Advisory Board

The founding advisory board for the Center for Journalism Ethics was established February, 2010. The board meets annually to review center activities, provide advice and counsel, and assist the director in furthering the Center’s mission. A complete list of former board members can be found here.

JAMES BURGESS

James “Jim” Burgess grew up in La Crosse and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from UW-Madison in 1958. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he interned at several newspapers. He was business and production manager at the Missoula Missoulian and publisher of the Helena Independent Record, both in Montana. He went on to be publisher of the La Crosse Tribune and eventually executive vice president of Lee Enterprises, charged with corporate management and overseeing 19 newspapers from the Midwest to the West Coast. He then served as publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal. He has been a member of the Board of Visitors for the College of Letters & Science since 1997, and is a member of the School of Journalism & Mass Communications Board of Visitors as well. He has served on and chaired a number of other boards, including Edgewood College, the Madison Community Foundation, the Madison Chamber of Commerce, Meriter Hospital, the UW Medical Foundation and the Overture Foundation. In 2005, Burgess was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Wisconsin Alumni Association. That year, he also endowed Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics. Burgess lives in Madison with his wife, Catherine. They share four children and 10 grandchildren.

J. Peter BURGESS

J. Peter Burgess is a philosopher and political scientist whose research and writing focus on the meeting place between culture, technology and politics, with a special emphasis on the theory and ethics of risk, insecurity and vulnerability. He is Professor of Philosophy and holds the Chair in Geopolitics of Risk at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. He holds adjunct professorships at the University of Copenhagen and in the Research Group for Law, Science, Technology and Society of the Free University Brussels. He has written widely on questions of risk and uncertainty, societal security, security technologies, terrorism, surveillance, law and ethics, political and social theory, international relations, gender and the history of culture. Burgess grew up in the U.S. Midwest and earned degrees from the Universities of Colorado, Iowa, Chicago and Columbia University before settling in Norway to raise his family. With three half-Norwegian children grown-up and out the door and a wife on mission with the International Committee of the Red Cross he moved to Paris in 2016 to take his current post.

JAMES CAUSEY

James E. Causey is an award-winning  special projects reporter, editorial columnist and contributing editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Causey has spent more than 30 years as a professional journalist since becoming the first and the youngest African-American high school intern at the Milwaukee Sentinel at age 15. He worked for the paper every summer until completing high school and then became a night cops’ reporter while studying journalism at Marquette University where he later received his bachelor degree. Causey continued his education at Cardinal Stritch University, and received his MBA in 2002.

In 2008, Causey received a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University. During his time there, he studied the effects of hip-hop music on urban youth. After returning from his fellowship at Harvard, he joined the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board as a columnist, writing several columns weekly until  October 2014, when he was promoted to  Engagement Editor. Causey is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), former president of the Wisconsin Black Media Association, and member of Phi Beta Sigma Inc. He was also awarded the 2013 Morse-Marshall alumni of the year, and a Scripps Howard Award finalist in 2013. In 2018, Causey received a NABJ award for his work on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel special project, 50-Year-Ache. Along with his professional accomplishments, Causey is a self-published author of two fiction books.

JAMie farnsworth finn

Jamie Farnsworth Finn is a freelance writer, digital consultant and content strategist. Finn focuses on parenting, lifestyle and education content across digital, social and broadcast platforms. She has over a decade of network news experience between CBS and NBC News, where she most recently managed a parenting website while also managing brand and social strategy. Finn’s range of experience includes traveling as part of then President-elect Obama’s press corps, investigating sexual assault in the military, and profiling programs for incarcerated parents. She has produced multiple live education-focused broadcasts, while also spear-heading digital engagement to promote, enhance and maintain the broadcasts’ reach.

Finn started her career at CBS News as a page and worked her way up to producing for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric before moving to NBC News to work on Rock Center with Brian Williams, a newsmagazine show. She holds a bachelor of arts in journalism and women’s studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and young sons. 

