Jessica Brown

Jessica Brown is a visual journalist with a background in sports design and editing. Brown teaches Intro to Design and Editing, News Editing, Reporting and Writing Across Platforms, Sports Reporting, and Advertising and Public Relations Design.Brown is native of Chicago with a BS in English and political science from Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill., and a Masters in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

Though trained in newspaper writing and reporting, Brown found her niche in marrying the written word with design while on the sports desk at The Post‑Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.

From there she honed her skills as a graphic artist at the Rockford Register Star, Rockford, Ill., and returned to the sports desk as a copy editor and designer at the Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, Fla. The Sentinel sports desk is consistently recognized as one of the top 10 sports dailies in the nation.

In today's changing world of visual journalism, Brown believes it is critical that writers, reporters and editors understand the important roles that design, photography, graphic reporting and editing and the Internet play in today's media.

She has won several design awards from various organizations including the National Association of Black Journalists and the Illinois Press Association.