Scripps Howard Foundation Establishes Journalism Fellowships at UMD, ASU

The Scripps Howard Foundation has pledged up to $1.5 million to establish a fellowship program in honor of journalist and news executive Roy W. Howard, open exclusively to journalists who have completed studies at the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland.

“(Howard) believed passionately in the important role journalists fulfill in a free society, so it’s fitting that the Howard Centers, and now the Roy Howard Fellowships, bear his name and further the cause to which he dedicated a lifetime,” said Liz Carter, chief executive officer and president of the Scripps Howard Foundation.

The fellowships will be made available to up to 30 journalists during a three-year period beginning in January 2021, and they will be awarded and administered in two annual cycles—January through December and June through May. The program will support a maximum of 10 fellows a year, and each will be assigned to work for 12 months at a nonprofit news organization selected by the Howard Centers. The fellowships will provide a portion of each fellow’s salary, with the remainder paid by the nonprofit news organization hosting the fellow, a relocation stipend and funding for training.

“The Roy Howard Fellowships will not only provide a unique opportunity for a new generation of investigative journalists by placing them inside outstanding professional newsrooms, it will boost the ability of nonprofit newsrooms of all types to dig into stories that matter to America’s communities,” said Lucy Dalglish, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

The first class of fellows will be chosen in November and placed with participating news organizations such as InsideClimate News, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, NPR and PBS NewsHour in January.

“This program couldn’t come at a better time,” said Kristin Gilger, interim dean at ASU’s Cronkite School. “The fellowship program will immediately put talented, eager and well-trained reporters in newsrooms precisely at a time when investigative reporting is needed more than ever.”