Before her national career, Connie Schultz found her calling in a newsroom at Kent State University.
Schultz, a 1979 Kent State graduate, became a columnist at The Plain Dealer for nearly 20 years after graduation and earned a Pulitzer Prize award in 2005 for commentary while there. She focuses on giving a voice to those who go under-looked, mentoring young journalists and shaping public discourse along the way.
“It really changed two things, the trajectory of my career and my life,” Schultz said of her time at The Kent Stater. “That was why I was always going to talk to you, because to me, the Stater really helped me understand that I was meant to do this for a living.”
Her time at The Kent Stater wasn’t immediate. At the time, freshmen couldn’t join the publication, so Schultz had to wait until her sophomore year.
“As soon as I could get in, that’s all I wanted to do,” she said. “It was my sorority, my fraternity, my only club, my family away from home, my second home.”
Early in her journalism studies, Schultz said one interaction with professor Kitty Endres fundamentally changed her approach to reporting. Endres pushed Schultz to take her work seriously.
“[She said] ‘look, you can be the most popular girl in the class, or you can be one of the best journalists we ever turn out of here,’” Schultz recalled. “And it made me get a lot more serious.”
Schultz also credited Fred Endres, her advisor, with guiding her toward her ultimate path.
“I had just changed my major to public relations, and he slammed his hand on the desk and said, ‘The hell you have,’ and he took me right back up to the dean’s office, and I had to change it back to news,” Schultz said. “Thank God I did.”
Winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 marked a turning point in Schultz’s professional career.
“Well, it changed my life,” she said. “I had been a finalist for feature writing, and when I didn’t win, then I thought, ‘Well, that’s it.’ I became a columnist after that, and I was in my second year as a columnist when I won, and boy, I didn’t see it coming.”
She emphasized the award affirmed her dedication to journalism rather than being the goal itself.
Writing is about doing the best you can as a reporter and writer, and if you’re serious about the profession, you ask yourself “how are you going to use it in the best way you can?” she said.
For Schultz, much of her work has focused on highlighting stories that otherwise might be ignored. One of her Pulitzer-finalist projects involved following the case of a wrongfully imprisoned man whose freedom was secured through the Innocence Project.
“It was a very big deal,” she said. “I wanted my newsroom to understand women could do these stories too, and we should.”
Now, as a teacher at Denison University, she encourages her students to embrace their own experiences and push through.
“Your generation is desperately needed in our profession, and we need your voices in our world,” Schultz said. “The only way that’s going to happen is if you can find your courage to pursue this seriously. Learn the basics, be disciplined, and then break the rules where it makes sense. Don’t make the mistakes that get you dismissed.”
Schultz has seen journalism shift dramatically over her 40-year career, particularly for women in politics reporting. In the past, she said many women did not report on politics, just men, and she hopes Kent State students remember the value of diversity and engagement.
“I have always been so proud of my Kent State roots, and I love teaching at Denison, but that will never change where Kent State is in the center of my heart, bull’s-eye target,” she said. “I love that school.”
Savannah Carroll is a hard beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
