Palo Alto High School's Ellen Austin named national journalism teacher of the year

Austin

The Dow Jones News Fund has named Ellen Austin of Palo Alto High School as its 2012 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year.

Austin advises the award-winning "Viking" sports magazine and website and co-advises "INfocus," the live daily news show.

She will accept her award and address her peers Nov. 17 at the National High School Journalism convention in San Antonio.  She will spend the coming year speaking to scholastic and professional media groups and writing a column for Adviser Update.

She is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in marketing and holds a master's in secondary English from the University of Minnesota. She chairs the Student Press Law Center's steering committee and served as a Journalism Education Association regional director from 2008 to 2011.