Busse Honored As "Faculty Champion" For Student Journalism

Pacific University Assistant Professor of Media Arts Phil Busse has been named a Faculty Champion for student journalism and reporting by the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News.

Busse, a member of the Pacific faculty since 2022, is the adviser for the university’s student newspaper, the Index, and teaches courses in journalism and sports communication. Busse is one of just three educators from the Pacific Northwest honored by the program.

The Faculty Champions program recognized 150 educators at colleges, universities, and public media outlets for their efforts to start or expand university-led reporting programs, and their contributions to a national movement of student-powered community reporting. Each Faculty Champion received a $1,000 award, peer support and coaching throughout the year.

Before arriving at Pacific, Busse spent a decade as editor and publisher of the Rogue Valley Messenger, an online news website in southern Oregon. In 2000, he helped launch the alternative weekly Portland Mercury newspaper and served for six years as its managing editor. In 2006, Busse founded the Media Institute for Social Change and served as its director for 10 years.

Busse received a bachelor’s degree in English from Middlebury College in 1992 and a law degree from the University of Oregon in 1997.