Instructor wins writing award
By Crystal Smith

ORU journalism instructor Dana Sterling was honored Feb. 15 at an awards banquet in Oklahoma City for the Society of Professional Journalists. She won a fourth place award for a freelance article she wrote for Tulsa People. Sterling's award came in the category of Magazine Feature Writing.

The first place winner in that category, Scott Wigton, also won for a Tulsa People story. Sterling's story, which appeared in the magazine's September 2001 issue, was titled "Meth Madness" and dealt with the illegal production and abuse of methamphetamine in Oklahoma.

Each year, Oklahoma's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists recognizes outstanding work by journalists and photographers statewide in magazines, newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, student publications and public relations. This year's banquet and awards ceremony was held at the Embassy Suites hotel in Oklahoma City.

Sterling is a fairly new addition to the ORU faculty. She began teaching at ORU during the fall of 2001 after a successful career in journalism and public relations. In addition to her duties as an instructor at ORU, she also has her hands full at home. She and Charlie, her husband of seven years, have two children, Joseph, 5, and Max, 2.

Sterling became interested in journalism when she was in high school. She was very influenced by the Watergate scandal and the movie "All the President's Men," which tells the story of the reporters who broke the scandal to the public. Like those reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Sterling decided she wanted to do something that would impact society.

After graduating high school, Sterling went to the University of Tulsa and majored in journalism. She was able to gain valuable experience working at the student newspaper and radio station. She enjoyed her studies and completed the undergraduate program in 1983.

Young and eager, Sterling began pounding the pavement, looking for openings in her chosen field. She worked as a secretary for nine months until she got her first break.

KVOO, a local country western radio station with a strong news department, offered her a job as a news editor and reporter. Her duties included going out and getting the news, then editing and broadcasting it. She worked well with others and had a good time while honing her skills as a reporter.

After nearly a year at the radio station, Sterling transitioned from radio broadcasting to television. She found out that the local public broadcasting station was hiring, and she applied. The station was used to hiring young, enthusiastic people whom it could train to be better journalists.

This also was a positive experience for Sterling. She found television to be more demanding and challenging than radio. She worked at the local affiliate for about a year before getting a job at Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate. She was a general assignment reporter and worked in that capacity for about a year and a half, until she lost her job.

Although discouraged, Sterling was once again persistent, this time landing a job at the Tulsa Tribune. Sterling worked at the Tribune from 1987 to 1990 and then again from 1991 till the paper went out of business in 1992.

Then she decided to try her hand at public relations, which she did for two years at Goodwill Industries. Before coming to ORU in 2000, Sterling worked for six years at the Tulsa World.

Sterling graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Journalism at the University of Oklahoma in 1997 after working on the degree since 1992.

Sterling welcomes the opportunity to teach students what she has learned in her career. She feels that God led her to ORU and opened the door for her. She appreciates when students take an active interest in her classes.

She encourages students to be followers of love and truth. "Earlier in my career in journalism, I was always motivated by truth," she said. "But the older I get, the more I realize the importance of love, together with truth."

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