”; and “Something Something tackles 'What Every Girl Should Know’”; and “Tucson Rodeo Parade: 2,200 people, 650 horses and 128 floats — a behind-the-scenes look at how the Tucson rodeo parade is put together.”
 
Mikayla Mace, a grad student and Arizona Daily Star apprentice, published “On long journey to asteroid hookup Osiris Rex seeks Trojans.” And “In test, UA-led Osiris Rex team snaps photos.”  
 
Nate Airulla, an Arizona Daily Star apprentice, published “Nogales produce distributor banned for failing to pay growers.”
 
Maxie Ruan played her video on Native American students and talked to Hopi High students on March 4.
 
Marcy Jones ('10), a reporter at Fox 10 in Phoenix, spoke to Prof. Rogelio Garcia's broadcast class about live reporting and her experience in the news business.
 
Susan Carroll ('99), a Houston Chronicle reporter, contributed to a seven-part series ("Special Education Denied") that won the Scripps Howard Public Service Reporting Award. The story she co-wrote also helped colleague Brian M. Rosenthal win USC's Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting.
 
Jacquelyn Abad ('14) left the ABC affiliate in Medford, Oregon, to join the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee as a reporter. 

Feb. 24, 2017 

Grad student Ashley Mikelonis, writing for Arizona Sonora News, scooped other publications with news that UA interim athletic director Erika Barnes won't pursue the permanent job at this time. The Arizona Republic and others ran the story online. She also wrote a story on women being underrepresented in key leadership positions in Division I athletics.

Senior Madison Brodsky, an intern at TMZ and toofab.com, will cover the red carpet for the Oscars and the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party Sunday in L.A. She interviewed Ice Cube for the premiere of "Fist Fight,” and has written more than 50 articles and published galleries and videos for TMZ or toofab.com.
 
Lauren Renteria and her team at News Hack Arizona had the winning project in sensor journalism. The team used light and motion sensors — overlaid with crime data — to determine the safest places to run or walk around the UA campus. Yoohyun Jung ('15) of the Arizona Daily Star wrote a story on the Feb. 18-19 event.
 
Senior Rebecca Noble landed a photography internship at the Reading Eagle in Pennsylvania this summer. "I'm super-excited," Rebecca says, because the paper has a nine-person photo staff despite a circulation of 50,000. Rebecca, an Arizona Daily Wildcat senior photographer and former Arizona Daily Star intern, covered the Trump inauguration and the Women's March on D.C.
 
Junior Erik Kolsrud saw his Arizona Sonora News story on Naco's new border fence run in the A1 lead off-play position of the Feb. 13 Arizona Daily Star.
 
The Arizona Daily Wildcat and Saul Bookman got a shout-out from ESPN's Jay Bilas and Lewis Johnson for a Feb. 22 story and cover about UA basketball, “For all the marbles” on the eve of the USC and UCLA games.
 
Former J-school student Murphy Woodhouse, a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, broke a big story on Monsanto nixing a property tax deal with Pima County on Feb.  15.
 
Seth Pines, who graduated in May 2016 and has been an assignment editor at KGUN TV in Tucson, will be starting a new position as a real-time editor at ABC-15 in Phoenix in March.

Feb. 10, 2017 

Bolles Fellow Christianna Silva's stories included “Arizona law enforcement might not back up Trump’s immigration order," and she had stories on teacher pay, Ducey's "miracle drug" and a Legislative roundup.

In addition to Silva’s stories, the school's Arizona Sonora News website had articles from Erik Kolsrud on a new border fence in Naco; Jordan Glenn’s feature on a young female jockey from Tucson; and Taylor Dayton's story on winter storms.

Recent master's grad Jorge Encinas, an intern with NPR’s Code Switch team, had his second byline on Feb. 1: "There's A Long, Ignominious Trail Of Bans, Registries And Forced Relocation." Read a story about Encinas:
 
Recent grad Elizabeth Eaton published several stories already as an intern at Science News, including the latest on penguins! Go here to see her bylines.
 
Ian Friedman, a 2010 alum, was named the 2016 Young Attorney of the Year by the San Diego Defense Lawyers. Friedman (bio), who earned his law degree from the University of San Diego in 2013, is a former editor at the Tombstone Epitaph and Arizona Daily Wildcat, and a business intern at the Arizona Daily Star.
 
Sam Stanton (’82)’s investigation of the UC Davis chancellor helped The Sacramento Bee win the James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Cynthia Hubert, another Bee reporter and UA alum, won an SPJ NorCal award in October for a feature on the death of a homeless woman.

Annie Chandler-Grevers ('10), a seven-time NCAA champion swimmer and former editor of the Tombstone Epitaph, was named to the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame. Annie, assistant managing editor for Swimming World and a Tucson swim coach, and her husband (Olympic medalist Matt Grevers) welcomed a baby girl, Skylar, in November.

Jan. 27, 2017

Danyelle Khmara wrote the cover story for the Jan 12-18 Tucson Weekly on Pima County's efforts to protect immigrants' rights on the eve of Trump's presidency.

Senior Julianne Stanford's final apprentice story for the Arizona Daily Star, “More drug profits slipping into Mexico as border seizures plummet,” was the paper's A1 centerpiece on Jan. 26.

D.C. Bolles Fellow Christianna Silva wrote a first-person story about the Women's March on Washington for the Arizona Daily Star's This is Tucson and worked with photographer Rebecca Noble on a Tucson Sentinel story. Noble also took inauguration images used by the Daily Wildcat. Michelle Jaquette also traveled to D.C., and December grad Elizabeth Eaton, who is beginning her Science News internship in D.C., took photos. Click here for the J-school website story.
 
Senior Madison Brodsky began an internship at TMZ in Los Angeles. She's working for the celebrity news website's toofab.com, saying she "is responsible for writing entertainment stories on the site, interviewing celebrities in the studio and on the red carpet, and researching story pitches."

Martiza Dominguez and Carmen Valencia spoke to Cholla High School students about journalism and the J-school on Jan. 27 in Marshall 340.
 
December grad Emily Gauci accepted a job in page design and copy editing at GateHouse Media in Austin, Texas. GateHouse publishes 121 daily newspapers and owns the parent company of the Arizona Capitol Times. Gauci was a designer for the Epitaph and a designer and photog for the Daily Wildcat.
 
Jorge Encinas, a December master's graduate, co-wrote a story for NPR's Code Switch website, "As Trump Is Sworn In, Supporters Debate His Role In Healing Racial Wounds." Encinas has an NPR internship in Washington, D.C., through April.

Filmmaker Ania Augustowska (’14) and the team who worked on "Our Desert Farms" saw their short documentary become an official section for the Colorado Environmental Film Festival, Feb. 23-25 in Golden. It examines climate change, drought and global market through the lens of a local story on Central Arizona farmers.

Kristen Davis ('00) says her birthdaughter, Carlie Scupin, has accepted a scholarship offer to play for the UA softball team. Kristen covered UA softball for the Arizona Daily Star in 2002 while pregnant with Carlie. "I’m so happy for Carlie and for her tremendous family," says Kristen, now the social media and "Best of" manager at cleveland.com.

Jan. 6, 2017

Recent master's grad Jorge Encinas landed a Chips Quinn internship at NPR in Washington, D.C. He'll be working with the "Code Switch" team, which explores race, ethnicity and culture in communities. “I’m excited about the opportunity to work with NPR in D.C., especially with the inauguration and public anxiety over the incoming administration,” says Encinas, whose internship runs until April 21. See the Code Switch website.

Students in the school’s fall broadcast class posted the latest Arizona Cat's Eye, including stories on the election, education, refugees, AIDS fundraising, UA sports, an art gallery and festivals. The anchors Brandon Mejia and Madison Brodsky, The reporters were Ryan Lopez, Samantha Stone, Stevie Katz, Brian Danziger, JB Coronado, Karen Cruz-Orduna and Maritza Dominguez. Watch the episode.

Hannah Gaber, who received her master’s in May, saw her MA film on Oman, “A Young Nation,” become an early official selection to screen at Boston's Global Cinema Film Festival. It's the third film festival for Gaber, who is a video journalist at the Arizona Republic. Watch her video. 

December 2016

Dec. 16

Julianne Stanford, a senior, received the Pulliam Fellowship for summer 2017 at the Arizona Republic. Stanford also will be an intern at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting this spring.
 
Elizabeth Eaton landed an internship at Science News magazine, in Washington, D.C., starting in January. The graduating senior said she will do short stories for the Science News website on new research, adding that her goal is to have a big science feature spread in the magazine before the end of the internship. 
 
Michelle Jaquette won the fall 2016 Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Photo Contest for her UA volleyball image. Elizabeth Kinney took second (Iraq Veterans Memorial) and Carmen Valencia third (Gabrielle Giffords). The student photos are among 12 from Professor Kim Newton's 203 class to hang in the hallway near Marshall 327. Click here to see the images.
 
Jorge Encinas defended is master’s project, “Confiscated and Missing: A flawed process fails to return migrants' possessions” on Dec. 7 in Marshall 341, with Terry Wimmer as chair and David Cuillier and Michael McKisson as committee members.
 
Alexandra Adamson defended her master’s thesis, “That’s So Last Season: Fashion Trend Agenda Setting by Bloggers or Journalists During the Summer 2016,” on Dec. 8 in Marshall 340, with Susan Swanberg as chair and Michael McKisson and Sherry Lotz (Family and Consumer Sciences) as committee members.
 
Steve Choice defended his master’s thesis, “Trauma and Resilience in Journalists in Northern Mexico,” on Dec. 9 in Marshall 340, with Celeste González de Bustamante and Jeannine Relly as co-chairs and Linda Lumsden as a committee member.
 
Kendal Blust defended her master’s project, “Mujeres, Arte y Resistencia: How women use art activism to change the narrative on the border and migration,” on Dec. 14 in Marshall 340. Celeste Bustamante (chair), Kim Newton and Maggy Zanger were her committee members. 
 
Michelle Floyd, a journalism senior and UA softball pitcher who was named the UA Student-Athlete of the Week and featured on the scoreboard at the Dec. 14 men's basketball game vs. Grand Canyon. 
 
Natalia Navarro, a features/Caliente apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw her final story, “USS Arizona memorial on UA Mall to be dedicated,”  run on A1 of Sunday’s Dec. 4 edition. She also did a story for the features section, “USS Arizona has plenty of places of honor at UA" that ran on E1 on Dec. 4.

Elizabeth Quinlan, a JOUR 105 student who is an Honors journalism major, was interviewed in this segment on the USS Arizona memorial, which appeared on CBS News on Dec. 6.
 
Brandon James, a sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote “Arizona Wildcats looking ahead to Sweet 16 volleyball showdown with Washington” on B1 on Dec. 7.

Alex Devoid, assisted by Mikayla Mace and Marissa Heffernan, published a Dec. 14 story for the Arizona Daily Wildcat on “How loud are some of the popular campus study spots? A noise sensor tells us.” The team used sensors purchased with funding from the School of Journalism.
 
