COLLEGE PARK — The University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism has named CNN Enterprise Editor and Assistant Managing Editor Christi Parsons a new faculty member and the new director of Capital News Service’s Annapolis bureau.
Capital News Service is the college’s student-powered news organization with bureaus and news teams in Annapolis, Baltimore, College Park and Washington, D.C. The bureaus are staffed by students and managed by full-time faculty members with distinguished careers as professional journalists.
Parsons follows that tradition, and will direct Merrill College students in their daily coverage of the Maryland State House, and of issues important to Marylanders.
“We are beyond fortunate to have Christi Parsons leading our coverage in Annapolis alongside our stellar Capital News Service team,” said Merrill College Dean Rafael Lorente. “Not only is Christi a first-rate reporter and editor with experience covering some of the most important beats in the country, she is also a natural teacher, known throughout our field for mentoring young and diverse colleagues early in their careers.”
Parsons previously was a senior editor at The Atlantic; a White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times; a national political writer, state and local reporter for The Chicago Tribune; and a local reporter for several newspapers around the South. She was one of the longest-serving chroniclers of the rise and presidency of Barack Obama, covering him from the beginning of his term in the Illinois Senate and throughout his time in the White House.
In 2015, Parsons was president of the White House Correspondents' Association. She currently serves on the board of MASTHEAD, an alumni organization that supports student journalists of color at the University of Alabama.
She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama and a master's from Yale Law School.
For more information, contact:
Josh Land
joshland@umd.edu
301-405-1321