A UM Journalism student kneels with a camera and takes photos of a controlled burn in the University of Montana's Lubrecht Experimental Forest near Missoula, MT.

Journalism

Pollner Professorship

Anthony Pollner
Photo: Former journalism student, Anthony Pollner, in whose honor the Pollner Professorship is offered.

Twice a year, the School of Journalism brings a working journalist to Missoula to teach — not to guest-lecture, but to run a full seminar and work daily alongside student reporters at the Montana Kaimin.

The professorship honors Anthony Pollner, a 1999 graduate of the School who died in an accident in May 2001. His friends and family endowed the position in his memory, then expanded it in 2014 to fund a professor in both fall and spring.

Each semester has its own focus. The fall Pollner professor teaches writing and reporting. The spring professor covers visual or online journalism, or the business of journalism. Because Anthony's own work centered on the Kaimin, every Pollner professor's core responsibility is the same: working with the student newsroom, story by story, for the length of the semester.

Pollner professors also deliver a public lecture or workshop open to campus, Missoula, and the wider region.

Pollner Faculty: National Award Winners

Since 2001, the Pollner Professorship has brought more than 30 working journalists to campus. Among them:

Pulitzer Prize winners

  • Maurice Possley — 2008 Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting, Chicago Tribune; three-time finalist
  • Eli Saslow — Pulitzers in 2014 (Explanatory Reporting) and 2023 (Feature Writing), now writer-at-large for The New York Times
  • Preston Gannaway — 2008 Pulitzer for Feature Photography, "Remember Me"
  • Tamara Jones — shared a Pulitzer for The Washington Post's Virginia Tech coverage; 2004 feature-writing finalist
  • Lynda Robinson — part of the Washington Post team that won the 2022 Pulitzer for Public Service, for its Jan. 6 coverage
  • William Wan — part of the Washington Post team that won the 2026 Pulitzer for Public Service
  • Sally Stapleton — accepted a Pulitzer for Spot News Photography on behalf of AP staff; later led the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newsroom during its 2019 Pulitzer win

Pulitzer finalists

  • Hank Stuever — two-time finalist, Feature Writing (1993, 1996)
  • Ben Montgomery — 2010 finalist, Local Reporting
  • William Glaberson — multiple Pulitzer nominations at The New York Times; winner of the Daniel Pearl Investigative Award
  • Annie Gowen — 2020 finalist, Breaking News; two-time Daniel Pearl Award winner
  • Gabrielle Lurie — multiple-time Pulitzer finalist in photography, San Francisco Chronicle

Other national honors

  • Chris Jones — two National Magazine Awards, Esquire
  • Chris Johns — led National Geographic to 23 National Magazine Awards as editor-in-chief; named Magazine Editor of the Year
  • Daniella Zalcman — Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Arnold Newman Prize, FotoEvidence Book Award
  • Leah Sottile — Oregon Book Award winner; National Magazine Award nominee for the podcast "Bundyville"

Read more about former Pollner Professors here. 

Read more information on how to apply to become the next T. Anthony Pollner Professor at the School of Journalism.