The Dec. 9 Tombstone Epitaph included stories on the future of Southern Arizona farming and water (by Elizabeth Eaton); the lagging Cochise County economy (by Danyelle Khmara); and a proposed bus route to connect Sierra Vista with Douglas, Bisbee and Benson (by Luke Soroko).

Some of our Winter 2016 graduates attended a Dec. 8 send-off at  Gentle Ben's, including Michael Evans, Jessica Kong, Ciara Biscoe, Elizabeth Eaton, Emily Gauci and Sydney Richardson.

Dec. 2

Senior Tessa Patterson is one of four students from Arizona selected to intern with Gov. Doug Ducey during the spring legislative session. She was selected for the Legislative Internship Program offered through the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her duties will include covering legislative hearings. Story

Thirteen students in the school's “Reporting in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” course compared the U.S. borders at Mexico and Canada at the Fall 2016 Student Research Symposium at Special Collections on Nov. 28. Click here to watch the Facebook Live video. The presentation had three segments: Border economics and ideologies with Stephen Oliver, Brenna Bailey, Genesis Lara and Amanda Oien; Living on the periphery with Emma Lawlor & Noah Silber-Coats, Mark Flores, Julia León and Karen Cruz-Orduna;  Land and identity with Erik Kolsrud, Chastity Laskey, Maritza Dominguez and Jennifer Hijazi.
 
Brandon James, a sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, did more stories for the paper, including: “After 25 years at Arizona, volleyball coach Rubio still going strong,” Nov. 29, B1; and “Arizona Wildcats won't look past Cleveland State in NCAA Tournament's first round,” Dec. 1, B1
 
Brandon Dawkins, a journalism major and Arizona quarterback, ran for 183 yards and account for three TDs in a 56-35 win over ASU. He accidentally ran into Miss Arizona USA Tommy Lynn Calhoun outside the end zone in the second quarter. On Twitter, Brandon joked, "dinner on me. I owe you." Watch the video
 
Arizona Daily Star reporter Yoohyun Jung (’15) is one of only five journalists nationally to be named a Reveal Investigative Fellow. Her project will focus on how a small Tucson charter school rapidly became one of the biggest, most renowned school networks in the U.S.
 
Kellie Mejdrich, a 2012 J-school grad and reporter for CQ Roll Call, wrote a story on Sarah Palin being considered for VA secretary — and the Chicago Tribune picked it up. 
 
J-school alum Sam Standon, a reporter at The Sacramento Bee, gives insight into how he and a colleague found that University of California in this Poynter story. Davis paid consultants $175,000 “to scrub the Internet of negative online postings” about the school and its chancellor, who resigned this year. 
 
"Got my sea legs," joked 2014 grad Sam McNeil, an AP video reporter based in Jordan who covered an environmental group's swim across the Dead Sea this week. See his story and video. 

Nicole Greason ('88) is the marketing, public relations and publicity manager at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. She mentors students through several programs, including the Arizona Latino Media Association, where she is on the board of directors. Nicole also was a workshop presenter at the joint convention of the 2016 National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists in Washington, D.C.

November 2016

Nov. 18

Senior Christianna Silva has been named the school's 2017 Don Bolles Fellowship winner. Silva, who is finishing up her election internship at FiveThirtyEight in New York, will cover the Arizona Legislature for the school's Arizona Sonora News Service in the spring. Go here for a story on Silva.

Junior John Ricker won the Fall 2016 Mark Finley Gold Pen Award in the school's best beginning news writing contest for JOUR 205 students. Junior Elise McClain finished second, and sophomore Jordan Williams took third place. Ricker won $1,000 in scholarship money, followed by McClain ($750) and Williams ($500). Go here for a story on the contest.
 
Spencer Halliday won the grand prize in the photo contest for all UA study-abroad programs. Halliday, awarded a $700 airline travel voucher, took Professor Kim Newton's Orvieto, Italy, study-abroad course last summer and snapped this photo of a young priest reading while two guards kept watch outside Vatican City. The image and other study-abroad photos were on display in the Student Union Gallery through Nov. 18. Go here to see the image. 
 
Rebecca Noble, a photographer for the Daily Wildcat, saw her Trump rally image on a supporter yelling "Jew-S-A" published on A3 of the Oct. 31 Washington Post.
 
Kyle Kochevar saw his Arizona Sonora News story, "Record number of guns found this year at airport checkpoints," picked up by The Arizona Republic on Oct. 28 and Lake Havasu City's Today's News-Herald.  
 
Gabriella Vukelic, an Education/Politics apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published more stories: “Chinese immersion programs aim to give students cultural, academic, job advantages” (Nov. 10) and “Marana High employees, police officers face off in basketball match” (Nov. 11).
 
Brandon James, a sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published more stories recently: “Arizona Wildcats assistant Salvo Coppa brings unique perspective to Adia Barnes' staff” (Nov. 17, B3); “After win over Cal on senior day, Arizona Wildcats close out season at ASU” (Nov. 4, B4); "Arizona Wildcats standouts Claire Green, Addi Zerrenner ready to host Pac-12 championships" (Oct. 28, B4)
 
Natalia V. Navarro, a Features/Caliente apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published more stories recently, including “All hail the haggis and the Celts” (Nov. 3, page 7 of Caliente)

Christiana Silva did several election-night blogs for FiveThirtyEight, including marijuana ballot measures and the Latino vote. Scroll through the blog here. 
 
Jordan Glenn, an apprentice photographer at the Arizona Daily Star, and NASA space grant intern Elizabeth Eaton followed archeologists to the Great Bend of the Gila River for a future Star story on a proposed national monument. The seniors were only two of a little more than 100 people to see the Arizona site. See some of their photos. Glenn and Eaton also talked to UA journalism alums during the school’s Oct. 29 Homecoming mixer.
 
Students Nick Meyers, Brieana Lewis, Adam Kull, Victor Garcia, Elizabeth Quinlan and Caryn Vieira, part of Nancy Sharkey’s 105 class, toured the Arizona Daily Star and saw the newsroom, plateroom and pressroom — and attended a news meeting led by editor Jill Jorden Spitz (’88).
 
Gabby Ferreira (’15) will move to The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California, a McClatchy paper. Ferreira has been a breaking news reporter at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California, and will be a similar, “real-time” reporter at The Tribune. “They just started the position, and I’m so excited to bring my experience to the table,” she said.

October 2016

Oct. 28

Natalia V. Navarro, a Features/Caliente apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, had more stories published: “Die is cast for Winding Road's production of 'Julius Caesar' in Tucson,” Oct. 19, Page 19 Caliente; “Frida Kahlo's influence means more color at Tucson Botanical Gardens,” Oct. 27, Caliente cover story; and “Artifact premieres ‘Animal Farm,'" Oct. 3, Caliente, Page 16.

Gabriella Vukelic, an Education/Politics apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, saw more of her stories published: “Marana High schools fail to meet required hours of class time,” and “TUSD students are followed through a video series for the next 5 years.”

Brandon James, a Sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published more stories recently: “DeGracie-Bailey delivers assists, will try to lift Cats past Washington,” Oct. 8, B7; “With goalkeeper Lainey Burdett back, Arizona Wildcats await UCLA,” Oct. 13, B5; “Arizona Wildcats riding high after LA volleyball sweep,” Oct. 14, B5; “Cats seek momentum to gain NCAA tourney bid,” Oct. 20, B4; “Wildcats return home for series with Washington State, Washington,” Oct. 21, B5; “Arizona Wildcats return to the road following disappointing series at McKale Center.” Oct. 27, B4.

Chastity Laskey, a Features/Caliente apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, had these stories published recently: “Something something launches seaosn centered on women,” “Carla Brownlee and her sax keep the blues going,” “Learning to Drive' premieres at Loft.” And also, “Inaugural Dusk festival features and all-star lineup” and “David Mamet's 'American Buffalo' is at Speak the Speech Theatre in Tucson.”

Christianna Silva, a senior interning at FiveThirtyEight in New York City, did a live blog during the final presidential debate. She tracked questions, interruptions, attacks, references to scandals, then worked with the 538 chart team to make graphics for the data she collected.
 
Rebecca Noble took photos and video of the Zenger Award for Press Freedom dinner at the Westward Look on Oct. 21. Click here for a photo gallery and go here to see the videos. Other students who helped out with the event honoring Washington Post reporter Dana Priest were: Emily Ellis, Mikayla Mace and Nate Williams, while Jordan Glenn, Gabby Caparelli and Nick Smallwood staffed the photo auction table.
 
SPJ students David J. Del Grande, Andrew Paxton, Danyelle Khmara and Ava Garcia took parents on tours of the Marshall Building and showcased the school’s drone during an Oct. 15 Family Weekend mixer at the Reading Room. Earlier in the morning, Del Grande, Paxton, Garcia, Jamie Verwys, Alex McIntyre and Nick Meyers participated in the James W. Foley Freedom Run to remember the journalist killed by ISIS.
 
Anna Augustowska (’14) won a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award for her documentary “Donnie.” Augustowska, a multimedia design specialist for the College of SBS, was featured in a story by SBS, where she said she “wouldn’t be where I am without the School of Journalism. It gave me hands-on experience in visual storytelling, gear, editing software, all of that. They teach you ethical reporting and standards.”
 
Sandra Westdahl ('12) of Arizona Public Media/KUAT shared three Rocky Mountain Emmy awards — two for human interest stories in the program feature/segment category (“Robert Barber” and “StoryCorps Listens to Tucson”), and another Emmy in magazine program feature/segment (“Remembering Mukhi Singh”).
 
Morgan Loew (’96), an investigative reporter for KPHO-TV, CBS 5 in Phoenix, was inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences.
 
Washington Post Multiplatform Editor Paula Johnston Kelso ('91) toured the school's facilities with Director David Cuillier. Kelso, a former Arizona Daily Wildcat staffer, also visited with current Wildcat Editor-in-Chief Sam Gross and Student Media Director Brett Fera (‘05).
 
Author Michael Downs ('86), an English professor at Towson University in Maryland and former Arizona Daily Star sports reporter, received a Rubys Artist Project Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. The grant will support "Sefton Stories (Miniatures)," his series of short nonfiction essays that explore his Baltimore neighborhood during the Great Recession.
 
Steve Hirsch ('76), who will be inducted into the Maricopa County Bar Hall of Fame on Oct. 27 at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix. Steve, a member of the school's Journalism Advisory Council and an attorney for Quarles & Brady LLP, was also honored by the William E. Morris Institute for Justice. See story.
 
Jodie Snyder (’88), an internal communications specialist for Banner Health who wrote the guide book “Happy Dog Phoenix,” was featured on a 12 News Arizona Midday segment with her beagle, Arti. Sndyer is a former Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette reporter. Watch the segment here.

Oct. 7

Jacquelyn Oesterblad of the Arizona Daily Wildcat won first place for Best News Story in the Arizona Newspapers Association’s 2016 Better Newspapers Contest in Chandler for “Arizona DREAMing.” The Wildcat also captured six overall awards, including first place in newspaper online site/web page.
 
