Kiplinger Fellowship in Climate Change Reporting announces list of expert speakers for April presentations

Ben Siegel

The Schoonover Center

The Kiplinger Fellowship in Climate Change Reporting is proud to announce its list of professional speakers who represent some of the top leaders in journalism and climate sciences.

This year’s fellowship will feature 15 trainers who will give presentations to 19 environmental journalism fellows while on ��’s Athens campus, April 18-22.

“We are especially pleased to present to our U.S. and international fellows such an impressive group of journalists, scientists and policy analysts. This is our first time dedicating our fellowship to such an important topic and we are delighted to have some impressive trainers helping us,” Kevin Z. Smith, executive director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism, said. “And, many of them have roots in ��.”

The fellowship will begin with a roundtable discussion led by Kiplinger Program benefactor Knight Kiplinger, former editor-in-chief of the Kiplinger media company that gave America Kiplinger Financial Newsletter and Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine.

Other speakers/trainers will include:

Doug Haddix is an independent media consultant and former director of the national journalism group Investigative Reporters and Editors. He was previously a vice president for communications and director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at �� State University. He is a former newsroom editor having worked for the Columbus Dispatch, Scranton Times Tribune and Springfield (��) News Sun. Haddix will discuss social media tools and tactics for covering climate change.
Amy Nordrum, (B.S.J., HTC, '10) is the current editorial director of special projects and operations at MIT Technology Review. She coordinates the annual lists of 10 Breakthrough Technologies and Innovators Under 35 and oversees the newsroom's copy flow processes, freelance contributions, fellowship program, and engagement team. She will talk along with Maria Gallucci on freelancing climate change stories.
Maria Gallucci, (B.S.J., HTC, '08), is the clean energy reporter at Canary Media where she covers hard-to-decarbonize sectors and efforts to make the energy transition more affordable and equitable. She was most recently a contributing writer for Grist and IEEE Spectrum, and was previously a staff reporter for InsideClimate News, Mashable, and Mexico City newspapers.
Tom Henry, (M.A. ’94) is a longtime award-winning environmental writer for the Toledo Blade. His work has appeared in the Washington Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dayton Daily News, Stars and Stripes, Yahoo News and on ABC Radio.
Sheri McWhirter is an environment reporter for MLive Media Group who covers climate change, energy, and infrastructure in Michigan. Her public affairs and environmental stories appear in a series of daily newspapers, including the Petoskey News-Review and the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Steve Mencher is a multimedia reporter, editor, producer and pioneer in podcasting, digital audio and production on the web from Baltimore. He spent a previous three-year stint in Sonoma County, California working as news director of PBS/NPR stations KRCB radio and TV and KPJK TV, under the umbrella of Northern California Public Media.
Henry, McWhirter and Mencher will hold a panel discussion on localizing climate change stories.
Offering a session on Google Tools for reporting on climate change will be longtime journalism trainer Mike Reilley. He has been a lecturer at the University of Illinois, Chicago for the past seven year and is the founder/editor of The Society of Professional Journalists’ successful online Reporter’s Toolbox. He is an SPJ trainer the Google News Initiative training program and also owns Penny Press Digital, LLC, a digital consulting company.
A duo of digital veterans will offer a session on mobile journalism. Dr. Len Clark and Michael Castellucci, the brains behind “Create With Mobile,” will spend a day showing fellows the ins and outs of mobile journalism with only their smartphones in hand.
Castellucci is a veteran TV journalists who’s worked in Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego. He is the creator of “Phoning It In” a course on mobile journalism and is currently a video news artist in residence at Michigan State University.
Clark was an early adopter and pioneer in mobile technology, who is a professor of practice in sports communication at Virginia Tech University. In his spare time, he covers Notre Dame football for Irish 101 and Irish Illustrated.
Dr. Vijay Limaye is a senior climate and health scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. As an epidemiologist, he broadly addresses international environmental health challenges. He is a former scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, focusing on Clean Air Act regulatory implementation, air quality monitoring policy, and health risk communication. Limaye will talk about the impact of climate change on personal health and public health policies aimed at countering climate change effects.
Justin Worland, senior correspondent for Time, is covering climate change and the intersection of policy, politics and society. A Harvard College graduate, his work aims to tell the climate story in new ways, connecting the dots between the changing planet and changes in policy, business and society. Since coming to the beat in 2015, his work has included an array of features and cover stories—from Greta Thunberg’s Person of the Year story to his recent “Climate Is Everything” cover. He will speak on environmental justice and how to properly report on the issues of this theme.
Dr. Sarah Davis is an �� associate professor in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service where she teaches courses in environmental studies and sustainability. She researches system-level energy conversion efficiency, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas fluxes in managed landscapes using experimental and modeling approaches. She will talk about the intersection of science and governmental policy making.
Sara Schonhardt, (B.S.J. ’03) is an international climate reporter for E&E News in Washington, D.C. She currently serves as first vice president and programs chair for the international organization - Society of Environmental Journalists. She will specifically talk about international climate change policy and the relation with U.S. climate initiatives.
Angie Massie, (B.S.C., HTC, ’99) is the senior vice president of live storytelling and interim head of marketing at the WeatherChannel. She is a former executive producer at CNN and previously worked at NBC. She is also a WOUB alumna. She will present on covering natural disasters related to climate change.