The Lorry I. Lokey Journalism Scholarship

The Lorry I. Lokey Journalism Scholarship was established in 2007 through the generosity of Oregonian Lorry I. Lokey, founder of Business Wire, an international media relations company. Lokey is a 1949 Stanford University graduate and a University of Oregon Foundation trustee.

The scholarship program provides support to raise the national and international profile of the SOJC, attract the best and the brightest minds to the UO, and be a catalyst for developing outstanding future leaders for the journalism and communication industry.

2011 Lokey Scholarship Winners

Arthur Santana

For doctoral student Arthur Santana, The Lorry I. Lokey scholarship, which will be used to help with living expenses in Santana’s fourth and final year at the UO, was both a surprise and an honor—and it came at a perfect time. “The financial support that the scholarship provides will allow me to fully focus on my dissertation in the coming year, which really makes the scholarship an instrumental part of my overall graduate school experience,” Santana says.

Santana’s research centers on his interest in news and newspapers—his professional background—as well online news and minorities in the media. He won a Top Student Paper award at the 2011 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference, in the Minorities and Communication Division, and had two articles (one cowritten with Russial) published in the Newspaper Research Journal’s summer 2011 issue.

“I’d like to express my gratitude to Mr. Lokey and the Lorry I. Lokey Journalism Scholars Program scholarship,” he says. “I’m also grateful to members of the SOJC faculty with whom I’ve consulted and collaborated on research projects, including my adviser, Dr. John Russial. Awards like this make it possible to continue the important work of teaching and researching journalism during a time when we’re seeing so much transformation in the industry.”

Randall Livingstone

Doctoral student Randall Livingstone says he plans to use his 2011 Lorry I. Lokey scholarship primarily to support his dissertation, which examines how online content contributors collaborate through the use of web robots (“bots”) and automated editing tools. Among other things, it will fund travel to Mountain View, California, this October so Livingstone can attend WikiSym 2011, one of the biggest international conferences on wiki collaboration. Livingstone will present two posters and conduct interviews with Wikipedia editors and administrators.

Livingstone also is working on a project that looks at systemic bias in the annals of Wikipedia, and he is collaborating with fellow doctoral students Arthur Santana (himself a 2011 Lokey Scholar) and Yoon Cho on investigating how people experience hardcopy newspapers and their online versions. Livingstone, Santana, and Cho presented a paper (“Medium Matters: Newsreaders’ Recall and Engagement With Online and Print Newspapers”) at the 2011 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in St. Louis. The paper was also recently mentioned in an article by Slate.com reporter Jack Shafer, who writes, “As consumers of news continue to shift from newspapers to computers, reader engagement with the news will change, conclude the authors.”

Rebecca Sedlak

When senior Rebecca Sedlak found out she had been named one of this year’s Lokey Scholarship recipients, she waited for a few days to share the news with anyone—including her mother— because she could hardly believe it was real.

“I was surprised I was chosen,” Sedlak says, “but honored to receive the generous Lokey Scholarship.”

Sedlak, a double major in journalism and English literature, also receives the UO Presidential Scholarship. The Wilsonville, Oregon, native says these awards will cover the tuition for her senior year and help toward the costs she incurred while interning in London, England, this past summer.

Sedlak has worked at the Oregon Daily Emerald for the past two years, serving as copy editor, copy chief, reporter, and special sections editor. She plans to graduate next spring and pursue opportunities
in magazine journalism or book publishing.

“I am so thankful for how much the J-school has supported me,” Sedlak says, “and the Lokey Scholarship certainly will help a lot.”