Chris Waddle, a veteran editor at The Anniston Star, is trading his position of vice president of news at Consolidated Publishing to direct the Knight Community Journalism Fellows Program at the University of Alabama.E. Culpepper Clark, dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences, announced the appointment Tuesday, effective immediately.
Knight community journalism fellows will receive the university’s journalism Master of Arts for study over 12 months inside The Star. A Web site, journal, annual national conference and subsidized placement of graduates will complement and enhance the program’s aspirations for community journalism.
"The idea is to reinforce the journalistic role of being a constant and intimate community member in a changing and increasingly impersonal profession," Waddle said.
H. Brandt Ayers, chairman and publisher of The Star, said Waddle was the best person to lead this ground-breaking program.
"Chris has known this trailblazing program since it was a germ of an idea," Ayers said. "He brings to the job the authority of deep learning matched with a sympathetic understanding of the community’s values, strengths and foibles."
Star Executive Editor Troy Turner and Editorial Page Editor Bob Davis will serve as members of the board of directors of the Ayers Institute.
"It makes sure that the head and the heart of the paper are embedded in the institute forever," Ayers said.
Clark said he is excited about the new path being laid by the institution and the opportunity to work with Waddle and The Star.
"Our goal is to establish a model for improving journalism education in such a way as to bring vitality and excitement to a field essential to healthy democracies," Clark said. "Chris Waddle is the ideal person for this tall order."
Waddle, who continues his job as president of the Ayers Institute, recently completed a Nieman Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University. He taught in Europe as a Fulbright Professor and at the University of South Florida as Clendinen Professor. His professional career spans six newspapers, including The Kansas City Times, which won two Pulitzer Prizes while he was managing editor.
Waddle holds degrees from Birmingham-Southern College and Columbia University. His appointment as director of the Knight Community Journalism Fellows Program is accompanied by an appointment to Alabama’s journalism faculty. The National Communication Association recently ranked Alabama’s doctoral program seventh in the nation.
Ayers first proposed a partnership with the University of Alabama in 2001 with three goals in mind: Improving American journalism through a community-minded approach, enhancing journalism education in partnership with the college and ensuring continuation of The Star as an independent community voice.
The university began extended discussions with The Star to determine how the two could operate cooperatively. The Ayers Institute was incorporated and granted tax exemption as an educational organization by serving as a platform for the proposed partnership.
Partnership discussions ensued with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for a grant focused on an Anniston-based master’s degree program in community journalism — the first such program offered in the United States. A $1.5 million grant was awarded to the university for the program at Consolidated’s corporate campus of The Star.
"Chris can make the teaching newspaper work. He’ll combine the fine wine of academia and the fresh fish of news into an extraordinary meal for a group of lucky students," said Eric Newton, director of journalism programs at the Knight Foundation. "We expect this program to produce graduates who want to make a career out of community journalism, which is, after all, the most prolific form of journalism in America."
The initial class of students will begin the curriculum in the fall of 2006.
Investment in the program by the Consolidated Publishing (The Star’s parent company), the University of Alabama and the Knight Foundation will total $2.75 million over the teaching newspaper’s first five years.
Alabama’s faculty will design the curriculum and teach the courses, supplemented by staff from The Star and guest faculty.
