OSU media professors honored as 2026 Center for Community News Faculty Champions

From left: Drs. Rosemary Avance and Andrew M. Abernathy have been named to the 2026 Center for Community News Faculty Champions cohort. They will spend the year building community journalism to support rural Oklahoma communities. (Photo credit: Regan Lea)

OSU media professors honored as 2026 Center for Community News Faculty Champions

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Media Contact: Oklahoma State University | Department of Brand Management | 405-744-6260 | [email protected]

Drs. Rosemary Avance and Andrew M. Abernathy - both assistant professors in Oklahoma State University's School of Media & Strategic Communications - have been recognized as 2026 Faculty Champions by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont.

Together, with 150 journalism leaders from colleges and universities across the country, Avance and Abernathy will participate in a yearlong fellowship that provides research funding and networking opportunities for faculty committed to increasing student reporting in local communities.

Avance and Abernathy were selected for their applied research on local news access in rural Oklahoma and their community journalism programs that mobilize OSU students to strengthen community reporting.

Avance and Abernathy's research explores how rural Oklahoma communities with few-to-no traditional news organizations, sometimes called "news deserts," can enhance rural sustainability by rethinking and elevating local reporting.

Avance recently completed the state's first-ever observational study of Oklahoma's news media ecosystem, gathering data on access to local news in underserved communities.

"Most rural communities in our state don't have a local newsroom with the bandwidth to publish frequently, if they have one at all," Avance said. "Residents of these areas share daily happenings via word of mouth, especially on social media. This can be a great way to get information quickly. Still, it's not always ideal for in-depth, objective reporting to record and translate political, social, economic and other issues that directly affect residents. Putting media students to work researching and writing stories is one way OSU can support these communities and embody our land-grant mission, while helping our students gain invaluable on-the-ground experience."

Avance and Abernathy are building a community journalism program that pairs OSU students with rural high school students to report and produce news. The resulting stories will be shared with students' home communities and amplified through statewide news partners, including KOSU and Crosswinds News. The program will also provide mentorship from OSU faculty and working journalists throughout Oklahoma.

"Engaging rural youth as newsmakers is a fascinating prospect from both a media literacy and a rural sustainability perspective," Abernathy said. "We're seeing that youth, including those who have grown up in rural America as digital natives, have very different understandings of what news is and the role it can play in their everyday lives. Our work champions a strong media literacy curriculum and a respect for the role of good information in a democracy. We want to provide professional opportunities for young people as they become aware of the roles they can play in their own communities."

"Good information at the local level can be incredibly hard to come by," said Dr. Jared Johnson, SMSC director. "The work of these two champions will improve Oklahoma communities. It is exactly the kind of work we should be engaged in at a land-grant institution. We appreciate the efforts of the Center for Community News to connect people with stories from their own communities."

"At the core of all of these university-led student reporting programs are innovative and entrepreneurial faculty committed to student success," said Dr. Richard Watts, CCN director. "These programs are a win-win for everyone: Students receive high-impact experiences and communities benefit from more reliable news. This program is a chance to say thank you to the faculty who make it all possible."

Each Faculty Champion will receive a $1,000 reward, as well as peer support and coaching throughout the year. As part of CCN's expanded Champions program, this year's participants will work in dedicated cohorts that are organized around beats, communities and geographic regions. Each cohort will be led by a program alum with related expertise.

This year's Faculty Champions represent 41 states and two Canadian provinces. They come from 15 community colleges, 41 Minority-Serving Institutions, four Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 30 Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and seven public media outlets. Altogether, the fellows represent 35 private institutions and 113 public ones.

The Center for Community News at UVM is a nonpartisan nonprofit that works to grow and strengthen university-led reporting programs nationwide to create a more sustainable future for local news outlets and their communities. It works with a network of more than 4,000 faculty and news leaders, and it's the only organization dedicated to growing the field of student-powered community reporting.

Learn more about why these faculty are so critical to engaging the next generation of journalists and civic leaders - and how universities are stepping up to forge a sustainable future for local news at the UVM website.

Story By: Dr. Andrew M. Abernathy | [email protected]