The Dallas Morning News Partners with the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin to Create Professional Fellowship

AUSTIN, Texas — Dec. 10, 2013 — The Dallas Morning News and the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin's Moody College of Communication have created an annual Fellowship in Professional Journalism for Morning News journalists. The first sabbatical will begin in the fall of 2014 and run through the end of the academic year in the spring of 2015.

"We believe this fellowship will provide our journalists with a chance to expand their specialized capabilities and help train a new generation of professionals," said Bob Mong, editor of The Dallas Morning News.

During the fall semester of 2014, the selected Morning News fellow will contribute expertise and editing skills to Reporting Texas (the university's student-generated news website), hold office hours, visit classes at the request of professors and advise students. In the spring semester of 2015, the fellow will teach one course in the journalist's field of expertise. During both semesters, the fellow will be free to audit courses with the permission of the instructor and conduct research.

"We're delighted to have another wonderful collaborative opportunity with our partners at The Dallas Morning News," said Glenn Frankel, director of the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. "Our school works to constantly innovate and find new ways to help our students learn to do professional-quality work. Having a veteran professional journalist on site for the entire year as a teacher, editor and mentor will be an extraordinary asset not just for students, but for our faculty as well."

The professional journalism fellowship is the latest cooperative effort between the university and the Morning News. Earlier this year the Morning News announced the creation of student fellowships at the paper's Austin and Washington bureaus. As a result, Morning News reporter, Ed Timms, and Professor Bill Minutaglio are working together to teach an investigative reporting class, and in May their collaboration resulted in a major front-page package of stories on racial divisions in Texas public schools. Additionally, Austin bureau chief, Christy Hoppe, is working with professors Tracy Dahlby and Rusty Todd to provide counsel and guidance for Reporting Texas. This partnership has produced a half dozen stories published jointly in the Morning News and Reporting Texas, including a front page article.

About The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication

One of the nation's foremost institutions for the study of advertising and public relations, communication sciences and disorders, communication studies, journalism and radio-TV-film, The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication is preparing students to thrive in an era of media convergence. Serving more than 4,700 undergraduate and graduate students, the Moody College is nationally recognized for its faculty members, research and student media. For more information about the Moody College of Communication, visit www.moody.utexas.edu.

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Contacts: Laura Byerley, (512) 592-9994; Glenn Frankel, (512) 471-1845.