2024 Faculty

The heart of every Gloria Shields Workshop is its people. Our experienced faculty members are renowned for their dynamic instruction. Most have taught at the workshop for more than a decade.

Our faculty members are journalism educators who are local, state and national leaders.

The associations for which they have volunteered include these —

National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA)
Associated Collegiate Press (ACP)
Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA)
Dow Jones (DJ)
Journalism Education Association (JEA)
Association of Texas Photography Instructors (ATPI)
Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC)
Texas Association of Journalism Educators (TAJE)

2023 Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop Faculty
Front row:  Jennifer de la Fuente, Bobby Hawthorne, Charla Harris, Charlie Shanks, Michael Peña, Andrea Negri, Yvette Manculich, Laura Negri, Leila Saidane. Second Row: Becky Tate, Jane Roskens, Ana Rosenthal, Lajuana Hale, Jeanne Acton, Corey Hale, Clint Smith, Amy Morgan, Deanne Brown, Wade Kennedy, David Knight, Scott Winter. Back row:  Martha Akers, Gary Lundgren, Mary Pulliam, Grant Johnson, Rebecca Pollard, Alyssa Boehringer, Justin Turner, Tucker Love, Margaret Sorrows, Dow Tate, Lori Oglesbee, Mark Murray, Linda Puntney, Margie Raper, Mike McLean.

2023 Faculty National All-Stars 

Ten workshop faculty members have earned the very highest national honors in scholastic journalism.

FRONT ROW:
Mark Murray: 2012 CSPA Joseph M. Murphy Award, 2014 JEA Carl Towley Award
Alyssa Boehringer: 2017 JEA National Broadcast Adviser of the Year,
Linda Puntney: 1998 JEA Carl Towley Award, 2010 CSPA Charles R. O’Malley Award, 2011: JEA Linda S. Puntney Teacher Inspiration Award
Charla Harris: 2018 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year
Bobby Hawthorne: 1990 CSPA James Fredrick Paschal Award, 2007 CSPA Charles R. O’Malley Award, 2007 JEA Carl Towley Award

BACK ROW:
Martha Akers: 2005 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year
Becky Tate: 2019 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, 2024 JEA Linda S. Puntney Teacher Inspiration Award
Dow Tate: 1997 DJ National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, 2023 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year
Lori Oglesbee: 2009 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year
Margaret Sorrows: 2014 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year

Course Instructors

Martha Akers, 2005 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, advised the Saga at Loudoun Valley High School (Virginia)  for 41 years. She retired in 2022.

The Saga consistently earned NSPA Pacemaker, CSPA Gold Crown and Virginia High School League Trophy honors. Akers has received the CSPA Gold Key, NSPA Pioneer Award, VHSL Lifetime Achievement Award, VHSL Torch Award, VHSL Hall of Fame and the SIPA Distinguished Service Award.

Teaching: Advanced Publication Design

Alyssa Boehringer is Director of ILPC and Director of Journalism for the UIL. Before that, she spent 16 years advising some combination of broadcast, yearbook and online news at McKinney High School (Texas). 

She was the 2017 JEA National Broadcast Adviser of the Year and is a recipient of JEA’s Medal of Merit, the TAJE Trailblazer Award as well as the ILPC Edith Fox King Award. 

Teaching: Yearbook Theme Development

Deanne Brown advised The Featherduster news magazine and taught photojournalism at Westlake High School (Texas) for 33 years. Her students and their work have been recognized by state and national organizations with top awards.

She was named the 2014 Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year, a TAJE Trailblazer, an NSPA Pioneer, an ATPI Star of Texas and a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from JEA. 

Teaching: Beginning Photography

Judi Coolidge was an AP English teacher, creative writing and yearbook adviser at Bay High School, Bay Village, Ohio, for 34 years, with yearbook as an extracurricular activity.

