Thompson to direct UM center

Veteran journalist Patricia Thompson has been named director of the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center at the University of Mississippi. Thompson’s duties include supervising both the editorial and business operations of the center. Her title also includes assistant professor, and she will begin teaching in the spring.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Thompson began her career as a staff writer at The Washington Post. She then worked as an assistant professor for the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, followed by 15 years as an editor at the San Jose Mercury News. Most recently, she was deputy managing editor for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, where she was the senior editor of the Sunday paper, as well as for key coverage areas including the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, the economy and healthcare. Her staff won state, regional, national and international awards for their work.