Jordan Glenn and Lauren Renteria accompanied London Times reporter Ben Hoyle as photographers for his story on illegal immigration and Donald Trump. They met with undocumented migrants, Sen. John McCain and armed citizen border defenders in Casa Grande. The story will run in The Times and The Sunday Times.
 
Christianna Silva, an intern at FiveThirtyEight, saw her VP debate chart on interruptions used on “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah. To see the clip, go here to the 1:50 mark of the video.
 
Students Genesis Lara, Amanda Oien, Karen Cruz-Orduna, Maritza Dominguez, Brenna Bailey, Jenny Hijazi and Julia León traveled to Montana with professors Celeste González de Bustamante and Michael McKisson study the U.S.-Canada border and compare it to the border at Nogales. See some of their photos here on Facebook.
 
Mikayla Mace saw her Arizona Sonora News story on Tucson's night skies linked to by the International Dark Sky Association. Read the story here.
 
The Arizona Republic and Casa Grande Dispatch picked up Jessica Kong’s story for Arizona Sonora News on the Tucson airport adding new flights to New York and Mexico. Read it here.
 
The Arizona Republic ran Leah Merrall’s Tombstone Epitaph/ASN article on renting livestock for lawns. Read it here.
 
Alexis Wright saw her piece on pack rats for Arizona Sonora News ran in the A section in the Arizona Republic. Go here to read it.
 
Gabiella Vukelic, an education and politics apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published stories on a TUSD internship program and a preview of the state House race in District 9.
 
Brandon James, a sports apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published more volleyball stories, including: “Wildcats open Pac-12 Play at McKale against ASU” (B1) and “Wildcats duo stepping up with volleyball star Kalei Mau hurt”(B5)
 
Fourteen students interviewed with Aric Johnson of USA TODAY NETWORK, hoping to land internships or jobs with Gannett. They were Jordan Glenn, Ciara Biscoe, Tobey Schmidt, Lauren Renteria, Alexa Wallen, Brenna Bailey,Brooke Goldstein, Rebecca Noble, Danyelle Khmara, Courtney Talak, David J. Del Grande, Julianne Stanford, Elizabeth Eaton and Sydney Richardson.
 
UA J-school alum Jill Jorden Spitz ('88) was named editor of the Arizona Daily Star. She served as senior editor, business editor and assistant managing editor after joining the Star in 1998.
 
Mike Christy (‘11) was named Photographer of the Year at the Arizona Newspapers Association contest and former student Hank Stephenson earned Story of the Year honors. Others who won first-place honors were Murphy Woodhouse (Nogales International, now with Star), A.E. Araiza (’80, Star),Adam Gaub (’06, Maricopa Monitor), Dan Shearer (’85, Green Valley News),Rodeney Haas (’10, Casa Grande Dispatch), and Bill Coates (’78, Casa Grande Dispatch). In all, journalists with UA ties took home 28 individual awards. Read the story here.

Bethany Barnes (’13) was named the Nevada Journalist of the Year for her investigative and public records work at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Barnes is now with the Portland Oregonian. Go here for more details.
 
J-school alum Richard Gilman (’72) spoke with professor Bill Schmidt and the audience after the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight” – part of the school’s Journalism on Screen series at The Loft. Gilman was publisher when the Globe won the Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of sexual abuse by priests. Guests included former professors Don Carson (’51) and Jim Johnson, and alumsFrank Sotomayor (’66) and Betty Beard (’69).
 
Kendra Paige Hall (‘15), a reporter for ABC7 television in Amarillo, Texas, talked to students Rocky Baier and Simone McCarthy about her career along with internship coordinator Reneé Schafer Horton.
 
David Diaz (‘99) is now a page designer at the Sierra Vista Herald after previous work at the Arizona Daily Star, El Paso Times and Miami Herald.
 
Suzanne McCormick (‘82), a former Arizona Daily Star features reporter, is working in strategic communication and advocacy for Full Sun Communications in the Phoenix area.
 
Joey Fisher (‘15), former editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, is a page designer for Gannett in Phoenix and creative director for Bottle Magazine.
 
Michael Schwartz ('08), a sports content researcher at ESPN, was mentioned in a SportsCenter broadcast about his grandfather attending the Cubs’ last World Series in 1945.

September 2016

Sept. 16

Grad student Alex Devoid, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote a “Dreamer” story on Sunday, Sept. 3, detailing how ASU had revoked a student’s scholarship because of his immigration status.
 
Arizona Daily Star apprentice Brandon James wrote a feature story on UA volleyball player Penina Snuka on Sept. 15.

Grad students Kendal Blust and Jenny Hijazi attended the Online News Association conference in Denver.
 
Natalia Navarro, an accelerated master's student, saw her first Arizona Daily Star story on thrift-store paintings published on the front page. She is a Features/Caliente apprentice with the Star.
 
Five grad students brightened up downtown with stories about their summer projects at Talk & Tapas on Sept. 8. Mikayla Mace (Green Valley News), Emily Ellis (Guatemala), Bakina Wellars (Lute Olson & Mo Tangara Classic), Kendal Blust (Nogales International) and Jenny Hijazi (Egypt, Lebanon) talked to about 30 students, professors and staff at Casa Vicente.
 
J-school student Brandon Dawkins  started at quarterback in place of the injured Anu Solomon and helped the Arizona Wildcats win their Sept. 10 home opener over Grambling State 31-21. Dawkins ran for 97 yards and two TDs, and threw for 223 yards and another score.
 
J-school alum Dan Desrochers ('15) of the Lexington Herald-Leader is getting national mention for his story about Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, in which the Republican told Desrochers that blood might someday need to be shed if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election. The Washington Post mentioned Desrochers (tinyurl.com/z5u8o5h), and Dan followed it up with a story on Democrats' reaction (tinyurl.com/zj99wxk).
 
Fernanda Echavarri, a 2007 grad, and Perla Trevizo of the Arizona Daily Star, won the national Dori Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism from the American Society of News Editors on Sept. 12. Echavarri, now with NPR's "Latino USA," accepted the award in Philadelphia, with Trevizo on a fellowship in Germany. The two collaborated with Star photographer Mike Christy ('11) on "Divided by Law" (tinyurl.com/hvpbsbg) when Echavarri worked at Arizona Public Media. Click here to read more about the award.
 
Jane Kay ('61), a former reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle and Arizona Daily Star and sister of journalism professor Mort Rosenblum, wrote a recent story for National Geographic about deformed birds in Alaska (tinyurl.com/godk5l8)
 
David McGlothlin ('16), an associate editor at azbigmedia.com in Phoenix, just published "People and Projects to Known in Commercial Real Estate" (tinyurl.com/hflob7c).
 
Linda Valdez ('80), an editorial writer for the Arizona Republic, discussed her new book "Crossing the Line: A Marriage Across Borders" on a recent Jorge Ramos' "America" segment (tinyurl.com/zn2whd2).
 
Arizona Public Media reporter Sara Hammond filed stories the week of Sept. 5 from Florida's Cape Canaveral about the launch of OSIRIS-REx. A J-school alum, Sara is a member of our Journalism Advisory Council.

J-school alum Alan Davis (’15) wrote an essay about his UA experience and how it prepared him as a freelancer in video production — and helped him land a spot in Canon's prestigious visual storytelling master class.

Rogelio Yubeta Olivas (’85) is news editor for the Yuma Sun (yumasun.com).
 
Katelyn Swanson (’13) is a digital media planner with UM Worldwide, a marketing and advertising company in the New York City area.

Kyle Mittan (’14) is an education and crime reporter at the Bellingham (Wash.) Herald (tinyurl.com/zgfeyzp).
 
Christopher Wuensch (’03) is a football writer for SEC Country (tinyurl.com/jrn3zju).
 
Nicole Cousins (’15) is a reporter and weekend anchor for KLKN-TV (ABC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, also producing content for social media, shows and the web
 
Shelby Hill (’10) is a content editor for Wayfair.com in Boston, where she writes, edits and curates products for the website.

H Darr Beiser (’76), formerly of USA Today, teaches photography as an adjunct professor at American University in Washington.

Aug. 26

Senior Christianna Silva landed a prestigious political data internship with FiveThirtyEight in New York City. That means she'll be in the thick of the presidential race, doing data mining, entry and analysis in addition to reporting and writing for editor Nate Silver's website, which focuses on opinion polling, politics, economics and sports. Click here to read our website story.

Images by 12 former JOUR 203 students are now on display in the hallway, part of the Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Contest coordinated by Professor Kim Newton. Student photographers are: Brooke Cambareri (first place), Elise McClain (second), Pablo Lopez (third), Victoria Hudson, Ciara Encinas, Alexa Morelli, Pablo Lopez, Mackenzie Boulter,  Erica Szpylczyn, Allison Suarez, Maritza Cruz and Nicholas Smallwood. Click here to see the photos on our website.

Graduate student Jenny Hijazi wrote the Aug. 12 cover story for the Tucson Weekly on a Palestinian's quest for asylum status.

Elizabeth Eaton, a Pulliam Fellow this summer at the Arizona Republic, worked with mentor Daniel Gonzalez to publish a main story about juvenile drug smugglers and a sidebar about Border Patrol's anti-drug smuggling program She spoke to lawyers, visited courtrooms, talked to a juvenile and took photos.

Senior Justin Spears of the Daily Wildcat and KAMP Student Radio did an interview with the late UA football player Zach Hemmila days before Hemmila was found dead in his sleep. Click here to listen to it.

Senior Zoe Wolkowitz wrote a J-school website story about her internship with ABC Sports in Los Angeles — from covering the Dodgers to the Rams to the ESPYs and more.

Brooke Goldstein wrapped up a summer internship at Sony Music in New York.

Brandon James finished a summer internship at KCRA-3 TV in Sacramento, California.

In a victory for journalists, a ruling was overturned that sought to force Arizona Republic Page 1 editor John D’Anna (‘83) to give up his notes from an interview in a murder case. Click here to see the story.

ProPublica's Ryan Gabrielson, a former UA J-school student and Pulitzer Prize winner, won an August Sidney Award in August for the story: “Busted: How $2 Roadside Drug Tests Send Innocent People to Jail.” 

Jan Rydzak, who’s working on the Ph.D. Minor in Journalism, published an article in Foreign Policy on how Poland’s government is tightening control over the Internet in the name of national security.

The New York Times travel section did a Q&A with J-school graduate Kelly Lewis (’08) on advice for women traveling alone. Kelly is the owner of Go! Girl Guides.

Erin Shanahan (’15) works for The Learning House Inc., in Louisville, where she is a marketing specialist for the organization’s Software Guild coding school.

Natalie Grum (’15) is an associate producer for Mighty Media Studios, based in the Seattle area.

Jessie Webster (’15) is in Addison, Texas, working as an experience researcher at projekt202.

Paul Giblin ('88), a 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, has left the Arizona Republic to become a foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department.

David Mariotte ('16) is moving to San Diego to be an editorial assistant at IDW, the fourth largest comics publisher in the U.S.

Kyle Hansen ('16) is a sports journalist at the Billings (Montana) Gazette. Click here to see some of his work.