Her yearbooks won Gold Medalist and All-American ratings from 1977 to 2006, as well as NSPA Pacemaker and Pacemaker finalist, CSPA Trendsetter, Silver Crown and Gold Crown awards. She has been inducted into the Great Lakes Interscholastic Press Hall of Fame and the Scholastic Journalism of Fame in Norman, Oklahoma. In addition to receiving a CSPA Gold Key and an NSPA Pioneer Award, Coolidge was named JEA’s National Yearbook Adviser of the Year in 2002. In 1991 she was named Bay Village School District’s Teacher of the Year and a Martha Holden Jennings scholar. Coolidge was honored as the Ohio PTA’s Educator of the Year in 2003.

She has written articles for all scholastic journalism publications, including “The Student Press Review,” “elements” and “Yearbook Fundamentals,” and has been involved in developing educational resources since 1986. 

Teaching yearbook theme development

Jennifer de la Fuente is a web designer and developer who has operated her own business, Rosebud Designs, since 2009. She specializes in building custom WordPress sites and has been teaching code and design to all levels of learners.

She began teaching at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2014. She teaches design and content creation classes in public relations.

Before running her own business, Jenn spent 10 years in journalism — almost all of it in sports — as a reporter, copy editor, page designer and web producer. Her journalism career includes stops at the Orange County Register, Arizona Daily Star, The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) and The Sacramento Bee.

Teaching: Digital Graphics

Mitchell Franz is an independent photographer and video producer. Formerly the director of media and communications for the largest privately held senior healthcare company in Texas, he also operates a digital marketing firm when not shooting photos or videos for clients.

His work includes a wide range of people, places and things from Ross Perot to Istanbul, Turkey, to medical implants in Memphis. You can also find Franz working with Jensen Larson Photography of Florida on additional visual projects. Franz actively participated in scholastic journalism during high school and won top state and national awards. He has taught workshops for ATPI, ILPC and Walsworth.

Teaching: Intermediate Photography

Corey Hale has advised high school publications for 20 years and currently works at Lewisville High School (Texas), where he teaches journalism and photojournalism and serves as a consultant for the newspaper and yearbook staffs.

Prior to that, he advised newspaper, broadcast and yearbook programs at Lovejoy, Lewisville, Marcus and Lancaster high schools.

His students have won a number of individual and staff honors including the ILPC Gold Star, CSPA Gold and Silver Crowns, and NSPA Pacemaker.

Hale cut his journalistic teeth in the wilds of central Arkansas, where he wrote, edited and designed in the sports department of a medium-sized daily paper.

In 2012 he was the Lewisville High School teacher of the year, and he is a recipient of the ILPC  Edith Fox King Award. 

Teaching: Newsroom Editorial Leadership

LaJuana Hale has advised broadcast and newspaper staffers for close to 20 years at Marcus High School, Flower Mound, Texas.

Her staffs regularly win top state and national honors including the ILPC Gold Star, the CSPA Gold and Silver Crown and the NSPA Pacemaker. Last year her editor-in-chief won NPSA’s National Writer of the Year, and last fall Marcus won the Sweepstakes Award at TAJE. She is also a winner for ILPC’s Edith Fox King Award.

Teaching newspaper editorial leadership

Charla Harris, the 2018 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, has advised the journalism program at Pleasant Grove High School (Texas) for the past 37 years.

Her students have won multiple Gold Crowns from CSPA, Pacemakers from NSPA and Star Awards from the ILPC. Harris is an ILPC Max Haddick Teacher of the Year and Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Distinguished Adviser. She is a past president of TAJE.

Teaching: Yearbook Boot Camp

Bobby Hawthorne is an Austin-based writer and writing instructor. He is author of “The Radical Write,” “Longhorn Football: An Illustrated History,” “Home Field: Texas High School Football Stadiums from Alice to Zephyr” and “University Interscholastic League: An Illustrated History of 100 Years of Service.”

A popular workshop and convention speaker, Hawthorne is a former director of Texas Interscholastic League Press Conference. He has received the TAJE Trailblazer Award, ILPC Edith Fox King Award, NSPA Pioneer Award, CSPA Charles O’Malley Excellence in Teaching Award and the JEA Carl Towley Award.

