Journalism Education :: Texas A&M University

Journalists-in-Residence Spring 2008

The Journalists-in-Residence for Spring 2008 are Richard Oliver, Mike Ward and Frank Smith.

Richard Oliver was Sports Editor of the San Antonio Express-News from 2001-03 before moving into the role of columnist/senior writer.

Prior to joining the newspaper in 2000 as Deputy Sports Editor, Oliver covered pro football for almost five years as a senior staff writer for Newsday in New York. He was a sports writer, columnist and Sports Editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times from 1983-1996. Prior to that, he worked a year at the Bryan-College Station Eagle.

Oliver, a 1981 graduate of Texas A&M University, has been honored for his writing by the national and regional Associated Press Sports Editors, Dallas Press Club, Charles H. Green/Headliners Foundation, South Texas Press Club and the William R. Hearst Foundation, among other organizations.

Additionally, he has worked in several broadcast venues, hosting radio sports talk shows in Corpus Christi and San Antonio, appearing as a regular on the MSG Network and WFAN-AM in New York City and, currently, serving as a pregame and postgame analyst for San Antonio Spurs telecasts on Fox Sports Net.

The Corpus Christi (Texas) native and his wife of 23 years, Laura ('81), have three children: Katye ('08), Patricia ('12) and Ryan.

Mike Ward became interested in journalism in high school, serving as the founding editor of the high-school newspaper and then managing editor of his college paper. A journalism graduate of Oklahoma State University, he has worked for newspapers in Georgia, Oklahoma and Florida, before coming to the Austin American-Statesman in 1989. During his 30-year career, he has covered a variety of beats — from suburban news, night cops and courthouses to investigating killer Jamaican gangs, legislative ethics and prison scandals. His work has been the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including more than two dozen for freedom of information issues. At the Statesman, Ward, 52, has covered issues ranging from human services and legislative ethics to prison healthcare and environmental contamination at an East Austin gasoline tank farm. He is currently assigned to the State Desk, covering legislative affairs and criminal justice and writes special projects.

Ward has served as president of three professional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists, served as SPJ's Texas Sunshine chair for five years and has been a member of SPJ's national ethics and FOI committees. He is also a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society of Criminal Justice Writers. Ward is the author of two books — “The Capitol of Texas: A Legend Is Reborn,” published in 1995 to chronicle the restoration of the Victorian statehouse, and "Waterloo to Silicon Hills: The Stories of Austin," a 2003 book about Austin's history.

Ward is married with two children.

Frank Smith, Class of ’87, has been an editor and reporter at newspapers in Texas and Florida for the last 21 years. For the last 12 years he has held a variety of jobs on the copy desk at The Dallas Morning News, including copy editor, assistant copy desk chief and deputy copy desk chief. During that time, he has copy edited and written headlines for a number of prominent stories, including the 2000 and 2004 presidential election outcomes, the A&M bonfire collapse, the Dallas Stars’ Stanley Cup victory and, most recently, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He also has worked as copy editor/weekend city editor at The Tampa Tribune, assistant city editor at the Fort Pierce (Fla.) Tribune, and reporter at the Dallas Business Journal and Dallas-Fort Worth Suburban Newspapers. He lives in Keller with his wife, Cindy – also an editor at the Morning News – and their two children, Kyle and Kayla.