Matt Waite
Professor of Practice Journalism University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Contact
- Address
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ANDN 244
Lincoln NE 68588-0464 - Phone
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402-472-3041 On-campus 2-3041
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matt.waite@unl.edu
Matt Waite is a professor of practice in journalism, teaching courses in data journalism, sports data analysis and visualization, reporting and a variety of technology related courses involving drones and AI. He joined the faculty in 2011.
For nearly 15 years, Waite worked in daily newspapers in Arkansas and Florida, winning numerous awards in both states for his work. At the Tampa Bay Times in Florida, he won awards for a series of stories he co-authored exposing state and federal efforts to protect wetlands as being stacked toward developers seeking to destroy them. That work was later turned into the book Paving Paradise: Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss. In 2007, Waite was the principal developer of PolitiFact.com, a website that fact-checks politicians. PolitiFact became the first website to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
As a member of the faculty, Waite has won several awards for his teaching and outreach to the profession. He was inducted to the Nebraska Press Association Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Daily Nebraskan's Hall of Fame in 2022.
Waite is a two-time graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, receiving his Bachelor of Journalism in 1997 and a Master of Science in Business Analytics in 2020.
He is married to CoJMC alumna Nancy (Zywiec) Waite and has two children, Paige and Brady.
Education
- MS, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2020
- BJ, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1997