James E. (Jay) Shelledy, a founding member of The Salt Lake Tribune Board of Directors, former university professor and, for 12 years, editor of The Tribune, has joined the non-profit publication’s editorial board.
Now retired, Shelledy was most recently at Louisiana State University where, for a time, he directed student media, and directed LSU’s Cold Case Civil Rights-era Murders Project and Wrongful Conviction project.
As a holder of an endowed chair at LSU, he taught at the Manship School of Mass Communication, heading the school’s student-staffed Statehouse Bureau that covered state government stories for 13 of Louisiana’s daily newspapers.
In 2017, he was named teacher of the year by the national Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
With more than 30 years of daily newspaper and wire service experience, Shelledy headed The Tribune from 1991 to 2003. He joins the rotating editorial board position at the invitation last month of overall Tribune Board chair Paul Huntsman.
“I hold dear the role all newspapers play in our democracy, most especially The Tribune’s role in Utah,” he said. “It is a complex and arduous challenge for newspapers to succeed today. It is exceptional for papers to do what The Tribune, its committed staff and its financial supporters are doing are doing to insure The Tribune’s relevance and continued existence. There is no scenario like it in America today.”
Continuing on the board are:
Paul Huntsman, chairman of the Editorial Board and of The Tribune’s nonprofit board of directors.
Alisha Gorder, a writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, New York Post, and other publications.
Dave Patel, a member of The Tribune board of directors and associate dean for student and external affairs and executive director of the Huntsman Scholar Program at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, Utah State University.
Lauren Gustus, executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune.
George Pyle, opinion editor of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Correction, Aug. 15, 9 p.m. • This story has been updated to reflect that Jay Shelledy is a former university professor, not president.