From writing a profile on Sean Penn at the height of his dissidence over Iraq and the policies of former President George W. Bush, to writing a feature story about OR7, the first wild wolf spotted in California in more than 90 years, new Visiting Assistant Professor of Journalism and New Media Joe Donnelly brings a long and diverse background in journalism to Whittier College. Donnelly has written for local, national and international publications such as The Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, The Times UK, Orion, The Surfer’s Journal, Los Angeles Times and the LA Weekly.
His passion for journalism stems from its ability to draw people into their larger communities. “The desire to communicate and tell stories that we hope are meaningful to the way we live, to share insights, to draw connections are some of the things that inspire me to write,” said Donnelly. “A good story is something that surprises the reader, challenges him or her, shakes complacency, entertains, makes one laugh… it goes on.”
As the new advisor for Whittier College’s student newspaper the Quaker Campus (QC) and QCTV, Donnelly provides training and support to these organizations and hopes to implements digital-media journalism techniques at the QC, while fostering a collaborative relationships among the various campus media. “I think it's important that the campus media work together more to maximize impact, whether that is collaborating on stories, or cross-promoting, or both. It's all the same civic mission, whether it’s print, web, TV or radio—journalism,” said Donnelly. "I think there's a lot of potential here for Whittier to become a national leader in campus-based media with practical applications that prepare students for jobs in the world of journalism and communications.”
According to Editor in Chief of the Quaker Campus, senior Amanda Blazey, Donnelly has helped direct the QC into a new multifaceted approach to journalism. “I strongly believe that Joe Donnelly is changing the culture of media on our campus,” said Blazey. “In a few short weeks not only has he made an influence on the efficiency of the Quaker Campus and the quality of content we put out every week, but the mindset with which we approach journalism. He is making strides in connecting the media organizations into a cohesive whole and helped us see the real value in quality reporting.”
Prior to Whittier College, Donnelly was an assistant professor of narrative journalism at Occidental College. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s in history from Colgate University.
Donnelly’s role as former deputy editor of the LA Weekly helped guide the paper to an unprecedented winning streak, earning numerous journalism awards including Pulitzer Prize. “The LA Weekly job was a dream come true,” said Donnelly. “I'd grown up on Rolling Stone magazine and Esquire and Sports Illustrated, as well as reading newspapers, and although I'd had mainstream newspaper experience, I was excited about the Weekly's potential for being current as well as producing inspired enterprise and cultural reporting.”
Donnelly was co-founder and co-editor of the journal Slake: Los Angeles. In the course of its four issues, Slake made the LA Times’ Bestsellers list more than a dozen times. A best-of anthology, We Dropped a Bomb on You: The Best of Slake I-IV was published by Rarebirt Lit last year. “Slake was an attempt to combat the lowering of expectations about the quality of and role of narrative storytelling in all its forms in our lives,” said Donnelly.
After Slake, Donnelly founded the investigative-and-narrative journalism website, Mission and State, which he said proved to be a rewarding experience. “Mission and State did extremely impactful journalism and served as an example of the sort of sophisticated, multimedia journalism that can be done on a tight budget in a medium sized market,” said Donnelly. “Our stories helped change the course of some truly wrongheaded policies, such as a proposed gang injunction, and some questionable oil company practices. There's still the husk of a Mission and State archive online and in my mind, it's one of my proudest accomplishments---showing what energetic and passionate reporters can do against considerable odds.”
Donnelly currently teaches a section of the Freshman Writing Seminar as well as Intro to Journalism while more upper division journalism and English literature courses will come in the future.