Teaching: Advanced Feature Writing

Wade Kennedy has been advising the yearbook and newspaper at Richardson High School (Texas) for 15 years. His programs have won multiple state and national awards, and his students have won numerous individual awards.

As a former newspaper photojournalist, Kennedy has also won multiple professional awards, and he currently runs a freelance photography business in Dallas.

As a 2016 Edith Fox King award winner, he has dedicated his career to helping scholastic journalism students succeed.

Teaching: Advanced Photography

David Knight has advised high school and middle school newspapers, helped create a student-produced cable station and has been recognized by state, regional and national press organizations as a leader in scholastic journalism.

He is an NSPA Pioneer winner and a popular workshop instructor and convention speaker.

Teaching: Specialized Writing

Tucker Love has advised publications at Shawnee Mission South High School (Kansas) for five years. His students have won regional, state and national awards for their work in yearbook, newspaper and photojournalism.

Love was a 2020 JEA Rising Star recipient and has worked to support student journalism as a board member of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Educators of Metropolitan Kansas City. 

He spent two summers at Gloria Shields as a student more than 10 years ago, and loves bringing his current students to continue learning from some of the best advisers and professionals in the business. 

Teaching: Beginning Publications Design

Gary Lundgren, NSPA associate director, has received the CSPA Gold Key, NSPA Pioneer, JEA Medal of Merit, ILPC Edith Fox King and TAJE Friend of Journalism.

In his 10 years at the University of Arkansas, the Arkansas Traveler newspaper and Razorback yearbook staffs he advised were consistent CSPA Crown and ACP Pacemaker winners.

During his 20 years at Jostens, he launched the Look Book and Jostens Adviser University, and he edited three editions of the 1,2,3 Yearbook Curriculum, as well as Jostens Adviser & Staff magazine. 

Teaching: Advanced Publications Design

Leland Mallett, CJE, is the newspaper and yearbook adviser at Mansfield Legacy High School (Texas). Legacy’s publications have won multiple CSPA Crowns and NSPA Pacemakers. In 2015, Mallett won Texas Journalism Adviser of the Year. He has also won the Edith Fox King Award, TAJE Trailblazer, Dow Jones News Fund Special Recognition Adviser and been named both a Distinguished and Special Recognition Adviser by JEA. 

Teaching: Adviser Course

Yvette Manculich, who has advised The Prowl yearbook for 20 years, is the multimedia publications adviser at Powell Middle School, Littleton, Colorado.

The Prowl has earned both national and local recognition, including numerous Pacemakers from National Scholastic Press Association, Gold Crowns from Columbia Scholastic Press Association and All Colorado awards from Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA). In 2017, The Prowl Yearbook was inducted into the CSMA Hall of Fame. The Prowl has earned top honors on NSPA’s Best of Show lists and staff members have won first place for NSPA’s Design of the Year and Photo of the Year.

In 2020, Yvette was named both Adviser of the Year from CSMA and Distinguished Adviser from JEA. She presents at national and local conventions.

Teaching beginning yearbook

Mike McLean is a Dallas-based freelance visual content creator. As a high school student he attended the Gloria Shields Workshop, which cemented his desire to choose photojournalism as his profession.

He was a staff photographer for the Dallas Times Herald and on the team nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the crash of Delta flight 191 at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. 

He is a co-author of “Get The Picture” and “Grow Your Know in Photography.” McLean developed and taught an online digital photojournalism curriculum for a university based in Colorado. He is a frequent speaker and workshop instructor.

For the past six years he has worked as a visual content lead and instructor for video-photography coverage at U.S. Military Academy-West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy. 

Teaching: Advanced Photography

Mark Murray has served as president and now executive director for ATPI for 35 years. During that period he also worked for the Arlington Independent School District in Arlington (Texas) until his 2019 retirement. 

He is a Joseph M. Murphy and Gold Key recipient from CSPA and a Pioneer Award winner from NSPA. He has been awarded the Carl Towley Award and Medal of Merit by JEA, has been named a TAJE Trailblazer, and has been presented ATPI’s highest honor, the Star of Texas award. 

Workshop administration

Andrea Negri advises the Carillon yearbook at Bellaire High School (Texas) and teaches photography.

