Diana Dawson
University of Texas director of Moody College Writing Support Program
Austin, Texas Area
After working as a newspaper reporter for a long time, I taught the beginning news writing class as a lecturer at UT for 17 years. That gave me the chance to see what journalism students really needed, and then I was able to create a small writing center geared just to journalism and other comm majors. I'm having tons of fun running this growing program staffed by student writing coaches from each communication major. While the platforms on which we deliver news may change frequently and dramatically, I believe we need to help students strengthen the basic skills at the core of our profession.