Fred Anklam named Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting at Missouri School of Journalism
COLUMBIA, Mo. (July 21, 2026) — Pulitzer Prize-winning Assistant Professor Fred Anklam is the new Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting at the Missouri School of Journalism.
In this role, he will lead efforts to help students gain hands-on experience in four levels of public affairs journalism: local government in Columbia and Boone County, statewide issues in the Missouri legislature, national government and politics in the School’s Washington Program and international issues through a study abroad program in Brussels.
The chair was created in 1998 with a gift from the Edgar A. McLaughlin and Lucile T. McLaughlin Trust to honor Mr. McLaughlin’s former mentor. Curtis B. Hurley was an Arkansas editor who gave McLaughlin his first job at a daily newspaper in 1925, encouraged McLaughlin to study at Mizzou and lent him the $400 it cost to attend the university at the time.
“Fred brings deep experience and a real-world perspective on public affairs reporting to this role,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. “Under his leadership, the School of Journalism will continue to serve as a premier launching pad for the next generation of public affairs journalists.”
Anklam will leverage his experience with the School’s city and state government reporting programs to help students continue to form professional connections, produce impactful reporting and gain valuable hands-on experience. Of course, that is far from the only experience he will put to use.
“Fred brings deep experience and a real-world perspective on public affairs reporting to this role. Under his leadership, the School of Journalism will continue to serve as a premier launching pad for the next generation of public affairs journalists.”
David Kurpius, dean, School of Journalism
Anklam served as a reporter and editor for USA Today for more than 30 years, where he reported on Congress and the Pentagon and later directed White House and Pentagon coverage. Before USA Today, he was part of the team at The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Public Service.
He was also a founding co-editor of Mississippi Today, a nationally recognized nonprofit newsroom serving the state of Mississippi.
“It’s just such a breadth of experience over decades,” said Joy Jenkins, an associate professor at the School of Journalism. “Now, in this endowed chair role, he’ll be able to take that to another level by becoming a national voice in why public service journalism is important.”
For Anklam, the through line in his career has been innovation.
“At USA Today, I envisioned a new job that changed the way the international edition was handled,” Anklam said. “Then, I was put in another new job that re-envisioned how we would produce the newspaper internally. And when I left USA Today, I was asked to help envision and lead the startup of Mississippi Today. So one of the things that really intrigues me is what we can do with this chair in this challenging environment for public affairs journalism.”
He said changing audience habits and economic forces are driving an increased need for the adaptable, cross-trained students the School is producing. He also sees other trends, such as an uptick in public engagement in citizen journalism, that indicate widening gaps in city government coverage around the country. Like the students he will continue to educate, he sees the Hurley Chair role as one rooted in an openness to change.
One key change has already been set: Anklam will be based on campus at the School of Journalism rather than in Washington. He said this shift will help the position engage with Mizzou’s land grant mission by working more directly with the School’s Missouri News Network of professional news outlets as they produce coverage of state and city government and civically informed community reporting.
At the same time, he will help students in Washington get the most out of their time in the nation’s capital. Part of that effort will involve working with the School’s vast alumni network, which includes journalists and strategic communicators in top jobs throughout the capital as well as Anklam’s own former students already covering legislatures all over the country.
“My experience is when you reach out to alumni, even if they are in pretty prominent positions, they almost always say, ‘Yeah, I’ll work with you on that — I’ll find a way to help you make this happen,’” Anklam said. “The Mizzou Mafia out there is a real thing.”
Updated: July 21, 2026