Grad student Alex Devoid, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote a “Dreamer” story on Sunday, Sept. 3, detailing how ASU had revoked a student’s scholarship because of his immigration status.
 
Arizona Daily Star apprentice Brandon James wrote a feature story on UA volleyball player Penina Snuka on Sept. 15.

July 2016

July 29

Elizabeth Eaton, a Pulliam Fellow at the Arizona Republic, filed a story about a controversial proposed power line through a wildlife refuge and retirement area.

Jordan Glenn filmed a video report on Pokemon Go! for the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, giving viewers a respite from the wildfire north of Los Angeles.
 
Luke Soroko pitched a scoreless seventh inning to help lead the North to a 6-5 win in the Great West League All-Star Game on July 26 in Medford, Oregon. Luke and the UA baseball team finished runner-up at the College World Series last month. Click here for a story.
 
A team with J-school ties worked on a Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. for National Geographic, including producer John de Dios ('05) and Alan Davis ('15), and current UA sustainable plant systems student Matt Buster. Davis was in professor Carol Schwalbe's inaugural science multimedia class and Buster took her environmental journalism class. Ecologist Cecil R. Schwalbe, Carol's husband, is interviewed in the video.
 
Dan Desrochers (’15) accepted a job as a political reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. For the past year, he has been a government reporter for the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail. While interviewing in Kentucky, Dan told J-professor Terry Wimmer that an editor showed him a conference room that had been remodeled to look like an FBI office in the '90s. The movie being filmed was adjunct instructor Joe Sharkey's "Above Suspicion." Said Terry: "UA Journalism is everywhere."
 
Brittny Mejia ('14) and Marisa Gerber ('11), part of the Los Angeles Times' team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, are helping cover the serious wildfire north of L.A. See Brittny's story. See Marisa's story.
 
Maria Inés Taracena (’12) wrote a cover story for the latest Tucson Weekly on a man who fills water tanks in the Southern Arizona desert to help keep migrants alive.

Jackie Tran, a 2011 alum, wrote a remembrance of standout local chef Odell Baskerville for Tucson Foodie.
 
H Darr Beiser ('76), a former USA Today photographer and video producer, posted some cool nature shots to his website blog. Be sure to click on his portfolio and videos, too.
 
Stephen Ceasar ('09), part of the Los Angeles Times' team that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news, is now an account supervisor at Dick Jones Communications in the L.A. area and wrote about the move to PR.
 
Jeffrey Jackson ('98) became a copy editor/designer at the Casa Grande Dispatch to be close to family and his granddaughter after stints at GateHouse Media Center in Austin, the Roswell Daily Record and the Arizona Daily Star.

July 22

Stephanie Soto helped KOLD launch “Noticias 13,” what the television station calls the first app for Hispanic news consumers in Southern Arizona. Soto, who is set to graduate in May 2017, translates stories from English to Spanish for the app and is helping cover stories in the field. For a story, click here.

Graduate students Jennifer Hijazi and Kendal Blust have been awarded scholarships through the Online News Association to attend the ONA national conference Sept. 15-17 in Denver. Professor Michael McKisson, who advises the UA ONA club, will also make the trip. Here is a story. 
 
The Green Valley News published a saguaro infographic researched, drawn and written by graduate student Mikayla Mace. It shows how "a nurse tree provides the conditions necessary to ensure that a saguaro seedling can germinate and one day become a desert giant.”
 
Jennifer Hijazi wrote a story for Tucson Weekly on the Bright Eyes Project, which lets Tucson's homeless document their lives through photos.

Danielle Fork, an intern with WBNS 10TV in Columbus, Ohio, learned how to run a camera for golf and log the Jack Nicklaus Memorial tournament for the station.

Madison Brodsky, an intern at the "Conan" show, said she's had "amazing opportunities to attend Spike TV's Guy Choice Awards, red carpets and screenings ... so I can give my opinion on films such as 'The Masterpiece' starting James Franco, Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. "
 
Journalism major Luke Soroko, a pitcher on the UA baseball team, was selected to play in the Great West League All-Star Game on July 25 in Medford, Ore. The week before, he picked up his first league victory.

Sydney Dennen ('16) took a job at KOLD television in Tucson to be the station's new weekend 9 p.m. producer and weeknight assignment desk editor.
 
Several alums on the Arizona Daily Star helped produce a project based on Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall, including Curt Prendergast ('11, reporter), Mike Christy ('11, photographer), Samantha Munsey ('12, video producer), Peter Sibley ('81, copy editor) and Jill Jorden Spitz ('88, editor).

Fernanda Echavarri ('07), part of NPR's team at the Republican National Convention, helped work on an NPR Latino USA story about a Mexican immigrant found dead in his cell after three days in immigration detention.

July 1

Alex Devoid, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, wrote the front-page poster story in the June 27 edition on undocumented workers. Alex is a dual master's student in journalism and Latin American Studies. Alfredo Edwardo Araiza (’80) shot the photos.

Jennifer Hijazi, a dual grad student in journalism and Middle Eastern and North African Studies, wrote a story for the Tucson Weekly about her adventures in Lebanon. Her master's project in immersive journalism includes filming 360-degree views of borders in the Middle East. She spent time in Egypt earlier.

Jordan Glenn landed a summer internship at the Santa Clarita Valley Signal near Los Angeles as a video and multimedia journalist. It's the same newspaper where Luke Money (‘12) started as a political reporter before becoming the Costa Mesa City Hall reporter for the L.A. Times Community News. Alums Roman Veytsman (’07) and Mandy Schackmann (’05) also did stints at the Signal.
 
Accelerated master's student Elizabeth Eaton, a Pulliam Fellow in Phoenix, posted a story and interview with the U.S. surgeon general for the Arizona Republic.
 
Journalism major Luke Soroko, a pitcher on the UA baseball team, returned home from the College World Series after the Wildcats fell one win short of capturing the national title.
 
Michael Evans had his cool monsoon photo shared on the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Facebook page. Here is the direct link.
 
Reporter Fernanda Echavarri (’07), photographer Mike Christy (’11) and reporter Perla Trevizo shared the 2016 Edward R. Murrow Award for best small-market radio news documentary with "Divided by Law," a joint Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Public Media project about how immigration law separated four U.S. children from their mother. Echavarri, formerly wih AZPM, is now at NPR’s “Latino USA.” Christy and Trevizo are at the Star. Click here for the story.
 
Three 2012 alums are moving up in the broadcast world. Charlie De Mar joined CBS 2 in Chicago as a reporter after working at the CBS and Fox TV stations in Indianapolis; Rikki Mitchell left KGUN 9 in Tucson for TMJ4 in Milwaukee, where she’ll be reporting full-time; Charlie Misra left KSBY in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, California, to be a reporter with KCTV 5 in Kansas City, Mo.

June 2016

June 10

Kendal Blust wrote the A1 poster story for the Arizona Daily Star on Sunday, May 29, about UA’s greatest diver getting a shot at the Olympics as a coach.

Elizabeth Eaton, a Star apprentice, had the C1 poster story on Sunday, May 29, with “City of Gastronomy honor is about more than food.”

Kendal Blust, a summer apprentice at the Nogales International, has written several stories, including:

• Increase in cross-border foot traffic not felt at shops
• Meal programs help sustain students during summer months
• Nogales dentists try to compete with low prices in Sonora

Amanda Martinez, an intern at Arizona Public Media, began a series withStories from Tucson’s South Side: What Makes a Place Your Favorite? And she was a mentor and dorm counselor at the Journalism Diversity Workshop for High School Students.
 
David Del Grande was a mentor and dorm counselor at the Journalism Diversity Workshop for High School Students.
 
Christianna Silva gave a presentation on virtual reality and drone journalism to students at the Journalism Diversity Workshop for High School Students along with professor Michael McKisson.

Bethany Barnes ('13) accepted a reporting job at the Oregonian in Portland. Bethany has done strong investigative work at the Las Vegas Review-Journal for the past three years and was named a 2015 Journalist of Merit from the Nevada Press Association. 
 
Mariana Dale ('14) joined KJZZ in Phoenix as a digital producer after spending more than a year as an online editor/reporter for Arizona Public Media.
 
Justin Sayers ('14) is the new breaking news reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Justin, a former Pulliam Fellow at the Arizona Republic and apprentice/freelancer for the Arizona Daily Star, 
 
J-school grads Hipolito R. Corella ('90) and Irene McKisson ('03) were promoted at the Arizona Daily Star. Corella is interim editor while the paper conducts a national search to replace Bobbie Jo Buel ('79), who stepped down. McKisson is the team leader of a new product for millennials.

May 2016

May 20

Kendal Blust, Julianne Stanford, Christianna Silva and Hannah Gaber captured top honors at the School of Journalism’s 50th annual Just Desserts student awards celebration at the Arizona Historical Society on May 13. Blust, a graduate student, received the Philip Mangelsdorf Award for Outstanding Newsperson of the Year, Stanford captured the Sherman R. Miller Award for Outstanding Senior, Silva received the B.P. Campbell Award for Outstanding Junior and Gaber was named the Outstanding Graduate Student. For a story and list of all the award and scholarship winners, go here.

Graduate student Kendal Blust captured a prestigious Maggie Award in the “Best Print Article/Student” category on May 6 at a banquet in Los Angeles. Her winning story profiled Tucson’s Southside Presbyterian Church in the fall 2015 El Independiente. The event attracts top publishing professionals from 24 states to honor excellence in print and electronic publishing. Go here for her story.

A paper submitted by recent master’s graduate Ary Hermawan has been accepted by the International Communication Division/Markham Student Paper Competition for presentation at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The paper is based on Ary’s thesis: “Framing the 2014 Indonesian Presidential Candidates in Newspapers and on Twitter.”  

Cole Driver, who earlier landed a Cartoon Network internship this summer, received more good news: The junior has been selected for a paid “Saturday Night Live” writers research internship for the fall.

Maggie Driver’s final story as an apprentice for the Arizona Daily Star, “Unlicensed tunes have high-end steak house singing the blues” (May 8, D1) is here.

May 6

Brooke Cambareri's photograph of UA lacrosse player Celina Sanchez won first place in the spring 2016 Drew Gyorke Photojournalism Contest. Second place went to Elise McClain’s picture showing Lillie Richardson’s silhouette playing the violin as the moon rises behind her and third place went to Pablo Lopez’s image showing Liliana Norzagaray posing for a portrait following a dance class. Story, photos

Hannah Gaber successfully defended her master's project with a film, "A Young Nation: The future of Oman through the eyes of its youth," which she made in the country last year. Hannah is set to receive a dual masters in Journalism and Middle Eastern and North African Studies (MENA).

Seven science journalism students adapted their “SciView” stories to TV and will be featured on "Arizona Illustrated" on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on PBS 6. Grad student Elizabeth Eaton finds the "Indiana Jones" of ancient pottery, followed by John Palting (moths), Eduardo Estrada (trauma docs), Angela Hoover (below, beetles), Stephan Dong (fruit flies), Kalyn Miller (gray hawks) and Emily Huddleston (leopard frogs). As for the magazine, Eaton was the editor and the design editor was Alicia Vega. Click here for J-school story. Click here for UANews story.

