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

Updates on The Daily Texan

Looking to participate in ‘Friends’ group?

Two years ago Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc., was formed during a particularly challenging period in The Texan’s financial history. The outlook has improved: new Texas Student Media management, Moody College of Communication involvement, a bridge grant from UT to cover some costs, a new sense of urgency in bringing in revenue for The Texan. All positive developments, but we should not assume the situation is resolved and the need for our support has ended. The “mission” in today’s newspaper industry is never over. Challenges The Texan faces are no different than student media anywhere, and the overall newspaper […]

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Texan wins Texas APME award

By Jordan Rudner WACO — The Daily Texan has won “Newspaper of the Year” in the college and university daily category at the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors meeting. TAPME awards recognize “outstanding journalism as practiced by the state’s daily newspapers.” The Texan also received regional recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists, which gave top honors to the newspaper’s coverage of the one-year anniversary of the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion. Former senior reporter Madlin Mekelburg and former Life&Arts editor Hannah Smothers, who wrote the anniversary package together, won best feature writing in the large college category.Judges complimented the package’s […]

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Claire Smith elected Texan Editor-in-Chief

Claire Smith, currently a Senior Columnist and Copy Editor on permanent staff, has been elected as the next Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Texan. Smith was elected with more than 70 percent of the vote, and will serve as Texan editor in the 2015-2016 school year. “The cornerstone of my platform was a more inclusive Daily Texan. I think that the opinion section has not always reflected the diversity of opinion on campus, but that may be easily remedied,” Smith said. “As the face of the Texan, I want to take a much more active recruiting role per semester by personally […]

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Long-time Texan adviser dies: ‘He had our backs’

By Jordan Rudner The Daily Texan Richard Allen Finnell, journalist and long-time print adviser for The Daily Texan, died Feb. 21 at the age of 70. Finnell, a UT alumnus, was a mainstay of support for Texan staffers over the course of his 17-year tenure as adviser, according to former managing editor Jennie Kennedy. “When I told Richard I wanted to be managing editor, I was dumb, and 20, and had all these beautiful ideas — and he supported me in every direction I wanted to go,” Kennedy said. “The thing I loved about Richard is that no matter what […]

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Initial donation to Daily Texan from Friends Innovation Fund

The Friends of the Daily Texan has made the first grant to The Daily Texan from the recently-created Innovation Fund, created to support a sustainable future, quality journalism and innovative work at the student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin. The initial grant was $1,300-plus for much-needed equipment to allow the staff to create multi-media more efficiently for the web. “We are grateful to the FotDT for their continued partnership and support,” said Texas Student Media Director Gerald A. Johnson. “Prior to the Friends’ generous funding, the newsroom was sharing the personal equipment of the video editor. As […]

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Saying ‘thank you’ to Griff Singer

Saying “thank you” to an individual who meant so much to your life and career is not as simple as it might seem, because those words alone cannot fully convey the sincerity behind the remark. Nonetheless, University of Texas at Austin ex-students, faculty and staff and students – friends and colleagues from more decades than we care to admit – gathered Oct. 17 to honor and celebrate the contributions of Griff Singer, retired journalist and instructor at the journalism school at UT-Austin. The Friends of The Daily Texan alumni group sponsored the event. As the program cover noted, the event […]

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Friends of Daily Texan Innovation Fund Established

The Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc., a non-profit group created by Texan alumni to help build a strong future for The Daily Texan, has created an Innovation Fund to support a sustainable future, quality journalism and innovative work at the student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin. Friends of The Daily Texan is a non-profit organization formed in the spring of 2013 by a group of concerned alumni. The Daily Texan is known as one of the best student-run newspapers in the country, producing notable alumni like Walter Cronkite, and fulfilling an important watchdog role at the […]

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Event to honor Griff Singer, create ‘Friends’ Innovation Fund for Daily Texan

  The Friends of the Daily Texan will hold a benefit luncheon to honor Texas journalist and journalism professor S. Griffin with the inaugural Griff Singer Award for Outstanding Service to the Daily Texan. The luncheon is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 17 at the old art museum on the UT campus. Funds from the event will be used to create the Friends of The Daily Texan Innovation Fund, managed by the alumni group in support of The Daily Texan and its initiatives. Chairing the event is Jane Chesnutt, former editor of Woman’s Day magazine and a 2011 Distinguished Alumnus. […]

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Alumni group elects officers, new board

Cliff Avery has been re-elected as president of Friends of The Daily Texan, Inc. for another one-year term. Friends Secretary John Reetz has been re-elected for an additional term. New officers of the Friends group are: • Vice President Christine Garrison, replacing former vice president Lilly Rockwell, who remains on the board. Christine spent 1996-99 on The  Texan as a reporter, assistant news editor and news editor before serving on the Texas Student Media board. A native Austinite, Christine graduated from UT-Austin with a Journalism degree in 1999. A short media career took her to newspapers in Austin, Houston, Charlotte, […]

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Bill Powers and The Daily Texan

Remember just a year ago that The Daily Texan was in the financial ditch, with no fix in sight, and no plan or vision to solve its problems? Remember the fear that The Texan would simply fade away, both as a print and digital product, bringing an inglorious end to a glorious 114-year history? Today the Texan problems remain (it’s not fixed, folks, so don’t relax your support), but there is a hope for the future and new management coming, and new supervision – the Moody College of Communication. Time has been bought to build a real business plan, and […]

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