Monica Kwasnik, a University of Oregon alumna, has spent most of her 20-year journalism career on copy desks at community newspapers across the country. She also worked for Street Roots, an award-winning nonprofit weekly sold on Portland's streets by people experiencing economic marginalization. Keen on noncommercial media models, she works with journalism-oriented nonprofits to support a variety of mission-driven projects.

Before returning to the School of Journalism and Communication, Kwasnik was a visiting assistant professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and Knight visiting news editor at the Columbia Missourian, a community daily led by faculty editors and staffed by journalism students. She also teaches journalism courses at community colleges in the Pacific Northwest.