The Otis L. Sanford Journalist Incubator

The Institute’s professional journalists are Distinguished Journalists in Residence at the University of Memphis. They are also faculty members and have provided the next generation of journalists with unique opportunities:

• David Waters has taught many graduate and undergraduate classes over the years – most recently feature writing. He is developing a religion journalism class for the fall semester.
• Marc Perrusquia has taught public issues writing and is developing a class on investigative reporting and open-source research.
• Laura Faith Kebede teaches our Civil Wrongs course exploring racial injustices of the past and how they affect our present reality.

The Institute’s journalists also make presentations to high school and college students considering careers in journalism.

David Waters, The Institute’s assistant director, presenting to students.

Otis Sanford chairs the board of the Institute for Public Service Reporting and is professor emeritus in journalism at the University of Memphis. He held the Hardin Chair of Excellence in Economic and Managerial Journalism at the U of M for 12 years before retiring in May 2023. With a long-time career in print and broadcast journalism, he is also one of the most respected and recognized journalists in Memphis history.

He began his professional journalism career in 1975 in Jackson, Mississippi, at The Clarion-Ledger as an entertainment and feature writer. He later covered police and local government at The Clarion-Ledger.

In 1977, he joined The Commercial Appeal as a general assignment reporter. In August 1977 he covered the death of Elvis Presley. Later at The Commercial Appeal he covered the federal court, state courts, county government and politics before being promoted to assistant metro editor in 1986.

In 1987, Sanford joined The Pittsburgh Press as an assistant city editor where he directed that newspaper's local, state and national political coverage. In 1992 he joined the Detroit Free Press as deputy city editor in charge of coordinating the paper's daily local news coverage.

In 1994, Sanford returned to The Commercial Appeal as deputy managing editor. In 1997, he pioneered The Teen Appeal high school newspaper, and in 2000 he launched The DeSoto Appeal daily edition. In 2002 Sanford was promoted to managing editor, and in 2007 he was named editor for opinion and editorials. In that role, he started writing a weekly column for the Sunday Viewpoint section. He also launched the citizen editorial board to give readers an opportunity to help shape the newspaper's editorial voice. In 2008, he served as chairman of the Mid-America Press Institute, and in 2010, Sanford was elected president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

In January 2011, Sanford joined the University of Memphis journalism faculty as the Hardin Chair of Excellence. He taught classes in Media Writing and Reporting; Media, Diversity and Society; Intro to Media; Advanced Reporting, and Opinion Writing and Reporting. In addition, he writes a twice monthly political column for The Daily Memphian online newspaper, serves as political analyst and commentator for WATN-TV channel 24, the ABC affiliate station in Memphis, and is political analyst for WKNO-FM, the public radio station on Memphis. Sanford also serves on the board of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. In 2014, he inducted into the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame.