Elizabeth Lucas named Missouri School of Journalism’s Houston Harte Chair
COLUMBIA, Mo. (July 25, 2024) — The Missouri School of Journalism today announced that Elizabeth Lucas, MA ’10, formerly senior training director for Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), is the new Houston Harte Chair in Journalism. In this role, effective Aug. 1, she will further develop the School’s investigative and data journalism programs.
“Elizabeth’s areas of expertise happen to be the areas that are vital to the immediate future of the industry,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. “In working to keep our students ahead of a steep curve when it comes to AI tools and data journalism, she will help us ensure that the next generation of journalists emerges as leaders in collaborative, ethical and fact-based reporting.”
Lucas brings 15 years of experience as a data editor and reporter, along with expertise in investigative and health reporting, and she previously served as the database library director for IRE before becoming a training director. Hers is a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach that recognizes data journalism’s important role in journalistic storytelling across a wide variety of subject matter.
“I’m really excited about helping shape what the data journalism curriculum looks like,” Lucas said. “Anybody in any position in a newsroom should have some data literacy — It doesn’t have to be just students who want to become data reporters or programmers. So how can we give every student an opportunity to acquire that literacy?”
Anybody in any position in a newsroom should have some data literacy — It doesn’t have to be just students who want to become data reporters or programmers. So how can we give every student an opportunity to acquire that literacy?
Elizabeth Lucas
In addition to developing courses, Lucas will be putting them into practice as an associate professor. At a crucial time for the industry, which is reckoning with a crisis of public trust in news and adapting to an explosion of AI technology, she said the School of Journalism’s Missouri Method of hands-on learning can teach student journalists how to use the data and tools at their disposal in ways that build trust and contribute to fact-based journalism.
“It’s not just about knowing how to use AI tools, but being aware of and thoughtful about their limitations,” Lucas said. “Data is not an unbiased collection of facts that can do no wrong. We need to equip students to think critically and report critically about the data and tools they are using.”
No newcomer to teaching, she has taught an advanced data journalism course at the School of Journalism since 2021 — one that has been informed not only by her professional experience but by her own time as a master’s student at the School, where she discovered that her more mathematical interests need not be walled off from her writing.
“I did not know about data journalism when I came to Mizzou as a grad student,” Lucas said. “I had some math aptitude, so I thought a data course would be fun. That course brought together some of my interests that I had always thought of as separate from my interest in writing. It just kind of snowballed from there.”
Fortunately, Lucas’ career has coincided with a movement toward uniting various components of news production that have historically been kept apart, from the collation and visualization of data to news product management. At the same time, The School of Journalism’s Missouri News Network has brought five professional news outlets together under one roof to collaborate and share resources, a move that seeks to prepare students for the industry’s increasing emphasis on cross-training.
Data, then, as an equally important tool for all media platforms, is a key part of making such a cooperative structure work. That’s a responsibility Lucas is keen to take on.
“The Missouri News Network is a perfect model for what the industry should be doing at large,” Lucas said. “Collaboration between newsrooms is absolutely the future of journalism, especially across platforms, and data works really well in that model. I’m excited.”
About the Houston Harte Chair in Journalism
The family of Houston Harte, BJ 1915, co-founder of the Harte-Hanks newspaper group, established the Houston Harte Chair in Journalism. Harte bought his first newspaper while still a student at the Missouri School of Journalism. At his death, he was chairman of the executive committee of Harte-Hanks Newspapers, Inc., which owned 19 newspapers and one television station. The Houston Harte Chair shares expertise through classroom teaching, industry outreach, and by working with students and professionals in the school’s Missouri News Network of professional news outlets.
Updated: July 25, 2024