Director's Fall 2026 Update
A Fall Update from the UM School of Journalism
It has been a strong year for the School of Journalism, and we wanted to share some of the highlights with our alumni community.
Mark your calendar for Homecoming, October 2-3, which will be a special one this fall. It is the 25th anniversary of the T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professorship, and all 36 former Pollner Professors have been invited back to Missoula to celebrate. On Friday, October 2 at 2:30 p.m. more than a dozen former Pollner Professors will take part in a roundtable discussion at the Journalism School in DAH 101. On Saturday, October 3 at noon we will hold a tailgate at the School celebrating Professor Denise Dowling's upcoming retirement, followed by the football game against Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. Denise is retiring in December after years of shaping the school and its students, and we hope many of you will be there to celebrate all her contributions.
This spring the school placed 10th nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards, journalism's top collegiate competition, and first in photojournalism. Maddie McCuddy also won the national championship in photojournalism and Claire Bernard placed second nationally in writing. These results are especially notable given the size of our program relative to many of the schools we compete against.
The Obit Project, a podcast that began in a UM journalism classroom, was named to Apple Podcasts' "Best So Far" list for 2026, recognizing it as one of the year's standout new shows. It is a proud example of the kind of original, student-driven work that comes out of Don Anderson Hall.
We also want to celebrate Brontë Wittpenn, a UM journalism graduate who was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the San Francisco Chronicle. Her story is featured on the University’s alumni site.
This fall we also welcome Bronwen Dickey as the 25th T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor. Dickey brings experience connected to National Geographic and The Washington Post along with an MFA in nonfiction writing and will be teaching in the program this semester.
Our students spent part of the summer reporting from Nepal, covering wildlife protection efforts and the challenges facing women and indigenous communities there. Their work is published at mjanepal.com and reflects the kind of hands-on international reporting experience we aim to give every student.
Closer to home, we are gearing up for the third annual Montana Photo Workshop, a four-day intensive program for photojournalists. We also welcomed Tailyr Irvine to the faculty as an instructor this year.
Thank you for staying connected to the school. Your support continues to make this kind of work possible for our students, and we hope to see many of you at Homecoming in October.