From internships to student achievements to recognition of The University of Tampa faculty and institution as a whole, the following is a running archive of UT press releases, called News Articles, and feature stories, noted as UT Life.
Posted August 09, 2019 in News
Posted March 08, 2019 in News
The University of Tampa is inviting back four recent journalism graduates who are successfully working in the business — two in print, two in TV — for two days, March 26–27.The journalists are Megan Myers ’17, multimedia journalist, anchor and producer at WMBB News 13 (Panama City); Alejandro Romero ’18, multimedia journalist at Suncoast News Network (Sarasota); Selene San Felice ’16, reporter at the Capital Gazette (Annapolis, MD); and, Tess Sheets ’17, breaking news reporter at the Orlando Sentinel.
Posted January 22, 2019 in UT Life
Two years ago, David Wheeler, assistant professor of journalism, got his first clue that his profession was under fire.
A fellow traveler seated next to him in a plane asked him what he did for a living.“I teach college journalism,” Wheeler replied.
The man responded immediately by holding up his fingers in a cross, as if he was trying to ward off Dracula.
Posted January 08, 2018 in UT Life
Chubby Checker may have been the one to take The Twist to the top of the charts in September 1960, but did you know the song, written by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, has its origins in Tampa?
“Little Milton, Bobby Bland and I can’t tell you how many other artists have all told me that the kids on Central Avenue (in Tampa) started the Twist. That’s where Hank Ballard saw it,” says Bob Scheir, who hosted Blues with a Groove for many years on Tampa public radio (WMNF).
Ballard’s original version was released through King Records in 1959, and many people who were peers of Ballard, who died in 2003 from lung cancer, confirm the song’s origins.
The little-known origin of The Twist is just one story John Capouya chronicles in his recently released book, Florida Soul: From Ray Charles to KC and the Sunshine Band. The book’s own origins began with an article Capouya wrote for The Tampa Bay Times on the 50th anniversary of Chubby Checker’s Twist and the role Hank Ballard played.