She is secretary for the Association of Texas Photography Instructors, contest director for the Texas Association of Journalism Educators, and a member of the Journalism Education Association’s Student Press Rights and Certification committees. Negri is a JEA Master Journalism Educator and Medal of Merit recipient, a TAJE Pathfinder award winner and an Interscholastic League Press Conference Edith Fox King recipient. 

Teaching: Beginning Photography

Lori Oglesbee advised outstanding students at McKinney High School (Texas) and Prosper High School (Texas) to create award-winning yearbooks, newspapers and online sites for 35 years. 

The 2005 Max R. Haddick Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year and 2009 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year works as an independent educational consultant and writing coach. She has advocated for New Voices legislation and student-press rights. 

Teaching: Beginning Feature Writing

Michael Peña is a writer, photographer and teacher. He lives in Texas with his wife, Lacey, and their two daughters. They spend most of their free time roasting marshmallows around campfires and exploring state and national parks.

Teaching beginning photo

Rebecca Pollard, MJE, advises the yearbook at Lovejoy High School (Texas). She loves all student media, which is why she has advised at five different schools and all media in 21 years. Her programs have won top state and national awards including Pacemakers and Crowns.

She is a recipient of the JEA Distinguished Yearbook Adviser in 2019, Medal of Merit in 2020 and ILPC Edith Fox King Award in 2013. She is a JEA mentor and also serves on the planning committee for the Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop.

Workshop administration

Mary Pulliam advised publications at Duncanville High School (Texas) for 37 years. Before retirement, she won just about every award out there — including the UIL Sponsor Excellence Award, JEA’s Teacher Inspiration Award, ILPC’s Max Haddick Journalism Teacher of the Year and Edith Fox King awards, TAJE’s Trailblazer Award and Friend of Journalism award, CSPA’s Gold Key and NSPA’s Pioneer award.

Her publications also won just about every award, state and national. During her tenure, both publications were inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame.

She has retired from the classroom but not from judging and consulting. Pulliam is an author of “Springboard to Journalism,” “The Second Page” and “Get the Picture.” 

Workshop administration

Margie Raper, MJE, is the broadcast and publication adviser at Rock Hill High School (Texas). She is proud to share her passion for scholastic journalism with her students, see them grow as storytellers and celebrate their achievements.

In 2019, Margie was named the ILPC Max R. Haddick Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year. She has also been named a JEA Distinguished Yearbook Adviser, Medal of Merit and ILPC Edith Fox King honoree. Along with serving on Gloria Shields workshop committee, Raper serves on the board for NSPA. 

Teaching: Video

Ana Rosenthal, CJE, teaches journalism at The Episcopal School of Dallas. The publications that she has advised have received CSPA Crowns, NSPA Pacemakers, NSPA Design of the Year Awards, ILPC Stars and awards from The Dallas Morning News.

A 2013 Dow Jones News Fund Special Recognition Adviser, 2016 Prentiss Grant Award from the Hockaday School and 2017 CSPA Gold Key Award, she served as first and second vice president of the CSPA Advisers Association. 

Teaching: Yearbook Design and Concepts

Lisa Roskens has taught for more than 20 years – with 17 of those being at one of the smallest school districts in Texas, and her last four being at one of the largest.

Prior to teaching in 6-man-football-size Groom High School (Texas) and her current gig as the online newspaper adviser at Prosper High School (Texas), she worked as a full-time journalist, stay-at-home mom and freelance writer. This school year will be her 10th teaching scholastic journalism and her sixth as a career/technical education instructor.

Her publishing credits span multiple genres and sources, such as National Geographic for Kids, Fort Worth Magazine and local newspapers and trade publications. 

Teaching: Newspaper Boot Camp

Lindsey Shirack, CJE, advises the Lone Star yearbook at James Bowie High School in Austin, Texas. Previously, she advised yearbook, broadcast, newspaper and online at Gorzycki Middle School. No matter the medium, her passion is for helping students capture the story of the year in a way only they could

Teaching yearbook editorial leadership

Clint Smith has taught for 17 years at Texas High School (Texas) where he instructs photojournalism, commercial photography, and a convergent media class. Smith also co-advises the newspaper and yearbook.

