McAuliffe takes home diversity award

By KRISTI ALBERTSON
J-School Web reporter

photo by Tim LaBarge

UM journalism professor and Reznet editor Denny McAuliffe received the Barry Bingham Sr. award, given to an educator for promoting newsroom diversity.

When Kaeleen McGuire heard about the Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship, awarded annually to a professor committed to encouraging minority students in journalism, she knew there was only one person she could nominate: the University of Montana’s Denny McAuliffe.

“Ever since I’ve known Denny, he’s been a positive influence in my life,” McGuire said. “He’s opened up a lot of doors for me. He’s just a great mentor.”

McGuire, a student at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., met McAuliffe at the American Indian Journalism Institute, an intensive three-week journalism course for Native American students held each summer in Vermillion, S.D.

At AIJI, McAuliffe urged McGuire to work hard at reporting. He never let her quit, even though there were times when she wanted to.

“The main thing about Denny is he’s the type of person you want to make proud,” McGuire said. “He’s someone you want to impress. You want him to hear good things about you.”

It was this dedication to his students that convinced McGuire to nominate McAuliffe for the Bingham award offered by the National Conference of Editorial Writers. The award was created in honor of Barry Bingham Sr., whose family operated newspapers and radio stations in Louisville, Ky., and who was known as an advocate of human rights, conservation and the arts.

McGuire didn’t want to go it alone, however, so she immediately called her friend and fellow AIJI graduate, Luella Brien.

“She called and was like, ‘We have to nominate Denny,’ ” Brien said.           

 Brien, a senior print major in her last semester at UM, and McGuire wrote letters praising McAuliffe’s work with Native American students.

 “Denny has been a mentor to many native students who are now successful journalists,” Brien wrote, “including Dana Hedgepeth of the Washington Post and Jason Begay, a former NY Times intern.”

A few hundred miles west of McGuire and Brien, McAuliffe had another advocate.

Mark Trahant, editorial page editor of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, received a phone call from NCEW, wanting to know if he knew of anyone who should be nominated for the fellowship. Trahant, familiar with McAuliffe through the Native American Journalism Association, immediately nominated the J-School professor.

“I think some of his work is just outstanding and ought to be recognized,” Trahant said.

Part of this work deserving recognition is McAuliffe’s work on Reznet, Trahant said.

Reznet is an online newspaper written by and for Native American students. McAuliffe believes Reznet is valuable because it gives native students without a college publication a paper of their own. It also serves as a place AIJI graduates can hone their journalism skills.

In addition to Reznet, McAuliffe has played a major role in recruiting native students to journalism schools across the country. Trahant especially praised his work at UM.

“No other school has so many native students,” he said. “That all happened since Denny took the job.”

Brien also commended his recruiting efforts.

“I can think of at least 10 to 15 people who are Native Americans who he encouraged to get in,” she said. “Not necessarily at UM, but in journalism schools across the country.”

 At the end of July, NCEW called McAuliffe. None of his three nominators had told him about the award, so the call was unexpected. Still, McAuliffe was pleased by the recognition.

“The diversity business is so small that for those few of us in it, it’s nice to be recognized,” he said. “And it’s especially nice to be nominated by a student.”

McAuliffe traveled to Portland, Ore., Sept. 15-16 to receive his award. At the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland, he was honored at a luncheon by NCEW. In addition to recognition, McAuliffe received $1,000 to use on existing or future projects. He plans to put most of that money into Reznet.

“I may take the native students out for pizza or something,” he said. “There are lots of ways to spend that money.”

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