St. Cloud State University

Michael Vadnie

Professor Vadnie’s primary teaching responsibilities are mass communications law, print journalism principles and methods, public affairs reporting, sports reporting, editorial writing and an occasional ethics course.  He is the co-adviser (with Mark Mills) of the Society of Professional Journalists student chapter, coordinator for the department¹s news-editorial sequence and chairman of the Department of Mass Communications scholarship committee. He is the adviser for the University Chronicle student newspaper.  He is the senior consultant for the First Amendment Forum for students and professional journalists hosted annually at ST. CLOUD STATE. He has attended the National IRE Conference, the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Region 6 conference, and the Minnesota Newspaper Association convention in 2005, 2006, and 2007. 

Every three years he is required to complete 45 hours of continuing legal education to maintain his law license. Three times in the past year, several student SPJ members, University Chronicle leaders, and he have spoken to and/or mentored high school teams as part of the St. Cloud Times-Department of Mass Communications Prep Day for area high schools.  The high school students work with mentors and produce high school pages, which run in the St. Cloud Times. 

In January 2007, he was chosen to receive the Al McIntosh Distinguished Service to Journalism Award presented by the board of directors of the Minnesota Newspaper Association.  The award was established to recognize individuals who have provided exceptional service to journalism. 

As a Dart Scholar, he is proud of his efforts to integrate sensitivity and understanding of trauma into his classes, in particular in Public Affairs Reporting where students use a simulated house fire scene for an interviewing in trauma exercise based on the Dart-training model.  He is also very committed to helping shepherd a new era of journalism in the department, recognizing the value of new media and converging all journalism enterprise under one umbrella (working with Mark Mills and the St. Cloud Times).

Mass Communications Adjunct Faculty List