Athens, Ga. – Twelve undergraduate and graduate students have been named McGill Fellows by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
They were selected by a faculty committee “for their strengths in academics, practical experience and leadership,” said John F. Greenman, Carter Professor of Journalism, who chaired the committee.
The McGill Fellows, their years, majors and hometowns are:
• Ben Bolton, senior, digital and broadcast journalism, Savannah
• Lindsey Cook, senior, journalism, Duluth
• Shanda Crowe, senior, journalism, Chatsworth
• Meredith Dean, senior, digital and broadcast journalism, Alpharetta
• Kelsi Eccles, senior, journalism, Atlanta
• Megan Ernst, junior, journalism, Sandy Springs
• Tia Lynn Lecorchick, senior, journalism, New Brunswick, N.J.
• Jodi Murphy, graduate student, health and medical journalism, Stockbridge
• Alfred Jeffrey McNair, senior, digital and broadcast journalism, LaGrange
• Ana Porras, senior, mass media arts, Murrayville
• Alicia Smith, graduate student, health and medical journalism, Blacksburg, S.C.
• Nicholas Watson, senior, journalism, Chamblee
The McGill Fellows will participate in the McGill Symposium, which brings together students, faculty and leading journalists to consider what journalistic courage means and how it is exemplified by reporters and editors. The McGill Symposium will be held Oct. 8 from 2:30-5 p.m. and Oct. 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 238 of the Journalism Building.
The McGill Fellows will attend the event and be introduced at the McGill Lecture, which will be held at 4 p.m. in Room 250 of the Miller Learning Center. Christine Brennan, sports columnist for USA Today, will be the featured speaker.
The McGill Fellows will help select the sixth recipient of the McGill Medal, awarded annually to a U.S. journalist whose career has exemplified journalistic courage.
Also, the McGill Fellows will have first priority to enroll in a one-hour, independent study on journalistic courage, to be taught by Greenman spring semester.
This is the seventh class of McGill Fellows. The first class was selected in 2007.
Joining Greenman on the selection committee were Grady faculty Janice Hume, Chris Shumway, Mark Johnson, Cynthia Tucker and Patricia Thomas.
For more than 30 years, the McGill Lecture has brought significant figures in journalism to the UGA to honor Ralph McGill’s courage as an editor.
McGill, while editor and publisher of The Atlanta Constitution, was regarded as the “conscience of the south,” using the newspaper’s editorial pages to challenge segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. McGill was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for “long, courageous and effective leadership.”
Established in 1978, this UGA annual lecture series addresses major issues impacting the American press.
The McGill Symposium is funded by the McGill Lecture Endowment.
UGA Grady College
Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in journalism, advertising, public relations, digital and broadcast journalism and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.