Bridging Classrooms and Newsrooms: Teaching Special Projects Through Professional Partnerships

This panel explores how faculty design and teach special project classes that partner with professional news organizations to produce publishable, real-world work, ideally while filling coverage gaps. Panelists will discuss strategies for negotiating partnerships, integrating newsroom expectations into course structures, and mentoring students toward professional-quality content. Presentations include case studies, syllabus models, and examples of student projects that successfully met both academic and industry standards. Moderator: David Smith, Teaching Associate Professor, West Virginia University Reed School of Media and Communications Panelists: Ashton Marra, Teaching Associate Professor, West Virginia University Reed School of Media and Communications; Tracking West Virginia State Opioid Settlement Fund Distribution Reporting Project Gretchen Macchiarella, Associate Professor, Cal State Northridge; CSN community reporting projects Rick Brunson, Senior Instructor of Journalism, University of Central Florida; “Sounds of Central Florida” and “Unheard Society” projects