The Green Valley News published an opinion piece by graduate student Mikayla Mace. She wrote “In My View — I want a better future: But until I know we have it, starting a family may wait” for Carol Schwalbe’s Environmental Journalism class. Click here for story. 

Those with J-school and UA ties captured 13 first-place awards from the Arizona Press Club, including Community Journalist of the Year Murphy Woodhouse of the Nogales International (below), the Arizona Daily Wildcat staff, and alumna and adjunct Sarah Garrecht Gassen of the Arizona Daily Star. Click here for a story.

Led by editors Alexandra Adamson and Christianna Silva, El Independiente’s Spring 2016 edition came out. Among the stories: a threat to the San Pedro River (by Jordan Glenn), the San Carlos Apache Nation's fear of a proposed mine (Ashley McGowan) and migrant children seeking safe haven (Julianne Stanford). Glenn, Stanford and Baraha Elkhalil took most of the photos. Click here to see the magazine.

April 2016

April 29

UA journalism grads Brittny Mejia ('14), Stephen Ceasar ('09), Marisa Gerber ('11) and Kristina Bui (’13) were part of the Los Angeles Times' team that won the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for its coverage of the San Bernardino mass shooting last year. Brittny shared a byline on the Dec. 13 story, "The Pursuit," while Stephen and Marisa contributed to Dec. 3-5 coverage, and Bui was a copy editor for the coverage. They are among six UA grads on staff, joining Nicole Santa Cruz (‘09), a Times reporter, and Luke Money ('12,  a reporter for the Times Community News in Costa Mesa. Story: www.journalism.arizona.edu/LATimes

Sophomore Marissa Heffernan won the Mark Finley Gold Pen Award in the school's Spring 2016 Best Beginning News Writer Contest. Sophomores Nate Airulla and Michelle Jaquette  finished second and third, respectively. Eleven students had an hour to write a story after a talk and interview session with Lynn Nadel, chair of the faculty and a regent’s professor in psychology and cognitive science. Story: journalism.arizona.edu/finley/spring16

Plant Sciences major Matt Buster published a story in UA News describing the research he conducted at Biosphere 2 for a feature for Carol Schwalbe’s Environmental Journalism class: https://uanews.arizona.edu/blog/diving-ocean-bottle

Arizona Daily Star apprentice Maggie Driver had more stories published, including:

• Discount retailer Bealls Outlet opening 2 Tucson stores (A13, 14)

Star apprentice Fernando Galvan had several sports stories published, including:

• "Waddell, San Manuel hoping to finish season off with a 'big bang' (April 12)
• Pusch Ridge sprinter Lovett not letting up after winning state title (March 25)
• Badgers ready to build on breakthrough season (March 5)
• Dorado Classic begins Thursday to kick off softball season in Tucson (Feb. 25)
• Tucson High boys pull off another upset to clinch playoff berth (Feb. 13)
• Tucson girls top Ironwood Ridge to capture section crown (Feb. 13)
• Pueblo, Safford girls to meet again with section title on the line (Feb. 12)
• Cholla heavyweight Doss hoping to capture first wrestling title (Feb. 10)
• Nogales boys top Sunnyside with state tournament fate on the line (Jan. 27)

Recent graduate Kaleigh Shufeldt will be spending the summer at the New York University Publishing Institute, designed for "recent college graduates and for young professionals who are interested in careers in book and magazine publishing."

Eliza Molk ('13, left) is set to receive her law degree from the University of San Diego. She'll join the San Diego County Counsel's Juvenile Dependency Division on its appellate team, "advocating for neglected and abused children," said Molk, a former Daily Wildcat reporter and law clerk in the California Attorney General’s Office.

Congrats to Fernanda Echavarri ('07), now with NPR's Latino USA, and Perla Trevizo and photographer Mike Christy ('11) of the Arizona Daily Star. Their "Divided by Law" news documentary, a collaboration between Arizona Public Media and the Star, won regional honors in the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards and will advance to the national contest. The project also was a finalist for a national Peabody Award.

Bobbie Jo Buel will step down as editor of the Arizona Daily Star next month. Bobbie Jo, a 1979 alum, is a member of the school's Journalism Advisory Council and the Arizona Daily Wildcat Hall of Fame. "I am sure I will miss the newsroom and my colleagues terribly, but I dare say they will hardly notice my absence," she said in an e-mail. "It’s a great group of journalists who love Tucson as much as I do."

April 15

Jennifer Hijazi, a dual grad student in journalism and Middle Eastern and North African Studies. She's receiving a $1,000 Bonine/CMES Travel & Research Award from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies to travel to Egypt and Lebanon this summer. Her master's project in immersive journalism includes creating 360-degree views of borders in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Middle East.

Cole Driver earned a public relations/marketing internship with Cartoon Network in California this summer. He was the only intern chosen after a national search of more than 100 college applicants.

Grad students Kendal Blust and Jennifer Hijazi, and senior Christianna Silva participated in the day-long University Steamworks technology day at the University of Arizona on April 14. The students showed off the work they are doing with the Online News Association at UA club, including virtual reality journalism, drone videography and reporting with sensors. 

Jessica Carpenter and the Arizona Wildcats women's rugby team have qualified for the Collegiate Rugby Championship June 3-5 in Philadelphia.

Max Lancaster, a December 2015 grad, landed a reporting job at the Boulder City (Nevada) Review, covering local government at the start.

Annie Dickman, a December 2015 grad, who placed in the top 20 nationally in the personality/profile writing competition of the annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Her story, about UA art professor Gary Setzer, was published in the Arizona Daily Star finished tied for 18th among 112 profile entries from 63 schools. Annie accepted a paid internship at the Gannett design hub in Phoenix after graduation.

Luke Money ('12) became the Costa Mesa City Hall reporter at the Los Angeles Times Community News in March, leaving the Santa Clarita (Calif.) Signal

Michael Schwartz ('08) is still a researcher at ESPN, but he'll be based in the L.A. office (instead of Bristol, Conn.), working on shows such as "The Jump" and eventually “NBA Countdown.”

April 8

Kyle Hansen, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, saw his story on a memorial lacrosse match published on March 31.

Silvia Sanchez, an apprentice reporter for the Arizona Daily Star’s La Estrella de Tucson, had three stories published recently:

• Pablo Lechuga, Nogales Sonora radio man (March 4)
• A woman who feels nostalgic about lent (March 25)
• A bishop from Nogales, Sonora, who became a diocese leader.

Maggie Driver, an apprentice reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, saw her story, “Tucson Museum of Art needs $500K to fix crumbling buildings published on A1 on March 28.

Alex McIntyre, an apprentice photographer for the Arizona Daily Star, had several more images published recently:

• Helping gardeners grow, E9, full page spread, March 27
• Wildcats fall in extras to Utes, B1 & B7, March 26
• TEP is changing discount tree program, A2 & A5, March 22
• Another grocery on River; CVS pharmacy on Silverbell, A11, March 19
• Baby's Down syndrome gives young mom 'bigger purpose', C1, March 19
• Cats route Mount St. Mary's, get payback on BYU, B3, March 5
• Club loves Lucy, sees her through rescue and rehab, C2, Feb. 27
• Bunbury shoots Revolution past Dynamo, Feb. 25, B1 & B6
• Pedal boats, kayaks now for rent at Sahuarita lake, Biz front, Feb. 22

April 1

Grad student Hannah Gaber received a State Department-funded critical language scholarship to study Arabic in Morocco in the summer. Her scheduled Pulliam Fellowship at the Arizona Republic will be moved to the fall, and Gaber will present her master’s project film, “Young Nation: the future of Oman through the eyes of its youth,” on May 4 at 4:15 p.m. at Marshall 340.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14), a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, is receiving a Sledgehammer Award from the Arizona Press Club for using more than 50-plus public records requests to help uncover a prostitution scandal involving Tucson police last year. http://tucson.com/news/local/crime/tucson-police-employees-fired-over-prostitution-probe/article_c5844708-e3bc-5275-af3a-401aeb4d9676.html

Azhar Abdul-Salam, a 1994 master’s alum and current mass media school manager/instructor at Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnic university, spoke to UA classes about journalism in Asia. Azhar, a former ESPN Asia journalist, was the 1994 co-editor of the El Independiente with Sarah Tully (’94). Professor Susan Knight coordinated Azhar’s visit and schedule at UA.

March 2016

March 25

Madison Sloane Brodsky received a summer internship with the CONAN show, which gives top-tier students hands-on experience in the world of late night television. Conan O’Brien’s show is on TBS.

Grad student Kendal Blust was named a finalist for the Maggie Awards in the "Best Print Article/Student" category for her story on the Southside Presbyterian Church in El Independiente. (Story: https://issuu.com/elindependie…/…/1-56el_inde_2015_all_pages) The awards banquet is May 6 in L.A.

Christianna Silva helped tweet the Trump, Sanders and Clinton political rallies in Tucson for the Arizona Daily Star: twitter.com/#BillinTucson andtwitter.com/#TrumpinTucson and twitter.com/#BernieinTucson

Jennifer Hijazi and Christianna Silva explained virtual reality journalism to patrons at the Tucson Festival of Books on the UA mall on March 12, The 360-degree camera and glasses were a big hit.

Corinna Tellez, Miranda Lopez, Mariela Cabrera, Erika Yee, Sandy Rocha; Michelle Jaquette, Tessa Patterson, Leah Gilchrist, Josh Saulson, Connor Oswald and River Ludington visited New York City over spring break as part of professor Nancy Sharkey’s “Inside the New York Times” class. Students met with alums Savannah Guthrie (’93, “Today Show”) and Rob Alcaraz (’12, Wall Street Journal video journalist).

Hannah Palaniuk, Karen Lizarraga and Christianna Silva visited Washington over spring break as part of professor Susan Knight’s “Inside the Beltway” class, meeting with various D.C.-based UA journalism alums.

Ally Aldrete ('15), an assignment editor for Tucson's KGUN 9 TV for the past year, is moving to New York City to be an account executive for Eco Branding Public Relations.

March 11

Julianne Stanford, a junior who is interning at Arizona Public Media, has been chosen out of 52 applicants nationwide for a paid summer internship at the Skagway News, an award-winning small newspaper in Alaska. She'll receive free board, write stories, take photos, lay out the paper and cover such events as the Yukon River Quest. In all, three UA journalism students made it to the final round of 10 finalists.

Jordan Glenn took the cover photo for this month’s High Country News. He also has four photos inside with the story, "Tracing Borderland History on the Anza Trail," starting on Page 14. http://mazdigital.com/webreader/37653?page=14

Glenn Cook, a 1992 UA journalism grad, is the new managing editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A former senior editorial writer, he took over as interim editor in January as the newspaper transitioned under new owner Sheldon Adelson.

Ryan Revock (’14) was named 2015 community division photographer of the year by the North Carolina Press Association, then landed a new job with the Statesville Record & Landmark, a daily paper north of Charlotte. Ryan had worked at the Cherokee Scout in Murphy, N.C.

