Rick Peterson
Rick Peterson is a veteran of 30 years in the television news business and has taught in USC’s broadcast Senior Semester for two decades. He continues to work as a story producer for the national news desk at NBC News in Charlotte, selecting nationally breaking stories for use around the country. Students know he understands how a newsroom works and what a national news story looks like.
Contact him: rspeter@mailbox.sc.edu
Chris Halsne
Chris Halsne is an award-winning investigative journalist with over 30 years on television, leading special projects teams in Seattle, Denver, and Oklahoma City. His work has earned top honors including the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award, multiple National Press Club awards, and a national Edward R. Murrow award. Known for combining traditional storytelling with computer-assisted reporting and data analysis, Halsne produces impactful content across formats while remaining committed to journalism’s core mission: giving voice to the voiceless and holding the powerful accountable.
Contact him: chalsne@mailbox.sc.edu
Renée Ittner-McManus
Renée Ittner-McManus, a South Carolina News Photographer of the Year, is passionate about sharing her love of photojournalism with emerging visual journalists. Her cameras-in-hand approach, along with in-the-field coaching, gives students the experience they need to quickly build photography and videography skills as multimedia journalists. Ittner-McManus spent the majority of her career as a staff photographer for The State newspaper, covering a variety of assignments from news, features and photo stories to Division 1 sports for the 145,000 circulation daily newspaper. She proposed and implemented the newspaper’s first photo column, writing and photographing the biweekly “Slice of Life,” celebrating special moments in everyday life.
Contact her: mcmanusi@mailbox.sc.edu
Eileen Waddell
Eileen Waddell spent 27 years as a working journalist, the last 21 at The State newspaper in Columbia, where she was the longtime assistant managing editor. She also served a stint as investigations editor and ran the morning meeting for eight years. Waddell brings newsroom experience, advice and observations to the classroom, making the hypothetical more tangible. She specializes in teaching story development, balanced reporting and thoughtful story choice and framing that reflects the depth of a community.
Contact her: eileenrw@mailbox.sc.edu
