Three Grady Journalism Students Complete Their Work as Cox Innovation Fellows

Cox Innovation Fellows Daniel Funke, Michelle Baruchman and Mollie Simon stand with Dr. Keith Herndon at the Cox Leaders banquet.

Three students in the Journalism Department at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication are completing their work as Innovation Fellows with the James M. Cox Jr. Institute for Journalism, Management and Leadership.

Seniors Michelle Baruchman and Daniel Funke and third-year student Mollie Simon contributed to the operations and journalism projects of the Cox Institute in a variety of ways over the past academic year.

Funke developed and launched the Cox Institute’s podcast, The Lead, which features interviews with faculty and media leaders about the challenges confronting the news media along with tips and suggestions for students seeking news careers. Baruchman and Simon were assigned to assist on a research project with Ian Urbina, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Simon also maintained the Cox Institute’s website and designed and produced a promotional video and print material.

“These students represent the best of Grady. They are talented and hard working and are recognized by the faculty and their peers as being among our college’s leaders,” said Keith Herndon, director of the Cox Institute. “It has been a pleasure working with them, and I wish them well in their next endeavors.”

All three students will be working in prestigious internships this summer. Baruchman is heading to The Washington Post. Funke has been named a Google News Lab Fellow and will be working with the Poynter Institute. Simon will be interning at NPR in Washington, D.C., through a new fellowship program created by the Cox Institute that will send an exclusive Grady intern to NPR each summer.