Faculty Work

Z. Smith Reynolds Library and Journalism Program Faculty Discuss Threat of Mis/Disinformation with Alumni

Posted on April 25, 2024

Original blog post written by Hu Womack and Roz Tedford. It had been four years since we last visited Wake Washington. That visit to present and discuss mis/disinformation happened just weeks before COVID-19, and we promised not to be harbingers of disaster this time! Just to make sure, we changed our topic to “Election Mis/Disinformation: How to Spot it, why it’s Effective, and What We Can Do to Avoid It.” Twenty WFU Alumni and friends joined us on a beautifulRead More→

New York Times Publishes Journalism Professor Phoebe Zerwick’s Piece on Deathbed Visions

Posted on April 1, 2024

Professor Phoebe Zerwick’s article, “What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living,” was published by the New York Times in mid-March. The piece, which describes hospice physician Chris Kerr’s personal and professional encounters with deathbed visions along with Prof. Zerwick’s own encounter with the phenomenon during her mother’s final moments, has drawn wide engagement since publication, with around 1,400 commenters sharing their own experiences with deathbed visions and what they learned from them. To read Prof. Zerwick’s article, please click here.Read More→

Prof. Phoebe Zerwick’s book, Beyond Innocence, selected for 2024 North Carolina Reads

Posted on February 12, 2024

Journalism Director Phoebe Zerwick’s Beyond Innocence, The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt, by Jornalism director, is this month’s section for the NC Humanities Council statewide book club NC Reads. Register here for a zoom discussion Feb. 27.

Reflections on Returning to the Classroom

Posted on November 21, 2023

The following reflection was composed by Journalism Program Adjunct Professor Michael Venutolo-Mantovani, who joined the Journalism faculty this fall to teach JOU 270: Introduction to Journalism. It’s a hard class to teach but mostly because of timing. Two-and-a-half-hours at 9:30 on Tuesday mornings. For 19- and 20-year-old college freshmen and sophomores, that’s a marathon. Credit to the department, though, who took into consideration my long commute from Chapel Hill and respected the fact that I didn’t want to drive threeRead More→

Recent Story Published in Mongabay by Prof. Justin Catanoso explores connection between faith communities and climate action

Posted on November 3, 2023

Among the issues Professor Catanoso covers for Mongabay, an international environmental news agency, is the connection between faith communities and climate action. In a recent story, Catanoso interviews religious activists, policy makers and theologians to assess the potential impact of a new declaration by Pope Francis in defense of the planet in advance of the 28th United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.To read the full story and learn more, please click here: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/ahead-of-cop28-pope-spurs-policymakers-faith-leaders-to-push-climate-action/.

Prof. Yeoman Publishes Article “Judgment Day” in The Assembly

Posted on October 25, 2023

Journalism Program adjunct professor Barry Yeoman recently published an article in The Assembly titled “Judgment Day.” The article sheds light on the work of Sally Greene, an attorney who spent 23 years uncovering how a once-celebrated N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice, Thomas Ruffin, condoned the brutal treatment of enslaved workers in a decision called State v. Mann. Ruffin himself had a financial investment in the slave-trafficking industry. To read the full article, please click here.

Journalism Program Alumna Meagan Marks (’23) Published in Triad City Beat

Posted on October 12, 2023

Meagan Marks (’23), who graduated in May, had a September cover story published in Triad City Beat about the Athenas, an all-female weightlifting group on Wake Forest’s campus. The story originated in adjunct instructor Jeremy Markovich’s magazine writing course (JOU 340) during the Spring 2023 semester, and Marks and Markovich worked together afterward to find a home for it in print. Marks, who earned a B.A. in psychology and minored in neuroscience and journalism, is currently a Post-baccalaureate Research FellowRead More→

Journalism Program Adjunct Lisa Sorg Wins Two Green Eyeshade Awards

Posted on August 10, 2023

Coverage of the catastrophic 2022 Weaver Fertilizer fire in Winston-Salem earned Prof. Lisa Sorg–a Journalism Program adjunct faculty teaching Introduction to Journalism this fall–first-place honors in deadline reporting at the Green Eyeshade Awards. Sorg is an environmental investigative reporter at NC Newsline, a digital nonprofit newsroom based in Raleigh. She covers environmental issues statewide. Her series of stories examined the environmental justice issues facing the neighborhoods near the plant, where 6,000 residents were evacuated. The articles also examined the legalRead More→

WFU-Mellon 2023 Summer Environmental and Epistemic Justice Institute

Posted on July 18, 2023

Five early-to-mid career journalists spent the last week of June on campus for the inaugural class of the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Summer Institute. Led by Melba Newsome, an adjunct instructor in the Journalism Program, the week-long series of workshops provided fellows with feedback from editors from Undark and The Knight Science Journalism program at MIT, and High Country News. Adjunct instructor Lisa Sorg, a reporter NC Newsline, also led a workshop. Here’s a link for more information about the Institute, including a video.

Prof. Barry Yeoman’s Story on Louisiana Tribe’s Fight Against Climate Change Published in Harvard Public Health Magazine

Posted on May 23, 2023

Journalism adjunct professor Barry Yeoman’s story “Reclamation Project” was published in Harvard Public Health Magazine on May 19, 2023. It’s about Devon Parfait, the 25-year-old chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, who is working to prevent coastal land loss on the Louisiana Gulf Coast from harming his tribe. “I’ve been covering Native American tribes in Louisiana since the 2010 BP oil spill, and feel compelled to continue writing about them, because they are at the front linesRead More→

Journalism Program

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