Prior to beginning his teaching career, he worked in broadcast news and TV commercial production and ran his own photography studio.

He currently serves as past president of ATPI and received the ILPC Edith Fox King Award in 2019.

Teaching: Social Media Reporting

Dow Tate is a journalism teacher at Shawnee Mission East High School (Kansas), and the director of the Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop. 

He’s the co-author of “Scholastic Journalism,” 12th edition.

In 2011, he was named a Kansas Teacher of the Year finalist. He was inducted into the Scholastic Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Oklahoma and was named a Texas Legend, as one of the most influential people in the state’s 75-year scholastic journalism history.

He taught 14 years at Hillcrest High School (Texas). His students’ publications — the newspaper, yearbook and news website — have earned the nation’s highest honors, including NSPA’s Pacemaker and CSPA’s Gold Crown. He’s had four students named National High School Journalist of the Year, and two have gone on to win Pulitzers.

Tate has been named the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund’s National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, the Texas Max R. Haddick Teacher of the Year and is currently the JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year.

He served as the president of the Dallas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in 1990. 

Workshop administration

Becky Lucas Tate, the 2019 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, has advised both the award-winning newspaper and yearbook at Shawnee Mission North High School (Kansas) for the past 32 years. 

Tate’s staffs consistently earn All-American and Medalist ratings, along with Crown and Pacemaker awards.

Tate has been named a Special Recognition Adviser in newspaper by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and in yearbook by JEA. She also received the Engel Award for the  Excellence in Publication Advising from the Kansas Collegiate Media Association. In addition, she received a CSPA Gold Key and JEA Medal of Merit.

She serves on the NSPA/ACP board of directors. 

Teaching: Yearbook Theme Development

Cindy Todd serves as TAJE executive director. Todd “retired” from the classroom after 25 years of advising yearbooks and teaching photojournalism at Westlake High School (Texas) and at Randall High School (Texas).

Her students earned top awards from NSPA, CSPA and ILPC. The 2012 JEA H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year, Todd was also named Max Haddick Texas Teacher of the Year and a TAJE Trailblazer and received the CSPA Gold Key, NSPA Pioneer and JEA Medal of Merit and Lifetime Achievement awards. 

Teaching: Yearbook Boot Camp

Justin Turner, Bryant High School (Arkansas) has taught journalism and advised yearbooks, newspapers and literary magazines for 14 years. In that time he’s found his passion: supporting students, the First Amendment and the power of those two things together.

Turner’s staffs have won numerous state and national awards including gold medals, first divisions, individual write off awards and Arkansas’s top honor, the All-Arkansas award, and they have placed in the Top 10 Best of Show at a JEA/NSPA convention.

Justin was named the 2020 Arkansas Adviser of the Year. 

Teaching: Yearbook Boot Camp

Scott Winter, an associate professor of journalism and English at Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota, earned his Ph.D. at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he wrote the 2015 biography “Nebrasketball: Coach Tim Miles and a Big Ten Team on the Rise.” 

His research interests are long-form creative nonfiction and international social justice reporting. 

He spent a decade as an assistant professor at UNL, where he also taught in journalism master’s programs in Ethiopia and Kosovo. He takes Bethel students on social-justice journalism trips in collaboration with the Graphic Design Department and advises the national award-winning Clarion student newspaper. 

Teaching: Specialized Writing

Bonus Class Instructors

Adobe Illustrator: Jennifer de la Fuente
Adobe Premiere Pro: Grant Johnson
Adobe Photoshop: Mark Murray, Wade Kennedy
Artificial Intelligence in Journalism: Stephen Green
Leadership: Becky Tate
Level Up Your Social Media: Margie Raper
On the Money — Creating Revenue for Your Publication: Kathy Beers, Jessica Hammond, Russ Olsen
Photo Hacks from the Pros: Mike McLean
Sports Writing and Editing: Corey Hale
What’s Your Story:  Jeanne Acton