Teaching Faculty Stacy Forster recently earned Distinguished Status, the highest designation for teaching faculty at UW–Madison. This status recognizes Forster’s outstanding teaching contributions and dedication to her students. Forster joined the SJMC in 2012 and teaches several key courses in both reporting and strategic communication, including J202, the six-credit gateway course to the major, J345, an introduction to the strategic communication concentration, and J417, which creates and publishes Curb Magazine. In addition to her teaching, Forster serves as the director of the professional master’s program and the editor of Madison Commons, a hyperlocal news site powered by undergraduate and graduate students at SJMC.
What does this recognition mean to you personally and professionally?
My son is looking at his post-high school options, and we came across a video about what makes for a quality college experience. Some of the key factors were having a professor who made students excited about learning and who cared about them as a person. I’ve always worked to connect with students one-on-one, and I hope this recognition means I’ve been able to provide that kind of life-changing experience for the students I’ve worked with over my years in SJMC.
In your nearly 13 years of teaching at SJMC, what are the experiences and accomplishments that you are most proud of?
It’s lots of little things. Editing thousands of words when putting together an issue of Curb magazine — many of them on a grueling Proof Day. Connecting with each student in J202, either by reading everyone’s Individual Story projects or doing more than 100 student hour visits in a semester. Hearing our pro-track students present their portfolios at the end of their programs and marveling at all that they’ve done such a short time. Just being a part of a student’s UW–Madison education is important to me.
When it comes to teaching, what do you find most rewarding?
One of my favorite pieces of storytelling is the musical “Hamilton,” and the line about what it means to leave a legacy often kicks around in my head: “It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” I don’t get to follow every student’s path away from SJMC, but I enjoy knowing that I may have played a part in what they do with their lives and their careers. If you were my student, please let me know what you’re doing! My day is always better when I hear from you.
What excites you most about the future of journalism and communication and the role SJMC students will play in shaping it?
When I joined SJMC 13 years ago, I latched on to the school’s core principle that we’re training students for jobs that don’t exist yet. I love the idea that we are sending our students out to create the next generation of communication and storytelling — and that with their creativity and drive, they’re ready to do it with the foundation we’ve given them.