Inspired partly by prolific columnist and late UD journalism professors Chuck Stone and Dennis Jackson, Jones enrolled at UD and found mentors who “worked their guts out for their students.” And he later applied their guidance at The New York Times, where his series on the failings of the child welfare system helped prompt the New Jersey state legislature to pour $1 billion into an overhaul.

Today, he works as managing editor of opinion for the Inquirer, where he platforms diverse voices from across the city—including his old stomping grounds. For a new generation of kids poring over broadsheets (yes, they’re out there), Jones offers this advice: “Keep faith — in your town, in the path you’ve chosen, in yourself. This work has meaning, and you can make a difference.”

A voice for the world

Have you seen the acclaimed movie Hotel Rwanda, about the human rights activist, Paul Ruseesabagin, who spent nearly three years wrongfully detained in an African prison? There’s a UD connection: Blue Hen Morgan Winsor, Class of 2012, wrote the article that led to Ruseesabgain’s release from solitary confinement after more than eight months.

It’s one of many career highlights for the alumna, an associate producer of foreign news for ABC — she spent last June in Tel Aviv, gathering information at the scene of Israeli missile strikes for Good Morning America and World News Tonight.

But ask Winsor for her best work, and she’ll demur: “I like to think it’s yet to come.” She’s under no illusions about the challenges facing her industry, but “I don’t think it’s dying—media organizations need to find new ways to adapt. It’s going to be a wild ride.”

Covering the Latin Ledger

Patrick Gillespie, Class of 2012, can still remember the feel of his protective vest. The sight of tear gas and rubber bullets flying nearby. The smell of the battered hospital where he reported on a little boy dying of sepsis.

Working 18-hour days to cover Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis for CNN in 2017 was grueling. But for Gillespie, the experience also deepened twin passions — storytelling and Latin America — sparked during his tenure as a Blue Hen.

“My time at the University was defining in so many ways,” he said. “I can’t stress enough how pivotal it was.”

A teenage Gillespie first toured campus during a wicked hailstorm and, when he got back to the family car, his father said something along the lines of: “Sorry about that; on to the next.”

But even in the downpour, Gillespie had gotten a feel for UD’s culture—and he was hooked.

As an undergraduate, he secured an internship with his hometown newspaper, the Connecticut Post, but his assignments weren’t exactly headline material. So Professor Dawn Fallik called the editor and advocated for her student’s ability to report a more ambitious feature. The resulting front-page story, on the growing trend of charging high schoolers to play public school sports, led to Gillespie’s next job — and then the next.

As a money reporter at CNN, he found himself raising his hand for any assignment pertaining to Latin America, a region he’d fallen in love with during a study abroad trip to Argentina. (Immediately following graduation, he’d even moved to Buenos Aires for nearly a year — bartending, teaching English and blowing multiple tires while road tripping through the rugged dreamscape of Patagonia.)

Today, Gillespie is back in the Land of Silver as a permanent resident: He serves as bureau chief for Bloomberg’s Argentina division, leading coverage of everything from the political landscape to the World Cup. He oversees a team of 10, advocating for his writers the way Dawn Fallik once advocated for him.

“My mentors at UD helped make me a better journalist,” he said. “And a better person.”

The human assignment

UD senior Alex Keating, Class of 2026, doesn’t necessarily want to be a journalist — she’s leaning toward international relations. Yet, she’s dedicated a major chunk of her Blue Hen experience to honing the craft: She serves as executive editor of The Review newspaper, she attended a major journalism conference as a study abroad student in Greece and she’s minoring in journalism.

Storytelling, she said, is about seeing — really seeing — fellow humans. It’s arguably the greatest vehicle at our disposal for nurturing empathy.

Doing her part to develop the skillset and employ it in her everyday life? It’s Keating’s way of becoming a citizen journalist—no matter where her career takes her: “My peers have a similar outlook, and I have faith: This generation will improve our media landscape.”