Adjunct Faculty

Stephanie Goldberg is a freelance magazine writer with more than 25 years of experience in print and online journalism. She holds a BA degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana, and a law degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Glamour, MORE, Ladies Home Journal, the Chicago Reader, Working Woman, Ms., Inc., Crain’s Chicago and many other publications. She is a former senior editor of the ABA Journal in Chicago. Contact: Email: sgoldberg@colum.edu. Cell: 312-218-9766.

Laura Heller

Laura Heller has been reporting on mass-market retail trends and initiatives since 1995 as a reporter for trade magazines and Web sites. Laura served as Senior Editor at Retailing Today magazine (formerly Discount Store News), as a contributing editor to Chain Store Age, Consumer Electronics Daily, Drug Store News, Home Channel News, Better Homes and Gardens, AOL’s Walletpop.com and served as Editor of Entertainment Living, a supplement within Metropolitan Home and Elle Décor magazines. She currently writes about home technology for Traditional Home magazine and blogs at Houzz.com; and blogs about retail trends and news at Forbes.com and Yahoo. She earned a BA degree in Journalism from the University of Iowa. Contact: 312-498-9043 (Cell). Email: lfheller@gmail.com 

Jennifer Halperin

Jennifer Halperin is the Internship & Special Projects Coordinator for Columbia's Journalism Department, and Midwest correspondent for the global Mergermarket business news service. Previously, she was an editorial writer for the Columbus Dispatch and the Daytona Beach News-Journal, and Statehouse bureau chief for Illinois Issues magazine. She earned a BA degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MA in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield. Contact: 312-369-8994 (Office). Email: jhalperin@colum.edu

Dodie Hofstetter

Dodie Hofstetter is a member of the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune and is the Voice of the People editor, responsible for editing the letters-to-the-editor section. She has worked at the Tribune for more than 30 years, and has been a copy editor, news editor, photo editor, graphics editor and an assistant section editor at the paper. She has taught copy editing in the graduate program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She now teaches two grammar classes, and a reporting and writing class, in the Journalism Department at Columbia College Chicago. Hofstetter has a BA in journalism from Marquette University in Milwaukee. Contact: dhofstetter@tribune.com. Work: 312-222-4987. Cell: 312-307-2906

Andrew Huff is the editor and publisher of Gapers Block, an award-winning Chicago-centric news and events webzine he co-founded in 2003. A serial early adopter, Huff created his first webpage in 1996; launched his personal blog, me3dia.com in 2001; and joined both flickr and Twitter in their infancy. In addition to Gapers Block, he has also worked for several years as a professional blogger for corporate clients such as American Express, Kenneth Cole, A&E, and Starwood Hotels. He holds a journalism degree from Ohio State University and a certificate in medical writing and editing from the University of Chicago. He spent 10 years in public relations working primarily with clients in the healthcare and biotech industries. He is an adjunct instructor in the journalism department at Loyola University Chicago, in addition to Columbia College. Huff is a frequent speaker at SXSW Interactive and other conferences, and in 2009 was named to the Crain's Chicago Business "40 Under 40" list. He lives in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago with his wife and two cats. Contact info: 773-368-6137.

Kari Lydersen

BSJ, Journalism, Northwestern University. Former staff writer, Washington Post Midwest bureau. Former associate editor, StreetWise newspaper. Freelance reporter for outlets including the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago, with specialties in environmental, immigration and labor reporting. Recipient of the 2010 Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism fellowship and fellow with the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources and other environmental journalism organizations. Author of three books, most recently “Revolt on Goose Island: The Chicago Factory Takeover and What it Says About the Economic Crisis” (Melville House 2009). Youth instructor with We the People Media and mural tour guide with Pilsen Mural Tours. www.karilydersen.com.

Pamela McKuen has been a freelance feature writer, editor, photographer, speaker and teacher for more than two decades. Her publishing credits include The Chicago Tribune, AARP The Magazine, Midwest Construction, Photo District News, Chicago Life, Engineering News-Record, Realtor, Relish, Victorian Sampler, Woman's World, Conscious Choice, Chicago Architect, Midwest Real Estate News. Her "Community Living" column appears in the Chicago Homes section of the Chicago Tribune, and has been honored by the National Association of Real Estate Editors. In 2009 and 2010, she was awarded first place in the Fashion Writing category of the annual National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest.