March 4

Kendal Blust, a grad student, wrote the cover story for the March 3 Tucson Weekly to help kick off a multimedia project, “Security 360°,” produced by professor Celeste González de Bustamante’s border reporting students at http://jourviz.com/security-360/. Alex Devoid, Taylor Nye, Hana Pape and Alicia Vega contributed to Blust’s story. Other students on the “Security 360° ” team were Sophie S. Alves, Amanda Burkey, Justin Campbell, Mónica Contreras, Carolina Espinoza, Alejandra Fisher, Ana Ilie, James Myers, Kristina Savage, Barbara Teso, Lia Vásquez and Madison Yuill. Also, Kedi Xia was the project designer. For more info: http://journalism.arizona.edu/security360

Elizabeth Eaton, an apprentice reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, had several stories pulished recently: “A Pie-experience to Remember” and “It is to be: Shakespeare's First Folio stops in Tucson” (Both E1, Sunday, Feb. 14) http://tucson.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/a-pie-experience-to-re… and http://tucson.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/shakespeare-s-first-fo… … and “Debate will make you laugh think (A3, Thursday, March 3) http://tucson.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/trump-vs-bernie-the-de…

Amanda Martinez, Julianne Stanford, Malena Larson and Corina Gallardo have done solid work as interns at Arizona Public Media. Martinez, an accelerated master's student, put together a recent radio story on children’s stories (https://news.azpm.org/…/82964-magic-box-turns-childrens-s…/… … ). Stanford has reported on numerous topics, including a December story on prescription drug and heroin use (www.azpm.org/s/35855-arizona-frontline-of-nationwide-drug-…/). Larson has appeared on AZPM Newsbreaks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRB_USi-wRU&feature=youtu.be), as has Gallardo (https://www.youtube.com/watch…)

February 2016

Feb. 26

Maggie Driver, a reporting apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, had an A1 story published on Feb. 18: Pueblo Vida brewery expansion stalls with surprise historic status — http://tucson.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/pueblo-vida-brewery-expansion-stalls-with-surprise-historic-status/article_0439499a-1245-5fe9-959f-d86b7fc99310.html

Alex McIntyre , an apprentice photographer at the Star, continued to see more work published, including:

Letters inventory Tucson's charms (C1, Feb. 14) http://tucson.com/news/local/falling-in-love-with-tucson/article_40fee3a3-c225-5a01-af71-b30ae114c191.html

2 of MLS's best open Desert Diamond Cup (B2, Feb. 17) http://tucson.com/sports/soccer/professional/two-of-mls-best-open-desert-diamond-cup/article_bfe315a4-002d-5966-a6ae-0cf15359ff32.html

Sporting KC, Columbus draw in Desert Diamond Cup opener (B1, Feb. 18) http://tucson.com/sports/soccer/professional/sporting-kc-columbus-draw-in-desert-diamond-cup-opener/article_a4da7a19-82ca-5d39-b3b4-4273738b9b22.html

Film to look at gunfight from views other than Earp’s (C1, Feb. 21) http://tucson.com/news/local/film-to-look-at-ok-corral-gunfight-from-viewpoints-besides/article_270eb1b6-d8db-5e2f-97e3-1816070e07e8.html Online gallery (16 photos): http://tucson.com/gallery/photos-audition-for-a-new-western/collection_06264315-b21d-5102-b0ab-c585d2296dc9.html#0

Fighting asthma with farm dust (C5, Feb. 21) http://tucson.com/news/science/environment/fighting-asthma-with-farm-dust/article_e7ab2014-8825-55ea-98a5-38e757a639f7.html

Tucson school's literary mag receives national recognition (E3, Feb. 21) http://tucson.com/lifestyles/families/tucson-school-s-literary-magazine-receives-national-recognition/article_cd76d289-a4c3-5993-9454-25437f8b802c.html )

Students get feel for manufacturing on program tours (A2, Feb. 20) http://tucson.com/news/local/education/vocational-students-get-real-world-view-of-manufacturing-jobs/article_33c38e3d-9e97-5276-a14f-e566cffe4177.html

He’s glad to be in the real deal (B1-2, Feb. 20) http://tucson.com/sports/soccer/former-local-poduct-glad-to-be-in-real-deal/article_7faab8b0-b79f-575c-bfd1-4137895aa7a7.html

Man arrested in homicide on Tucson's northwest side (online, Feb. 19) http://tucson.com/news/blogs/police-beat/man-arrested-in-homicide-on-tucson-s-northwest-side/article_0e99a8aa-d741-11e5-ae15-47af71a0c8da.html

Kendra Paige Hall ('15), a December grad, will start her journalism career as an investigative reporter for ABC7 television in Amarillo, Texas.

Kayla Samoy (’15) said she accepted her “first real reporting job” two weeks ago as a digital trends feature writer for The Arizona Republic.

Krista Schlyer, a 1997 J-school master’s grad, will talk about her new book, “Almost Anywhere,” about visiting 84 national parks and monuments, and 70 other state parks and sites at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 12 at 11:30 a.m. at the Student Union's Kachina Room. Sunday's Star had a profile on her: http://tucson.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/author-finds-solac…-

Feb. 12

Alex McIntyre , an apprentice photographer at the Arizona Daily Star, saw several of his photos published in the Star recently and sent to The Associated Press, including “Preparing for the season” and two others. On AP, all three images are at

http://www.apimages.com/search?query=*&allFilters=alex%20mcintyre and the specific image from the paper is at http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/MLS-Revolution-Whitecaps-Soccer/… . He also had these photos published:

http://tucson.com/sports/high-school/soccer/torres-hat-trick-powers-pue… and http://tucson.com/business/local/pga-tour-superstore-opens-in-tucson/ar… and http://tucson.com/business/local/teamsters-strike-against-us-foods-in-t… and

http://tucson.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/pima-county-supervisor-c…

Lance Madden ('10) became a revenue optimization executive at Republic Media in Phoenix this month after leaving RightThisMinute.

Nicole Santa Cruz ('09), who runs the Homicide Report blog for the Los Angeles Times (homicide.latimes.com), reported this week on the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old Compton girl as she lay in her crib. Another 2009 grad, Stephen Ceasar, is a reporter for the L.A. times, covering civil courts and crime.

Stephanie Casanova ('14) entered her second year as a copy editor at the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota.

Feb. 5

Andrew Paxton is working in design and copy editing at the Sierra Vista Herald. 

Gabrielle Ferreira (’15), who's been at the Indianapolis Star as a Pulliam Fellow, will move to The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California, as a breaking news reporter.

Hannah Palaniuk (’15) has been hired in a full-time position at KVOA-TV in Tucson, including the weekend producer slot.

Briana Sanchez (’15) is now photo editor at the Fergus Falls Daily Journal in Minnesota

Britain Eakin (’15) is a reporter at Courthouse News Service in Washington, D.C.

January 2016

Jan. 22

Images by 12 of Kim Newton’s former JOUR 203 students are on display on the hallway wall opposite of Newton’s office (327) as part of the Drew Gyorke Photojournalism Contest. The photos are by Andy Alvarado, Brenna Bailey, Ciara Biscoe, Cherie Cole (third place), Taylor Dayton, Hailey Freeman, Erik Kolsrud, Sally Lugo, Monica Milberg, Jordyn Owen, Tobey Schmidt (first) and Courtney Talak (second).

UA J-school alum Gary Crooks was named editorial page editor for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. Crooks, with the newspaper since 1997, began writing editorials and his “Smart Bombs” column in 2003. Follow him on Twitter @GaryCrooks

Jean McKnight-Guymon ('89), a teacher at Cienega High School in nearby Vail, received the 2015 Ed Eisele Excellence in Economics Education Award from the UA Eller College of Management Department of Economics, the Office of Economic Education and the Thomas R. Brown Foundation.

Freelance journalist and artist Mary Alice Kellogg ('70) had an art exhibit, "The Desert Reimagined," at the DeGrazia Gallery. Kellogg worked at Newsweek after J-school. Here is the link to a story by Johanna Willett ('13) of the Arizona Daily Star: http://tucson.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/new-york-artist-s-work-an-ode-to-the-desert/article_24aaf1d1-e673-5aca-b177-1a5faa7f291d.html

Sarah Kezele ('11) is leaving The Arizona Republic as a multimedia sports journalist and returning to the Bay Area to cover the West Coast Conference for Campus Insiders.

Jen Levario Cieslak ('02) joined the new enterprise design team of the Advance Local newspaper group, helping redesign papers such as the New Orleans Times-Picayune from her San Diego home.

Betsy Kaplan was hired as editorial director for Spoon University's UA outlet, after passing the editing test "with flying colors," according to aspoonuniversity.com staffer.

Jan. 8

“A Morning in Southeast Morocco,” an essay that recent graduate Christa Reynolds wrote for Travel Writing, appeared in the fall issue of The Blue Guitar Magazine: http://www.theblueguitarmagazine.org/resources/Blue+Guitar+Fall+2015_dr… arts and literary magazine is published by the Arizona Consortium for the Arts.

Arizona Daily Star apprentice Rebecca Noble, who saw some of her images published in the Star's "Best photos of 2015" online gallery, including a slow-motion shot of an actor firing a gun at a show at Trail Dust Town, a downpour at a high school football game and people enjoying the Winterhaven Festival of Lights. http://tucson.com/gallery/news/blogs/photo_blog/best-daily-star-photos-of/collection_90d4b440-ae5b-11e5-b08d-17834510fa94.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share#65

Glenn Cook, a 1992 J-school graduate and a senior editorial writer for The Las Vegas Review-Journal, will take over as interim editor of the newspaper as it transitions under new owner Sheldon Adelson. Review-Journal reporter Bethany Barnes, a 2013 grad, tweeted the news. 

Cameron Moon ('13) accepted a job at ESPN as a production assistant. He previously was a production assistant for the NFL Network. 

Andrew Cockrum ('13) is the new communications assistant for the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Triple-A team of the Colorado Rockies.

Robert Zucker ('77), a former J-school adjunct, donated four books he published to the school, including a three-volume set on local music from the 1950s to the 1990s, "Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades.”

Dec. 18, 2015

Sophomore Tobey Schmidt captured first place in the fall 2015 Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Photo Contest for her image of a rock climber on top of Mount Lemmon's Hitchcock Pinnacle. Sophomore Courtney Talak took second for her All Souls Procession photo and junior Cherie Cole was third with a UA volleyball shot in the contest, which had 12 finalists from professor Kim Newton’s JOUR 203 class. The 12 photos will grace the J-school wall next semester. See them at journalism.arizona.edu/gyorke/fall2015

Senior Jorge Encinas, an Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq, has been selected as the recipient of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Perseverance Award for fall 2015. He will be recognized at convocation on Dec. 19. The award recognizes a graduating senior who has persevered in the face of significant adversity.

Sophomore Erik Kolsrud won the Mark Finley Gold Pen Award after vying with 11 other 205 students in the fall 2015 beginning newswriting contest Dec. 3. Sophomore Brit Reid took second and senior Jordyn Owen  was third. Students had one hour to write a story after having a news conference with City Councilman Steve Kozachik. Judges were professor Susan Knight and adjunct instructor Sarah Garrecht Gassen. Go to journalism.arizona.edu/finley/list to see past winners.

