I am Joe Dennis

I'm the only one at the Grady College who can truthfully claim student, staff and faculty status.

While allegedly working on my dissertation to earn my doctorate in mass communication, I also serve as a "public service faculty" member of Grady. I'm director of diversity and high school outreach and teach classes in the journalism department. My main duties are to direct the Georgia Scholastic Press Association (GSPA) and teach in the journalism department. I helped revamp an old-school editing class, which used pica poles and proportion wheels, into a 21st Century editing class that produced slideshows and edited video.

I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, just minutes away from White Sox park (only non-natives call it by it's real name -- "U.S. Cellular Field." That makes me a die-hard White Sox, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks fan. I hate the Cubs.

I received my undergraduate degree from North Central College majoring in broadcasting and sociology. After graduation, I briefly worked at Edelman Public Relations in downtown Chicago, but quickly realized I hated "pitching" stuff that editors were not interested in. So I got a job as sports information director at my alma mater -- most fun I ever had at a job, with the exception of the consistent 80-hour workweeks during football, basketball and baseball season.

The day after I married my college sweetheart, we drove to Georgia where I became news editor of The Walton Tribune in Monroe. While there, I helped the paper earn "best in state" honors for several consecutive years, and earned personal honors for my column writing from the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Sportswriters Association.

While at The Tribune, I got my dream job as being the night-time disc jockey at WPUP-FM, the now defunct "Rock 103-7." I managed to do both jobs and keep my sanity, until my first child was born in 2004. That's when I ended up at the University of Georgia, where I earned my master's degree and became part of the Grady family.