Celeste Sepessy

Celeste Sepessy is an assistant teaching professor and faculty director at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She has created curriculum and taught courses in news writing and reporting, engagement and solutions journalism, media literacy and digital audiences since 2014. 

Sepessy is especially interested in constructive journalism methods that uplift underserved voices and highlight productive solutions. In 2021, she created the Community Engagement Reporting course to teach students how to listen deeply, build community and collaborate cross-discipline to create impactful content serving the public good. Across two semesters, students hosted 17 community listening sessions and created resource- and solutions-focused journalism for the Arizona Republic and La Voz.

Sepessy won the National Association for Media Literacy Education's 2024 Media Literacy Higher Education Teacher Award for her work in the field. She co-authored PEN America’s “Empowering Trusted Messengers” conversation guide and workbook, which is used nationwide to build resilient communities. As part of Project ACCLaIM, a $1.6 million Department of Education grant, she created four one-credit courses focused on media literacy, news literacy, social media and connecting these concepts with civics. In 2024, Sepessy co-hosted the International Center for Journalists-sponsored workshop “Journalism for a New Generation” in North Macedonia.