Junior Emily Gauci saw her Arizona Athletics photo of basketball player Ryan Anderson published in the Sports Illustrated college preview section last month.

Alicia Vega, David McGlothlin and Kethia Kong compiled and designed a two-page Tombstone Epitaph graphic on 100 years of Arizona’s immigration policies for professor Terry Wimmer’s JOUR 490 class.

Nov. 27, 2015

David McGlothlin is the new winner of the school’s prestigious Don Bolles Fellowship and will cover the state Legislature during the 2016 spring semester. McGlothlin is a senior who plans to bolster his coverage through social media to reach more readers. He replaces David J. Del Grande, who declined because of other obligations.

Julianne Stanford was a winner in the University of Arizona’s 2015 Study Abroad Photo Contest.  Stanford’s  photo placed first in the “Where’s Your Classroom” category and comes with a $200 travel voucher. In addition, two other journalism students were one of 44 finalists in this year’s contest, Elizabeth Eaton and Alex Mcintyre.  Professor Kim Newton was a judge in this year’s contest.

Pre-med student Patrick O'Connor's infographic for Environmental Journalism is up for an award in a competition called the Vizzies, which is a collaboration between the National Science Foundation and Popular Science. There’s also a people’s choice award where anyone can vote for Patrick’s infographic:http://review.wizehive.com/voting/view/nsfvizziesgallery/27427/3108742/0

Alexa Portillo, an apprentice sports reporter at the Arizona Daily Star, has had multiple stories published this semester, including http://tucson.com/sports/football/high-school-and-prep/late-score-pushe…

Oct. 26, 2015

At least nine Journalism students contributed to a 10-page special edition on gun violence in The Daily Wildcat. Jessie Webster (editor-in-chief), Christianna Silva, Lauren Renteria, Ava Garcia, Michelle Jaquette, Elisabeth Morales, Chastity Laskey, Brandi Walker and Andy Alvarado, Jesus Barrera, Rebecca Noble, Sydney Richardson and Alex McIntyre contributed to the Oct. 28-29 broadsheet, which included editorials, updates on gun laws and interviews with local officials.

David J. Del Grande had three more stories published in the Arizona Daily Star: Oct. 10, “Veteran found calling after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor” http://tucson.com/news/local/veteran-found-his-calling-after-attack-on-… and Oct. 24, “Spoken Futures, for youth, moves into La Pilita” http://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-poetry-socia-justice-group-moves-to… and Oct. 29, “Veteran keeps service commitment through disaster relief work”; http://tucson.com/news/local/veteran-keeps-service-commitment-through-d…

Amanda Martinez, Karen Lizarraga, Maxie Ruan, Lauren Renteria, Elisabeth Morales, Josh Morales and others from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Native American Journalists Association made a Day of the Dead altar to honor the late AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus at her photo exhibit reception Oct. 22 at the Student Union Gallery. Zenger Award winner Kathy Gannon thanked the students in her acceptance speech.

Anissa Tanweer, a UA master’s graduate and a doctoral student at University of Washington, presented her research about big data at the Association of Internet Research conference Oct. 21-24 in Phoenix.

Cathy Rosenberg’s article on desert bighorn sheep appeared in the Arizona Daily Star: http://tucson.com/news/local/why-the-desert-bighorn-sheep-crossed-the-r…, a recent grad, wrote this article as part of her master’s project.

Oct. 12, 2015

Two of Susan Swanberg’s science journalism students had stories published. John Palting, an entomology Ph.D. candidate at the UA, wrote about the study of immortality for the Arizona Daily Star on Oct. 16 —  http://tucson.com/news/local/immortality-lecture-who-says-the-afterlife… … and Emma Reed, a geosciences grad student, wrote about the same subject in the October 2015 issue of Tucson’s arts and culture magazine, Zocalo: “How we live forever.” (page 28) http://issuu.com/zocalomagazine/docs/zocalo_magazine_october_2015

Derek Evans (’14) captured two awards from Arizona Newspapers Association in the under 3,500 circulation category while working for the Verde Independent in Cottonwood: first place for a story about the start of Little League season in Verde Valley, and third place for sports team beat coverage of Mingus High School football. He left Arizona and now works for the Leader News near Castroville, Texas.

Oct. 5, 2015

Sophomore David J. Del Grande published several stories as an apprentice for the Arizona Daily Star: "New partnership takes over Tucson public-access broadcasts," A2, Sept. 14, http://tucson.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/new-partnership-takes-ov… and “Bus strike leaves many riders with few options,” A2, Sept. 3, http://tucson.com/news/local/bus-strike-leaves-many-riders-with-few-options/article_29badc20-02e9-58b1-93f2-853aaaa1aff9.html#utm_source=tucson&utm_campaign=most-popular-tabs-2&utm_medium=direct

Grad student Hannah Gaber covered a news conference in Egypt and wrote a story for the Star on Nicholas Reeves, a British archaeologist and ex-UA resident scholar whose theory that Queen Nefertiti’s final resting place is behind the walls of King Tut’s tomb is making headlines. The link to the story is http://tucson.com/news/local/education/college/ex-ua-scholar-tut-s-tomb…

Star features apprentice Callie R Kittredge wrote: “Community Player's launch second season in new home,” Caliente, Sept. 23, http://tucson.com/entertainment/community-players-launch-second-season-… “'Annie' Makes a stop,” Caliente, Sept. 23, http://tucson.com/entertainment/annie-makes-a-stop-at-centennial-hall/a… and “Let the scares begin,” Sept. 30, http://tucson.com/entertainment/

outdoors/let-the-scares-begin/article_f538a7a5-89b6-54c7-b490-5f454ce22ef1.html

Star apprentice photographer Rebecca Noble compiled an online gallery on Sept. 4 for the Mountain View-Scottsdale Horizon football game http://tucson.com/gallery/sports/football/high-school-and-prep/photos-m… and saw her Sam Lena Library photo be the A1 dominant art on Sept. 19 http://tucson.com/news/local/south-tucson-agrees-to-sell-library-to-cou…; and did an online photo profile of a swimmer on Sept. 8 http://tucson.com/sports/high-school/swimming/swimming-no-floundering-f… Noble also published photos of a UA volleyball game vs. Texas, Sept. 18, http://tucson.com/sports/hansen-rubio-cats-holding-their-own-in-loaded-… and had an A2 spread on work at a veteran’s home, Sept. 25, http://tucson.com/volunteers-work-on-veteran-s-home/article_33bb9338-a4…

Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Bethany Barnes ('13) was named a Journalist of Merit at the Nevada Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest. She also took third place in investigative/in-depth reporting. 

Stewart McClintic ('14), a Silver City (N.M.) Daily Press reporter, grabbed two awards at New Mexico's Better Newspaper contest in Albuquerque. He won in education writing for a story about contentious school board meetings and for a feature photo on cup stacking.

Alum Noelle Haro-Gomez (’15) accepted a staff photographer position at the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pa., the newspaper where she did her paid internship as a Chips Quinn Scholar.

Steve Elliott ('87) left ASU to join the public relations team at the Arizona Department of Transportation after nine years of being the digital news director for the Cronkite News Service.

The award-winning short film, “Donnie,” by master’s grad Anna Augustowska ('14), was the cover story in the Oct.8 Tucson Weekly and will be shown Oct. 16 at The Screening Room and Oct. 23 at The Loft Cinema.

Cathy Rosenberg (’15) published another story as part of her master’s project: “Back from the Brink: The Future of the California Condor,” on the Tucson Audubon Society website http://tucsonaudubon.org/condor

Alexis Bechman ('08) was named the non-daily Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Newspapers Association. Bechman, of the Payson Roundup, and UA grads Joe Ferguson ('06) and Caitlin Schmidt ('14) of the Arizona Daily Star also received Arizona Freedom of Information awards from ANA and the Society of Professional Journalists, and retired Star journalist Joe Burchell ('76) won the SPJ career award. Ferguson and Schmidt also won SPJ First Amendment awards and J-school Director Dave Cuillier received a Sunshine Award. Bechman and eight other UA grads won individual ANA Better Newspaper awards: Bill Coates ('78), Mike Christy ('11), Jeremy Duda ('02), Adam Gaub ('06), Rodney Haas ('10), Curt Prendergast ('11), Dan Shearer ('85) and Maria Ines Taracena ('12). Go to http://journalism.arizona.edu/news/2015-ana-awards to see the list.

Sept. 28, 2015

Two J-school students helped make the Sept. 26 “With Conviction” workshop at the law college a success, Dr. Susan Swanberg said. David McGlothlin, who was awarded a “With Conviction” fellowship, handled the workshop's social media presence. Rebecca Noble provided excellent photography for the sessions and contributed to the nearly 20 Facebook posts during the event.

Cathy Rosenberg, a May graduate of our master’s program, published a story in the Arizona Daily Star on the reintroduction of Chiricahua leopard frogs in Arizona: http://tucson.com/news/science/environment/how-to-defend-leopard-frogs-… wrote this story as part of her master’s professional project.

Sept. 7, 2015

Pre-med student Patrick O’Connor received a NASA Space Grant Internship and will be working with Tom Beal at the Arizona Daily Star. Patrick has taken several journalism classes and is the science editor at the Arizona Daily Wildcat this semester.

David J. Del Grande, an apprentice at the Arizona Daily Star, published a story, “Bus strike leaves many riders with few options,” on Sept. 3 in the Star. Here’s the link: http://tucson.com/news/local/article_29badc20-02e9-58b1-93f2-853aaaa1aff9.html

Aug. 31, 2015

Images by former Jour 203 students are on display in the hallway, part of the Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund Photojournalist Contest coordinated by Professor Kim Newton. Baraha Elkhalil won the contest with her tattoo shop image. Jordan Glenn took second and Joshua Rojas third. Other student finalists were: Mihdi Afnan, Sergio Calderon, Maritza Dominguez, Meryl Engle, JaKyle Kochevar, Jaime Lobel, Alex McIntyre, Reina Morrison and Nicholas Quihuis. Brandi Walker's photo also is hanging on the wall. Click here to see all the photos.

Aug. 17, 2015

Graduate student Ary Hermawan, a Fullbrighter from Southeast Asia, received a $2,000 grant from the Institute of International Education to help fund the research for his thesis on the coverage of the 2014 Indionesian presidential election.

Aug. 10, 2015

Jesús Barrera recently published an article in the Tico Times News titled, “Toasting with turtle eggs: It’s legal in Ostional.” Barrera is a Journalism student who participated in a Study Abroad class in Costa Rica this summer with Prof. Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante.  http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/08/08/toasting-with-turtle-eggs-its-legal…

July 27, 2015

Alexa Morelli, an undergraduate student at the j-school recently published an article in the Odyssey titled, “What I Learned Being the Daughter Of Police Officers.” The Odyssey is a student based publication run by the Olympia Media Group.

