Jessica Sparks
Biography
Jessica Sparks (M.A. in Digital Storytelling, Ball State University) is a former political reporter who has been with the program since 2013. She was a Wall Street Journal Back to the Newsroom Fellow in summer 2014 and has done work for numerous publications including The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind., AnnArbor.com, CNN.com, Indianapolis Monthly, Hilton Head Monthly, The Island Packet, The Beaufort Gazette, Bluffton Today and the Savannah Morning News. She works closely with students as the faculty adviser for the Tiger’s Roar student newspaper and instructs courses in news writing and reporting, feature writing and reporting, and multimedia design and production. Her research interests include digital storytelling and gender issues in news production.
Research Interests
Education
BS, Journalism - Ball State University
Awards & Honors
Organization: International Center for Journalists
Date: 7/1/2014
One of five professors nationwide chosen to be embedded in a professional newsroom for 10 weeks. I worked for an interactive department at the Wall Street Journalism on its Numbers blog.
Name: First Place Debut Research
Organization: Broadcast Education Association
Date: 3/1/2010
Main author of a paper about women in broadcast newsrooms. Presented paper at BEA conference in Las Vegas in 2010.
Name: First Place- Non-deadline news reporting 2007
Organization: Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors
Date: 4/1/2007
Helped develop and report a special section on gas prices in 2007 with the rest of the reporting staff at The Herald Bulletin. Winning piece titled “20 Questions: How can I save on gasoline?”