Welcome to Journalism and Digital Media at St. Edwards’s University. I am Associate Professor of Journalism and Digital Media, Faculty Adviser to Hilltop Views, and Coordinator of the Journalism and Digital Media program.

My approach to teaching Journalism and Digital Media is simple: While digital technology is revolutionizing the way we practice journalism, there is no replacement for thoughtful, accurate and ethical reporting and writing.  At St. Edward’s, we teach students the skills they need to excel in newsrooms, always marrying those skills with what students are learning in the classroom. We offer Journalism specializations in our Communication and English Writing and Rhetoric majors and a Journalism Minor for students in other fields, such as Political Science, Education and Religious Studies. We are a small program, but mighty. We bring students face-to-face with practicing journalists. We encourage our students to take a global perspective and we believe that thoughtful, engaged news consumers and producers become true citizens of the world.

Our students have won internships in newsrooms from The Texas Tribune, in Austin,  to Gannett’s Washington, D.C. bureau. They have won reporting and writing positions at the Austin American-Statesman and the Dallas Morning News, among other publications. Editors at Hilltop Views have won acceptance to the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, among others. They have gone on to earn graduate degrees at the City University of New York’s (CUNY) multimedia graduate journalism program and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

Before joining the St. Edward’s faculty in 2008, I spent two decades as a reporter and editor at the Anniston Star, the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), the News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) and the Austin American-Statesman, where I spent more than a year as a member of the traveling press corps covering the 2000 George W. Bush campaign. As Washington Correspondent,  I covered the White House, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and a host of political and policy issues. Later, as an Assistant Metro Editor, I supervised education and social services coverage at the Austin American-Statesman and coordinated and edited a major data project on police use of force in Austin. At the San Antonio Express-News, I served as Night City Editor and Education Editor, supervising a team of five reporters covering secondary and higher education.

I received a master’s degree in Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English from Smith College.

I’m always happy to answer questions about our program. Please feel free to contact me at jenaheath@stedwards.edu.