An association for alumni and supporters of The Daily Texan, student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin

News & Updates

Sign up today for Daily Texan Hall of Fame gathering and reunion March 31

The 10th anniversary gathering of the Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. on March 31 will have a slightly different look this year, with expanded reception time for friends and colleagues to gather. Daily Texan Hall of Fame and Rising Star recipients will be honored at the event and scholarships for Daily Texan staff members will be announced. Register here: https://friendsdailytexan.wildapricot.org/event-5144331 For attendees, there will be expanded  reception and visiting time to catch up with friends and colleagues, and also a greatly expanded variety of food options. And for the presentation of Hall of Fame and Rising Star honorees, there will […]

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Meet the 2023 Daily Texan Hall of Fame and Rising Stars

  A longtime Longhorn expert and sports writer (50+ years). A veteran of the early days of digital publishing. A photographer turned philanthropist who works on life-changing projects worldwide for those in need. One of the nation’s highest-ranking aviation experts, a regular adviser to the Secretary of Transportation and the White House. A  long-time Dallas TV news journalist now an award-winning independent filmmaker. And, a political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist and television producer who is creator, executive producer and co-host of Showtime’s Emmy-nominated documentary series “The Circus”. A former member of the UT Board of Regents and glass-breaking female […]

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In Memoriam: Craig Bird

Craig Bird Died Dec. 12, 2022 Fort Worth   By Baptist News Global Baptist journalist and educator Craig Bird died Dec. 12 at age 73 due to complications from a fall he experienced the week before, according to his family. Bird, who was born in Arkansas on Oct. 4, 1949, to Clyde and C.W. Bird, most recently served 17 years as a professor at Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas, where he taught cross-cultural communications and theology. Prior to that, he served a string of Baptist agencies as a journalist, most notably as a pioneer in a bold experiment by […]

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Celebrate The Daily Texan March 31

Supporters of student journalism at the University of Texas and fans and friends of The Daily Texan, please mark March 31 on your calendar. That’s the date of the annual Friends of The Daily Texan gathering on the Austin campus, and this year it will be a bit different. The gathering will be both an outdoor (weather permitting) and indooor reception in the Walter Cronkite Plaza located in the Moody College of Communication complex. “This event marks the 10th anniversary of Friends of The Daily Texan,” board members said in a statement,. “We wanted to make it more of a celebration […]

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Moody Dean Jay Bernhardt to become president of Emerson College

Jan. 12, 2023 / The Berkeley Beacon   Dr. Jay M. Bernhardt, current dean of The University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication, will become Emerson College’s 13th president in June, after two years of an interim leader presiding, college officials announced. Bernhardt, who was chosen by members of the Presidential Search Committee, will succeed interim President William Gilligan after the spring 2023 semester comes to a close, according to a statement from committee chair Eric Alexander. The announcement comes over 19 months after former President M. Lee Pelton left to lead the Boston Foundation in June 2021. “Throughout the […]

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In Memoriam: Sam Blair

Sam Blair Died Dec. 11, 2022 Dallas Sam Blair, a member of The Daily Texan Hall of Fame,  passed away peacefully on December 11, 2022 at the age of 90. At alma maters Woodrow Wilson High School and The University of Texas at Austin, he thrived at writing for the school newspapers. He parlayed that love into a 41-year career at The Dallas Morning News as columnist and sports editor, wrote nine books and hundreds of magazine articles, and won numerous national awards. The first North Texas sportswriter to cover pro football, he was inducted into the Texas High School […]

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Friends of The Daily Texan sets $300,000 goal to fund scholarships for Texan staffers

To ensure long-term funding of scholarships for staff members of The Daily Texan, the Friends of The Daily Texan is seeking your help to raise $300,000 to further build its  endowment fund, guaranteeing continuation and growth of a scholarship program that now reaches 11 Texan staffers a year. “Today the Friends group seeks your help on our most challenging project since founded in 2013: to raise $300,000 to fully endow the group’s Daily Texan student scholarships for the future,” the Friends Endowment Committee said. “We ask the thousands of Daily Texan ”graduates” to join with us and support these grants […]

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Three new members join Friends of Daily Texan board

Three new members have been elected to the Board of Directors of Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. The Friends of The Texan is a non-profit organization founded 9 years ago that supports The Daily Texan, student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin, by providing scholarships to student journalists and assisting when there are other needs. In addition the group has financially supported creation of a digital archive of all copies of The Texan, plus funding video and camera equipment, projects and other needs of student journalists. The new board members are:   Krissah Thompson is The Washington […]

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In Memoriam: Nancy McMeans Richey

Nancy McMeans Richey Died Aug. 5 San Antonio   Nancy McMeans Richey, the fifth woman editor of The Daily Texan, died  Aug. 5 in San Antonio, Texas. Nancy, who was born in Sandusky, Michigan, on Sept. 11, 1932 and spent her childhood in Michigan, Colorado and Texas. Like many children of the Depression, she became an industrious, hard-working and frugal woman. She attended and was graduated from the University of Texas, and was elected editor of The Daily Texan. Well-known journalist and UT journalism instructor Griff Singer was a classmate of Nancy and worked with her on The Texan through […]

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Former Texan staffer boosts Griff Singer Scholarship fund with $25,000 donation

  A $25,000 grant from an Austin journalist and her mother, a 104-year-old former journalist, has provided a significant boost to fully endow the S. Griffin Singer Scholarship, created recently by Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. The donation is from former Daily Texan staffer and Austin journalist Jo Clifton and her mother, Loretta Diggs Pendergraft. Jo is a respected Texas journalist and lawyer, currently serving as Political Editor of the Austin Monitor and is a former member of The Daily Texan staff with a Bachelor of Journalism degree. She has worked at the El Paso Times and the Austin American-Statesman and earned […]

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