Natalie Moore

As the reporter for public radio station WBEZ’s South Side bureau in Englewood, Natalie covers news and issues in that community and surrounding areas. Prior to joining the WBEZ staff in May 2007, Natalie was a city hall reporter for the Detroit News; an education reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press; and a reporter for the Associated Press in Jerusalem. Natalie’s work has been published in Essence, Black Enterprise, the Chicago Reporter, Bitch, In These Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Natalie is a 2009 fellow at Columbia College’s Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media, which allowed her take a reporting trip to Libya. Natalie has an MSJ in Newspaper Management from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a BA in Journalism from Howard University. She is an adjunct instructor at Columbia College Chicago and is the former program chair for the Association for Women Journalists. A native of Chicago, Natalie lives in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood.

Judith Nemes is a Chicago-basedfreelance journalist with more than 20 years experience writing news storiesand features for many publications, including the Chicago Tribune,Crain's Chicago Business, Edible Chicago, GreenBiz.comand Crain's New York Business. Judithspecializes in green issues and urban sustainability, healthcare, and generalbusiness features. She is currently working on a book about the greening of thehealth care industry. She writes a weekly column for Crain's ChicagoBusiness online called The Green Scene, which covers the local green economy.

Nora O’Donnell is a senior editor at Chicago Magazine. She runs the editorial intern program, serves as chief researcher, recommends classical music, edits fashion news, and co-chairs the magazine’s Green Awards. Before completing her master's in journalism at Northwestern University, O'Donnell was the co-publisher and editor of Subject, an indie zine formerly based in Chicago and New York. Contact email: nodonnell@chicagomag.com.

A graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a BA in journalism and a MA in public affairs reporting, Elizabeth Owens-Schiele has more than 25 years of experience as a reporter, editor, executive editor, and general manager at many major media organizations in Chicago. Her reporting, writing, and editing experience includes 10 years at the Tribune Company, during which she was named Employee of the Year. Elizabeth continues to write weekly news and food stories that are published in the Chicago Tribune print and online editions, plus weekly features and restaurant reviews for Pioneer Press newspapers. Elizabeth has also been an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago for more than seven years. She teaches Reporting and Writing I and Food Writing. Contact: Email: elizabethschiele@sbcglobal.net Cell: 312-208-6011.

Sam Roe

Sam Roe has been a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter since 2000. Previously, he was a reporter and editor at the Toledo Blade. His stories sparked new federal laws, instituted product recalls, and inspired health and safety reforms in the United States and abroad. (Including a US ban on the export of mercury.) Roe was part of the reporting team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for an examination of hazardous children’s products. He is twice a Pulitzer, including for a 2011 investigation into 13 deaths at a Chicago nursing facility for children with developmental disabilities. A graduate of Kent State and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he has taught investigative reporting at Columbia College since 2008. Contact info: 312-222-4418. email: sroe@tribune.com

Tom Smith has been a producer and news writer for WFLD/FOX Chicago since 1995, when he joined as the executive producer of the award-winning “Fox Thing in the Morning.” Smith also has worked on “Good Day Chicago,” and FOX Chicago’s 9 pm evening and weekend newscasts. Before joining WFLD, he was a news producer at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, and was the executive producer of Evening Magazine. He has a MA in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. He has been an adjunct at Columbia College Chicago since 2009.

Alan Solomon Alan Solomon is a veteran journalist whose 40-year career at four major daily newspapers includes roles as news reporter, copy editor, sports copy desk chief, baseball writer, and travel writer. His work in travel, from 1994 to 2008, when he was on the staff of the Chicago Tribune's Travel section, won more than 60 national and regional awards, including two Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; a James Beard Award for food writing; and 1998 Lowell Thomas Journalist of the Year from the Society of American Travel Writers, the highest honor in the field. A native Chicagoan, Solomon's journalism career began in 1968 as a news reporter with the Tribune. Since 2008, when he took a voluntary buyout and left the paper, Solomon has remained active as a freelance writer. In addition to Columbia College Chicago, Solomon teaches journalism at Northwestern and DePaul Universities. Contact Info: 773-528-8854. Email: alsolly@aol.com