ELLEN FOLEY

Ellen Foley is a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna, an award-winning journalist, an accomplished digital media advisor and a strategic communications corporate executive. She is president of Ellen Foley Ink, a communications consulting company specializing in strategic marketing. Foley worked as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at WPS Health Solutions until 2017. She wove an interest in journalism and strategic communications ethics throughout her 33-year career as a daily journalist, a stint leading an election campaign and in her job in the health insurance industry. Foley specializes in complex and community-focused strategic work. Her efforts as editor-in-chief at the Wisconsin State Journal earned the journalists there many awards for online and print projects, including a Pulitzer Prize finalist honor in 2008. In 1988, Foley founded the Violence Against Women Coalition in Minneapolis-St. Paul after the tragic murder of her sister, Mary. The coalition successfully advocated for legislative change of the penalties for sexual predators. In Madison, Foley volunteers as a marketing advisor at Reach Dane, one of the area’s highly regarded providers of early education teaching, including Head Start. She earned a master’s in journalism and a bachelor’s degree in political science, both at UW-Madison.

ROBERT GEbeloff

JILL GEISLER

Mike Gousha

Mike Gousha serves as a distinguished fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School, where he explores key public policy issues through his work at the Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education. An award-winning journalist, he has been the sole moderator of numerous televised political debates held at the Law School, including the final debate of Wisconsin’s historic 2012 recall election for governor. Gousha recently completed an 11-year stint as contributing anchor and political analyst at WISN-TV in Milwaukee and hosted the statewide political program, UpFront with Mike Gousha. Prior to joining Marquette in 2007, he had a 25-year career with WTMJ-TV, where he served as lead anchor and covered politics. He also is the co-producer of a PBS documentary that aired nationally in the summer of 2020, recounting the nearly half-century that Milwaukee was led by socialist mayors.

Gousha is a member of the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame, as well as the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He received the Associated Press’ Carol Brewer Award for long-term contributions to broadcast journalism in Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Journalism School’s Distinguished Public Service Award. Gousha also is the recipient of the United Community Center’s Friends of the Hispanic Community Award and the Milwaukee Urban League’s Whitney M. Young, Jr. Legacy Award. He graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in journalism.

Katie Harbath

Katie Harbath is a global leader at the intersection of elections, democracy, civic, and tech. She is the founder and CEO of Anchor Change, a civic tech strategies firm focused on developing solutions at the intersection of tech, policy, and business focusing on global issues related to democracy, elections, and civic engagement online. Prior to starting her own firm she was a public policy director at Facebook where, over the course of ten years, she was credited with building out and leading a 30-person global team responsible for managing elections. She also played a significant role in building another team of over 30 people that works to get governments and elected officials around the world – at the local, regional, and national levels – to use Facebook and Instagram as a way to connect and engage with constituents.

This work included managing the global elections strategy across the company by working closely with product teams to develop and deploy civic engagement and election integrity products including political ads transparency features; developing and executing policies around elections; building the teams that support the government, political, and advocacy partners; working with policymakers on shaping the regulation of elections online, and serving as a spokesperson for the company about these issues. Katie was involved in this work in major elections for every country around the globe including the United States, India, Brazil, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Philippines, and Mexico.

Prior to Facebook, Katie held senior strategic digital roles at the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, DCI Group and multiple campaigns. Katie is on the boards of the National Conference on Citizenship, Democracy Works and the Center for Journalism Ethics at UW–Madison. She was named one of the top 50 people to watch in politics by Politico in 2014 and a Rising Star by Campaigns and Elections magazine in 2009. Katie holds a BA in journalism and political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Phil Haslanger

NEIL HEINEN

Carrie Johnson

Carrie Johnson is a Justice Correspondent for the Washington Desk. She covers a wide variety of stories about justice issues, law enforcement and legal affairs for NPR’s flagship programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. During the 2019-2020 academic year, she will be a Nieman Foundation Fellow at Harvard University. Prior to coming to NPR in 2010, Johnson worked at the Washington Post for 10 years, when she closely observed the FBI, the Justice Department and criminal trials of the former leaders of Enron, HealthSouth and Tyco. Earlier in her career, she wrote about courts for the weekly publication Legal Times. Her work has been honored with awards from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, the Society for Professional Journalists and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. She has been a finalist for the Loeb award for financial journalism and for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for team coverage of the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. Johnson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Benedictine University in Illinois.

MARTIN KAISER

Marty Kaiser is the first Howard Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Maryland Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, where he is helping to launch the new Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. Kaiser was Editor/Sr. Vice President of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from 1997 to 2015. Under his leadership, the Journal Sentinel earned a national reputation for its journalism and digital innovation. Kaiser’s newsroom won three Pulitzer Prizes and was honored as a finalist six other times. In 2009, Editor & Publisher magazine named Kaiser Editor of the Year. He was  president of the American Society of News Editors 2009-2010. In addition to the Journal Sentinel, he worked for the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Sun-Times and Florida newspapers in Sarasota and Clearwater. He earned his bachelors at The George Washington University and completed the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management Executive Program.

