Christy Bradford

Classes: Research and Writing; Multi-Media Reporting

First year at KU: 1999

Degrees: bachelor's degree, journalism, University of Missouri

Honors: Pulitzer Prize, 1994, as managing editor of the Detroit News

“I am not surprised when I hear that students like many of the classes in the journalism school. It’s because journalism is fun.” - Christy Bradford

by Joe Vohland

Christy Bradford brings to her teaching the experience gained during more than 35 years in the newspaper industry. Beginning as a reporter and rising through the ranks to become managing editor of the Detroit News, Bradford now makes her broad experience and background invaluable resources for students to grow by. In 1994, with Bradford at the helm as managing editor, the News won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting for stories that disclosed flagrant spending abuses at Michigan's House Fiscal Agency.

Bradford's experience creates an environment of real-world education that students can confidently take from the text to the turf.

Most of Bradford's teaching assignments have been in courses that focus on elements of news writing, but she says she is flexible.

"I pretty much teach whatever they tell me to," she says. "I always do the newsy stuff, of course, so there never really is that big a problem. Last semester I team-taught 301 (Research and Writing), and this semester I am teaching multi-media reporting. I just go where they need me."

Many students enter classes to find more than one instructor present to teach the course. To provide expert knowledge of all aspects of journalism, the J-School uses a team-teaching approach in several journalism courses that groups together faculty with complementing skills.

"I love team teaching," Bradford says. "Having somebody there with professional experience in the field allows for unmatched expertise in that area. For instance, my entire background is in print. If a student has a question regarding the news media field, I'm the one for them. If they want to know something about TV, they'd better ask somebody else."

"One of the greatest things about being a journalist is that you get to see and do things that normal people don't," Bradford says. "I guess that is true to a certain extent with all professions. Every one of them reveals a little different piece of life, but as a journalist, people just treat you a little differently."