Greater Allegheny's Rosemary Martinelli honored for fostering student journalism

McKEESPORT, Pa. — Rosemary Martinelli, assistant teaching professor of marketing and communications at Penn State Greater Allegheny, is one of 63 media professionals nationwide selected by the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News Champions Program, supported and funded through a grant from The Knight Foundation.

For their efforts in fostering student journalism and local news coverage and to combat “news deserts” throughout the country, each honoree will receive a $1,000 award, peer support and coaching to help grow their news or academic programs in partnership with local media professionals.

Martinelli advises the Greater Allegheny campus’ award-winning student-run newspaper, The GA-Zette, where she is known to encourage students from all campus degree programs to produce on-and off-campus reporting with integrity and passion. Under her guidance, student journalists in the past five years have earned Golden Quill Awards, presented by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania; Pinnacle Awards from The College Media Association; and Keystone recognitions from the Pennsylvania News Media Association — all awards showcasing excellence in reporting, writing and multimedia.

“Changes in how news is curated and reported to local communities is where we intend to go this year through this program,” Martinelli said. “Our students will not only be writing and reporting for the campus, but their work will soon be featured to the wider communities in the Mon Valley, which surrounds the campus. I am excited, too, for students to be engaged in writing and reporting on community news to fill a void since a local newspaper was sold years ago.”

With more than 25 years of experience in journalism, marketing and public relations, Martinelli has worked as a reporter, producer, news director and marketing executive across organizations such as WDUQ (NPR), KDKA, WQED Multimedia and WPXI-TV.