Staff

Jan Schaffer, Executive Director | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Jan Schaffer, former Business Editor and a Pulitzer Prize winner for The Philadelphia Inquirer, is executive director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism and one of the nation’s leading thinkers in the journalism reform movement. She left daily journalism in 1994 to lead pioneering journalism initiatives in the areas of civic journalism, interactive and participatory journalism and citizen media ventures. She launched J-Lab in 2002 at the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism to help newsrooms use innovative computer technologies to engage people in important public issues. As a federal court reporter, she helped write a series that won freedom for a man wrongly convicted of five murders. The stories led to the civil rights convictions of six Philadelphia homicide detectives and won several national journalism awards, including the 1978 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service. More…

Andrew Pergam, Editorial Director | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Andrew Pergam, a former broadcast journalist and managing editor, is the Editorial Director of J-Lab.  In this role, he works with J-Lab grantees and oversees the creation of new learning tools for professional and citizen journalists. Most recently, he led the strategic growth and editorial operations of NBCConnecticut.com. Before that, he spent years as an intrepid television reporter, whose subjects ranged from high-profile federal corruption trials to tic-tac-toe-playing chickens.  Andy earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and serves on the school’s alumni board. As an undergrad, he studied writing and political science at Johns Hopkins University. When not focusing on innovations in journalism, he works on his gourmet cooking skills. In accepting the J-Lab position, he officially abandoned his hopes of making it on the professional tennis circuit. Andy and his wife Jen are natives of the D.C. suburbs.

Anna Tauzin, Web & Social Media Editor | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Anna Tauzin is J-Lab’s Web and Social Media Editor. She is responsible for managing the center’s five Web sites, producing video and audio content for distribution and designing in Flash and for print publications. Anna also serves on the Peer Review Board for the Youth Media Reporter and is a Multimedia Contributor for the Investigative Reporting Workshop. She has a passion for clean design and typography, social media as well as First Amendment law and media ethics. Anna is concerned over the lack of independent investigative news organizations around the country but especially in smaller communities. She holds an MA in Journalism from American University and a BA in Mass Communication from Texas State University. Anna is unapologetically Texan and loves music and collections of short stories.

Todd Van Doren, Assistant Director of Operations | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Todd Van Doren is J-Lab’s Assistant Director of Operations.  He graduated from American University with a dual-major Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and International Studies.  With a growing appreciation for the role J-Lab plays in new media, Todd’s contribution to the team comes in the form of managing the accounting expertise, working with J-Lab’s affiliate American University’s School of Communication, and maintaining his unofficial office title of “numbers guy.”  On his own, he is completing the necessary coursework and preparing to sit for the CPA exam.  Todd is a native of Washington State, but has lived in the DC area for the past 5 years.

Lori Grisham, Event Coordinator | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Lori Grisham is J-Lab’s Event Coordinator. She organizes advisory board meetings and conferences from the location down to the tiniest detail. Lori also works at National Public Radio as the Assistant to the Ombudsman where she researches listener concerns and helps with a weekly column. Lori has an M.A. in Journalism from American University and a B.A. in English and Religion from Mary Washington College. She loves crafts, living on Capitol Hill and eating good food with friends.

Rachel Clark, Intern | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Rachel Clark is J-Lab’s part-time intern and has recently graduated from American University with a BA in Graphic Design and a minor in Communications. At J-Lab Rachel helps Anna update websites and other intern-worthy things. Rachel is fascinated by new media and is hoping to gain enough knowledge to continue working in the field of journalism, specifically photojournalism. Rachel grew up in Connecticut and has traveled through almost all of Italy, a lot of Europe and most of New Zealand.

For more information on how to reach us, please visit the Contact Us page.

Post a comment

Name:
Email:
URL:
Comment:
Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Newsletter Sign Up

Privacy Policy

About J-Lab

J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life with projects on innovations in journalism, citizen media, interactive stories, entrepreneurship, research, training, and publications.

E-Learning Portals

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
J-Lab is a center of American University's School of Communication in Washington, D.C.

Subscribe to J-Lab's RSS feed (What is RSS?)

Print this page | Site design by Hop Studios