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Richard Azar passed away Jan. 13, 2025.
Azar was a skilled reporter and editor, working at several southwestern Indiana newspapers, including The Sullivan Daily Times, The Vincennes Sun-Commercial, The Princeton Daily Clarion, and The Evansville Press. His investigative journalism garnered international headlines in many prominent publications, such as The New York Times.
Azar was known for his 1989 expose of BASF's secret plan to operate a toxic waste incinerator and landfill in his hometown, and for momentous reporting on the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing.
Brooke Barnett has been named the 16th President of Rollins College, effective July 1, 2025. Previously, Barnett was the provost and executive vice president at Butler University. She also previously taught at Elon University’s School of Communications. During her time at IU, she was a news director, reporter and host on WTIU. (January 2025)
Anna Darling joined the FOX59/CBS4 morning shows as the developing news anchor in October 2024, focused on reporting content on the local, national, and international level. She previously worked in northwest Arkansas as an anchor at FOX24, where she received three Arkansas SPJ Diamond Journalism awards. Darling was nominated for the 2020 Indiana Broadcaster's Association Spectrum News award for a story she did on the pandemic during her time as an anchor and multimedia journalist at WLFI News 18 in Lafayette, Indiana. (January 2025)
Earleen Fisher died Jan. 29, 2025, at the age of 78.
Fisher's career as a journalist spanned over five decades, including pivotal roles in global journalism, and began when she was a sophomore in high school. She spent over 30 years with The Associated Press, a pursuit that took her from Indiana to New York, Egypt, Israel, India, and more. In 1992, Fisher became chief of the AP's Middle East Services, where she directed news coverage for 16 countries.
Fisher covered major stories in some of the world's most volatile political regions and interviewed subjects such as former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Dalai Lama. She also covered the rise of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Fisher retired to Indiana in 2007. She is a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and received a Media School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.
Dan Goldblatt is the director of policy and communication at the Marion County Clerk's Office. The office oversees all elections in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was previously a media literacy instructor at Paramount Brookside, a public charter school in Indianapolis. (November 2024)
Nate Gowdy is a photographer whose work explores the intersection of social movements, cultural identity, and political spectacle. His career led him to Washington, D.C., for the infamous events of Jan. 6, 2021. Gowdy’s latest exhibit, "WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021," at Spectrum Fine Art in Madrona, opens Jan. 9, 2025, and runs through Feb. 15.
Holly Hays has recently been named news editor for The Indianapolis Business Journal. Before starting her new role, Hays worked for the Indianapolis Star, where she won the Association of Organ Procurement Association’s Crystal Heart Award for her story, “Carmel boy thanks family of dad’s kidney donor.” Hays also worked the general assignments and breaking news beats for the Star. At IU, Hays served as editor-in-chief of both the Indiana Daily Student and the Arbutus yearbook. (January 2025)
Bryan Moss is donating a digital archive representing his outstanding career in photojournalism - comprising roughly a half-million images - to the Harrison County Public Library, located in his hometown of Corydon. (January 2025)
Josh Sanburn is a producer for Reveal, a radio show and podcast produced by the San Francisco-based nonprofit newsroom, The Center for Investigative Reporting. Based in New York, Sanburn is developing a new show for the Reveal podcast feed. (November 2024)
Ashley Sloboda, BAJ'06 received a Higher Education Media Fellowship, which is administered by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars and funded by the ECMC Foundation. Her fellowship project, Future Focused, features 11 stories over six days in October. She was previously a senior reporter for The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She was selected for the Institute for Citizens & Scholars’ seventh class of Higher Education Media Fellows, a fellowship supported by the ECMC Foundation. Sloboda won third place for education reporting in the Best of Indiana Journalism Contest. The Indiana Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists presented the award during its 45th annual contest awards in late April 2024.
In 2022, Sloboda received an Education Writers Association Reporting Fellowship in June for adata-driven project exploring how the national debate over how schools should approach diversity, equity and inclusion is playing out in Allen County, Indiana’s school districts, which have seen their diverse student populations grow in recent years.The project published over four Sundays beginning Oct. 30. (November 2024)