Renee Moe is President and CEO of United Way of Dane County, a leader in the worldwide United Way network and across the nonprofit sector. A military kid who grew up on three continents, Renee has a JBA in Journalism and Mandarin Chinese, and an MBA from UW–Madison. She has been recognized with the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, Wisconsin Women of Color Network Power of Unity Award, Brava Woman 2 Watch, UW Business School 8 Under 40 and served as President of Downtown Madison Rotary.

United Way’s mission is to unite the community to create measurable results and change lives, mobilizing the community’s caring power to stabilize and empower families. Through significant community listening and understanding community data, United Way prioritizes education, financial stability, health and civic engagement as the building blocks of a stable life and thriving Dane County. Renee and United Way believe in the potential that lies within all people, and are committed to fostering environments that accelerate belief in and empowerment of that potential. A committed advocate for change, Renee lives in Madison with husband Jason Salus and their children Nick and Nora.

Jonathan O’Connell is a business reporter at The Washington Post, where he is part of the paper’s corporate accountability team. Since joining the Post in 2010, he has covered commercial real estate, economic development, federal stimulus efforts during the covid pandemic and President Donald Trump’s real estate business.

His work has won awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the National Association of Real Estate Editors. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Awards for business journalism. He is a 2001 graduate of UW–Madison where he majored in journalism and English. Previously he worked for business publications in Connecticut and in Virginia, and at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, in its Washington bureau. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Nick Penzenstadler is an investigative reporter at USA TODAY where he works on national investigations. His team specializes in data analysis and project management for collaborations across the 109 community newsrooms within Gannett. He has piloted reporting collaborations at USA TODAY withProPublica, The Center for Public Integrity, Tegnabroadcasting and Kaiser Health News. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NBC and NPRpromoting his work.

Before joining USA TODAY, he was a city hall reporter at The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis. He served as the state’s correspondent for USA TODAY’s national news desk. Previously, he worked as a military and general assignment reporter at the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota. Penzenstadler graduated from UW–Madison in 2010 with with a B.S. from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Department of Political Science. He served as a reporter, editor and publisher at The Badger Heraldfrom 2006-2010. He lives in New Berlin, Wisconsin with his wife Kate and twin daughters.

Manu Raju is CNN’s chief congressional correspondent, covering Capitol Hill and campaign politics. Raju is a veteran reporter in Washington, having previously served as a top Capitol Hill correspondent at Politico for seven years. Prior to his time at Politico, Raju reported for The Hill newspaper, Congressional Quarterly and Inside Washington Publishers. He has long been a frequent guest on political talk shows on TV and radio.

Raju has won multiple journalism awards for his reporting on the major battles consuming Washington and his coverage of campaign politics. In 2012, Raju was part of a team of four reporters who won the White House Correspondents Association’s prestigious Merriman Smith award for presidential reporting under deadline pressure for their coverage of the debt ceiling crisis. In 2015, Raju also was awarded first prize by the Society of Professional Journalists in D.C. for beat coverage of the 2014 midterm elections, and a Folio: Eddie Award for a feature profile on Senator Elizabeth Warren. In 2017, Raju won the Joan Shorenstein Barone award, given annually for best congressional reporting by the Radio and Television Correspondent Association. Raju got his start in media working at the student newspaper The Badger Herald at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his alma mater.

Chuck Stokes is the editorial/public affairs director for WXYZ-TV/Channel 7 in Detroit, Michigan. Additionally, he serves as moderator and producer of Spotlight on the News, Michigan’s longest-running weekly news and public affairs show. Before he became Channel 7’s editorial/public affairs director, Stokes worked as the station’s executive producer of special projects in news. And prior to joining WXYZ-TV, Stokes was employed at WTVF-TV in Nashville, Tennessee, as a producer and on-air reporter. Stokes has accumulated a long list of personal awards and achievements including 12 Emmys for editorial reporting and two Emmys for documentary reporting. In 2001, Stokes received the “The Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is a past president of both the National Conference of Editorial Writers and its Foundation. In 2011, Stokes was inducted into the Michigan Association of Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame and in 2012 he received the “Life Membership Award” from the Association of Opinion Journalists (formerly called the National Conference of Editorial Writers).