Kendal Blust recently published an article in the Tico Times News titled, “Protecting life in Ostional: The survival of 2 species.” Blust is a Journalism graduate student who participated in a Study Abroad class in Costa Rica this summer with Prof. Celeste Gonzalez de Bustamante. 

July 20, 2015

Scientific Tucsonan magazine, produced by Carol Schwalbe’s Science Journalism class, received an honorable mention in the online magazine category of the AEJMC Magazine Division's 2015 contest.

Cathy Rosenberg, who received her master’s degree in May, wrote four long-form articles as part of her professional project. One of the stories—on the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf—is the cover story of the Tucson Weekly: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/of-men-and-wolves/Content?oid=5643889

Maria Ines Taracena, (May 2012), a staff writer at the Tucson Weekly, wrote the cover story about Sister José's Women's Center for the July 16-22 edition: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/dignity/Content?oid=5546437

June 1, 2015

Graduate student Kendal Blust's research paper titled, "What's in a name? The renewal of development journalism in the 21st century,” was accepted in the International Communication Division for presentation at the AEJMC conference in San Francisco.

May 11, 2015

Graduate student Britain Eakin, who is graduating with a dual master's degree in journalism and Middle East and North African Studies, had her research paper accepted for the AEJMC conference in San Francisco. The paper, which is titled "Permission to Narrate? Palestinian Perspectives in U.S. Media Coverage of Operation Cast Lead," was accepted in the International Communication Division. The paper is from her thesis research. Jeannine Relly and Maha Nassar were  co-chairs of her committee. Leila Hudson was the third committee member.

Undergraduate and graduate students in the Survey of Research Methods course this semester designed and conducted a focus group with representatives from local news outlets that aimed to study perceptions of content, interactivity, and delivery of Arizona Sonora News. The students transcribed the audio from the focus group. And undergraduates in the class produced an executive summary for the news service that offered key findings.  One graduate student in the class used the findings from the focus group to develop a questionnaire aimed at ascertaining news organizations' use of ASN and areas of interest. The survey was sent out by email to representatives from news outlets throughout the state. Other students in the class developed a questionnaire focused on potential student perceptions of diversity and inclusivity in the School of Journalism. The questionnaire will be sent out in the next week on the student listservs.

Hannah Gaber was awarded a scholarship by the Arizona Press Club.

Cathy Rosenberg, M.A. professional option, defended her project, “Home Bittersweet Home: Restoring Species to Their Historical Habitat,” on Monday, May 4.

Christa Reynolds, dual degree, LAS and Journalism, defended her thesis, “Illegal Children': Metaphors and Terminology Used in Newspaper Coverage of Central American Minors during Summer 2014,” on Wednesday, May 6.

Jacquelyn Abad, M.A. international studies option, defended her project, “We Are Hir: Moving Toward Transgender Equality at the University of Arizona,” on Friday, May 8. 

Shahrazad Encinias, dual degree, LAS and Journalism, defended her thesis, "Freedom of Expression in Guatemala," on Friday, May 8.

Congratulations to Patrick O’Connor, whose Arizona Sonora News Service story on “Research keys on building stockpiles of organs” won the Arizona Press Club college feature story category. A judge wrote: “Patrick wrote a nice lede, followed up with vivid descriptions of both and scientific interest in a profile that justified its existence, which seems rare in college journalism. The writing is clear and confident, but not cocky. This wouldn’t have needed much work to appear in a regional newspaper. Very well done.” Patrick is a pre-med junior who wrote the story for Science Journalism.

A number of people connected to the School of Journalism won Arizona Press Club awards. For a complete list, go to: http://azpressclub.org/2014-writingdesign-winners/

April 20, 2015

Amer Taleb was recently named a Humanity in Action Fellow, and will be spending five weeks in Paris and Amsterdam shortly after graduation. Taleb was also recently named a Fulbright Scholar, and will be working in Turkey as an English Teaching Assistant beginning in October.

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild spoke to 13 205 students in the Finley Beginning Newswriting Competition held Monday evening. He spoke about water, conservation and preparations for the future, and answered students' questions in a press conference-style forum. 

The students, who were nominated by their 205 instructors, had one hour  on to write and polish a news story from Steele's talk. The winners, who will receive scholarships, are:

First-place: Brandi Walker

Second-place: Brandon James

Third-place: Alyssa Schlitzer

April 6, 2015

Two University of Arizona dual degree journalism and Latin American Studies graduate students presented on the panel titled "Threats on the ground and online: Media by and about Latin Americans" at the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies 62nd Annual Meeting in Tucson. Shahrazad Encinias presented research titled "Journalists in Guatemala: Living and working under the threat of violence." Christa Reynolds presented her research titled, "Illegal kids: A study of U.S. newspaper coverage of young migrants from Latin America."

March 23, 2015

The USO (United Service Organizations) has named Paul G. Allvin, UA School of Journalism alum, the new Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications. Allvin will lead all aspects of the USO Marketing and Communications Department, including strategic and entertainment marketing, brand and creative services, web and digital marketing, special events, story development, publications and public relations. See more at: http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/03/24/718204/10126109/en/USO-Welcomes-Paul-G-Allvin-as-New-Senior-Vice-President-of-Marketing-and-Communications.html#sthash.AgCltxHr.dpuf

Madison Brodsky and Kristine Bruun-Andersen traveled to Los Angeles on March 10-13 to cover LA Fashion Week: The Truth Behind The Glamour. See additional information about Brodsky’s and Bruun-Andersen’s coverage and interviews at: http://madisonbrodsky.com

Katherine E. Carroll, 2013 UA School of Journalism alumna, was recently hired as a production assistant at ABC World News Tonight with David Muir in New York City.

UA journalism student and NAHJ student chapter president Amanda Martinez was on Team No Timely Response, which took the $2000 grand prize at last weekend’s Arizona Migrahack conference on immigration. The team used local traffic stop data gathered by reporters from the Arizona Daily Star to create an interactive game that puts the user “in the shoes” of local law enforcement, giving them a chance to see how local police deal with issues of immigration status during traffic stops.

March 16, 2015

Mariana Dale, who graduated in December 2014, is now an Online Reporter at Arizona Public Media.

March 9, 2015

The School of Journalism have placed in three categories of the 2015 Region 11 Mark of Excellence regional awards. They include:

• Mariana Dale for Young Musicians Prepare for World Series of High School Bands for AZPM Public Media. Dale, who graduated in December, is now an Arizona Daily Star reporter.
• Patrick O’Connor for Research keys on building stockpiles of organs for Arizona Sonora News Service. 
• Scientific Tucsonan for student publication.

Winners will learn if they placed first, second or third at the Region 11 Spring Conference April 17-18 at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, CA.

March 2, 2015

Former Arizona Wildcat and School of Journalism grad Kenzie Fowler joins Pac-12 Networks as an on-air softball analyst.

For additional information about Fowler, go to: http://pac-12.com/article/2015/03/03/softball-returns-pac-12-networks-march-10

UA School of Journalism alumna Betsy Bolding was honored at the Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17, with a proclamation marking March 1 as “Betsy Bolding Day” in Pima County. This recognition was also in honor of her upcoming retirement after more than 20 years at Tucson Electric Power. See additional information about Bolding’s recognition ceremony at http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-skinny/Content?oid=4925059

Feb. 16, 2015

Justin Sayers’ article on how former football players live with concussions ran as the cover story of the Tucson Weekly (Feb. 19-25): http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/banged-up/Content?oid=4921661 Sayers, a master’s student, wrote the story for Science Journalism.

Feb. 9, 2015

Images by 11 former Jour 203 students are on display in the hallway of the Journalism School. Included are the winning images from the Drew Gyorke Memorial Fund contest. Professor Kim Newton coordinates the contest and display.

Student photographers are: Brittan Bates, Kristine Bruun-Andersen, Skyler Brandt, Tanner Clinch, Natalie D'Anna, Annie Dickman, Emily Gauci, Lauren Jacobson, Karen Lizarraga, Tessa Patterson and Ashley Summerset.

Feb. 2, 2015

Mark Armao landed a summer internship with the Wall Street Journal in New York.

Kudos to the 50 journalism and pre-journalism students who attended the info session/meet-and-greet with NBC Universal recruiters Nadine Selim (East Coast) and Miriam Ortiz (West Coast) Feb. 3. The recruiters were here to introduce the NBC Universal internship program and interview students. They visited the following classes: Principles of Journalism, Advanced Multimedia, Beginning Reporting and Television Production, Cat's Eye, and Media Apprenticeship. Briana Sanchez was hired by SBS to document the events, and internship coordinator Lisa Button initiated and organized the visit.

The National Association of Science Writers awarded the School of Journalism $13,000 to fund the workshop “With Conviction: Reporting on Science in the Courtroom” in fall 2015. Susan Swanberg, a recent graduate of our master's program, wrote the grant proposal.

Arizona Daily Star stories by the apprentices:

Tim Towle

Sports

Phoenix team captures Shootout title in first season(online)

http://tucson.com/sports/soccer/phoenix-team-captures-shootout-title-in-first-season/article_382712bf-f4de-5192-8aad-776e68ac3dd7.html

01/18/15

Kianna Gardner

Caliente- Feature

Music, Food Welcome New Year (print)

Music, game, food bring in Chinese New Year (online)

http://tucson.com/entertainment/music-game-food-bring-in-chinese-new-year/article_5d8836ed-3b0b-52da-a483-1b3613570f1a.html

Jan. 26, 2015

Two articles by graduate student Kendal Blust appeared in the January/February 2015 issue of TailWinds magazine: http://issuu.com/tailwindsweb/docs/tailwindsjanfeb15-web

Alumni Mariana Dale and Drew McCullough visited the media apprenticeship class Jan. 21 to give students tips on how to succeed in the class and the apprenticeship at the Arizona Daily Star. Dale and McCullough were both apprentices during their time at the UA and now are full-time employees at the Star.

Jan. 19, 2015

Melissa Guz has been selected to participate in the Talent Development Program, a nationally competitive program offered by Gannett. She received training in Virginia for a few days this month, and started as a producer at KPNX in Phoenix on Monday, Jan. 19. After six months there, she will be assigned to the newsroom for the remainder of the program. Melissa graduated in May 2012 with a B.A. and also in Dec. 2013 with an M.A. She was one of the first Accelerated Master’s Program students.

Jan. 12, 2015

Noelle Haro-Gomez and Kayla Samoy have been selected to participate in the 2015 New York Times Student Journalism Institute. The 2015 institute is being held May 16 to 31 at the University of Arizona School of Journalism. During the institute, students will work alongside reporters and editors from The New York Times and cover real-world events in Tucson and along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Jessica Schrecker has been selected to participate in the Talent Development Program, a nationally competitive program offered by Gannett. She will receive training in Virginia for a few days in January, and then will start a producer position at KPNX in Phoenix on Jan. 19. After six months there, she will be assigned to the newsroom for the remainder of the program. Halfway through the training program Jessica will "start controlling the morning show (4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.) for practice." Jessica is only the second graduate of the UA School of Journalism to be chosen for the prestigious TDP. She follows in the footsteps of Emi Komiya.