Mark Skertic Mark Skertic spent 20 years as a reporter and editor with various newspapers in the Midwest, including the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune, where he covered business news. While at the Sun-Times, he was an investigative reporter whose work was honored locally by the Chicago Headline Club and Chicago Press Veterans Association. In 2001, he was awarded the National Headliner Award for investigative reporting. Five years later, in 2006, Mark joined Kroll, a consulting firm sometimes referred to as "Wall Street's private investigator.” At Kroll, he puts skills learned as a journalist to work as senior director of business intelligence and investigations. Contact: Email: skertic@yahoo.com. Cell: 219/616-9353.

Meg Tebo Margaret Graham Tebo, known as Meg to her family and friends, is a lawyer and a member of both the Illinois and Missouri bars. She received her law degree cum laude from St. Louis University School of Law, and her undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a former award-winning senior writer for the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association; and the author of Shakespeare for Lawyers: A Practical Guide to Quoting the Bard released in March 2010. She teaches media law and other journalism courses at Columbia College Chicago, and also practices law and writes from her home in Chicago. Contact info: Office 201Q in 33 E. Congress building. (Journalism Dept.). PH: 312-369-8902.

Don Terry

Don Terry has been a journalist for more than a quarter-century, and now writes for the Chicago News Cooperative. He has covered everything from Chicago politics, as City Hall reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, to issues across the country as a national correspondent for the New York Times. Most recently, he was a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune's Sunday Magazine. Don was part of a team of New York Times writers awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for the series “How Race Is Lived in America.” He also has received the Peter Lisagor Award for feature writing, the Global Health Council Excellence in Media Award and the Studs Terkel Award for longstanding excellence in reporting about Chicago’s diverse communities.

Karen Titus

A full-time freelance writer, Karen Titus’s work has been published in Reuters, Chicago Home + Garden, Finacial Times, Women's Sports and Fitness, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the Chicago Tribune, among other publications. She has been the editor of North Shore Magazine and The DO magazine.She earned her Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University. Contact email: k.e.titus@gmail.com.

Nancy Traver Nancy Traver has reported for Time magazine from Moscow, where she covered the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Chernobyl accident, the visit to Red Square by President Ronald Reagan and other stories. While living in Washington, D.C., she covered the White House, the State Department and Congress for Time. Nancy has also reported for the Associated Press, Newsweek magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the Dallas Morning News, and a CBS affiliate. She has been teaching at Columbia College since 2006 and is also the journalism department writing coach. She has also taught journalism at North Park University, Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico. Nancy holds bachelor's degrees in English literature and journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Contact email: nanbrand@comcast.

Regina Waldroup Regina Waldroup has worked as a TV journalist for more than a decade. Most recently, she worked for Tribune-owned Chicagoland Television News, where she anchored, reported, and blogged. She's also worked at CBS, NBC and Fox News stations in Oregon and New York. Before entering broadcast journalism, Regina was an assistant to the press secretary for former State Senator Emil Jones Jr. In the private sector, she was a corporate communications consultant for Northbrook-based Allstate Insurance Company. Regina holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Roosevelt University and a master's degree in public affairs reporting from Columbia College. Regina is also an adjunct broadcast journalism instructor at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. 

Dan Weissmann Dan Weissmann is a veteran reporter and producer, currently working on WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio's business-themed series "Venture." His work has appeared in and on a wide variety of news outlets, including the BBC World Service, WBEZ/Chicago Public Media, Crain's Chicago Business, the Chicago Reader, and Catalyst, a source of independent reporting on Chicago's public schools. 

Jon Ziomek Jon Ziomek was a Chicago Sun-Times reporter for nearly a decade before moving into academics. For 25 years, he combined full-time administrative work and teaching at Northwestern University. He took an early retirement in 2007. He has been named to the Fulbright Specialists Roster of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and he's hoping for an overseas assignment. In the meantime, he's teaching media law & ethics and grammar at Columbia, with occasional freelance writing and editing projects.