Depth Reporting: Climate Change | CoJMC

Depth Reporting Climate Change: What could it mean for Nebraska?

The Class The Project The Program The Team Donate

It takes grit and determination to tell the big stories. And missing women from marginalized communities is a defining story of our time.

In the spring of 2024, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications' award-winning Depth Reporting program will explore the stories of missing women from marginalized communities in Nebraska. An energetic team of passionate writers, photographers, and videographers will research, analyze and develop multimedia stories throughout the semester.

About the Class

Student participants selected for Spring and Fall 2020 will enroll in Investigating Climate Change, an ambitious three-credit-hour course where students will work with nationally renowned faculty to research, analyze, write, photograph, record, design and edit a diverse package of climate changes stories.

About the Project

Climate Change: What Could It Mean for Nebraska? will span two semesters.

Spring 2020: Produce website content focused on the impact of climate change globally and specifically to Nebraska.
Fall 2020: Produce website content focused on the range of the potential climate change solutions both globally and in Nebraska.
Additionally: The project will include a series of statewide public town hall discussions on the impact of climate change on Nebraska -- its agriculture, livestock, water, public health and recreational activities.
Finally: We also intend to send students to Sweden to interview teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, to Oxford, England, to report on nuclear fusion and to Sundance, Utah, to interview famed Hollywood actor and ardent environmentalist Robert Redford.

About the Program

The College of Journalism and Mass Communications Depth Reporting program is led by award-winning professor and author, Joe Starita. The program focuses on producing professional-quality depth reports on topics of social importance.

Previous projects include Wounds of Whiteclay, the 2017 winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Grand Prize, that explored the devastating effects of alcohol sales in Whiteclay, Nebraska, to residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Meet the Team

Joe Starita

Project Director & Pike Professor of Journalism

Jennifer Sheppard

Project Co-director

Lauryn Higgins

Project Manager

Mia Azizah

advertising & public relations

Luke Andersen

environmental studies and psychology

Lauren Dietrich

advertising & public relations

Tessa Faust

classics and religious studies

Aila Ganic

political science

Jennifer Gilbert

environmental studies

Grace Gorenflo

journalism

Aaron Housenga

broadcasting and sports media & communication

Lindsay Johnson

earth & atmospheric sciences

Maya Kaechele

environmental studies

Sierra Karst

journalism and broadcasting

Celeste Kenworthy

geology

Carlee Koehler

journalism and fisheries & wildlife conservation

Nora Lucas

applied climate science

Brittni McGuire

fisheries & wildlife

Libert Niyonkuru

integrated science

Libby Seline

journalism

Sophia Svanda

agriculture and environmental sciences

Kayla Vandracek

environmental studies

Kat Woerner

environmental studies and economics

Support the Project

Donations to the Depth Reporting program will support student travel to research and report on climate change and allow for the publication of a professional quality website and magazine documenting the project.

Donate Now

Project Partners

Contact Joe with Questions

Joe Starita
Professor
402-472-8280
jstarita2@unl.edu