WATCHDOG WRITERS GROUP TEAM
The Teams
Class of 2023
THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Sarah Smarsh
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist who has covered socioeconomic class, politics and public policy for The New York Times, National Geographic, Harper’s, and many other publications.
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THE STUDENT
Jocelyn Heimsoth
Jocelyn Heimsoth is a senior at the University of Missouri double-majoring in Journalism and Environmental Science, studying environmental journalism.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Alisa Roth
Alisa Roth is a contributor to Marketplace, NPR, and other outlets, who specializes in mental health, criminal justice and other social policy issues.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Mya Frazier
Mya Frazier is writing a book that expands on her recent investigation for The New York Times Magazine into America’s housing crisis and the credit reporting system. During the fellowship, she will research the relationship between class mobility and the credit system.
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THE STUDENT
Valerie Nava
Valerie Nava is a second year M.A. student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
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The Teams
Class of 2022
THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Sarah Smarsh
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist who has covered socioeconomic class, politics and public policy for The New York Times, National Geographic, Harper’s, and many other publications.
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THE STUDENT
Mavis Chan
Mavis Chan is a senior majoring in journalism and political science at the University of Missouri.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Alisa Roth
Alisa Roth is a contributor to Marketplace, NPR, and other outlets, who specializes in mental health, criminal justice and other social policy issues.
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THE STUDENT
Teghan Simonton
Teghan Simonton is a graduate student at the University of Missouri studying investigative reporting.
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THE FELLOW
DIRECTOR
Christopher Leonard
Executive Director
of the WWG
Writing a book about a company at the heart of American political and economic affairs.
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THE STUDENT
Regan Mertz
Regan Mertz is a graduate student studying Documentary and Photojournalism at the Missouri School of Journalism.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Michael Grunwald
Michael Grunwald is working on a book for Simon & Schuster about how to feed the world without frying the world. It’s about the food we eat, the farms that make the food, the forests that get cleared to make room for the farms, and the search for technological and political solutions that can prevent us from eating the earth.
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THE STUDENT
Jana Rose Schleis
Jana Rose Schleis is a second year M.A. student in the Missouri School of Journalism. She’s studying investigative journalism, government reporting and public policy.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Mya Frazier
Mya Frazier is writing a book that expands on her recent investigation for The New York Times Magazine into America’s housing crisis and the credit reporting system. During the fellowship, she will research the relationship between class mobility and the credit system.
READ BIO
THE STUDENTS
Beatrice Bankauskaite
Beatrice Bankauskaite is a Fulbright grantee and a graduate student at the University of Missouri studying documentary and photojournalism.
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Claudia Rivera-Cotto
Claudia Rivera-Cotto is a graduate student at the University of Missouri in data and investigative journalism.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Shoshana Walter
Shoshana Walter is writing a book that builds on her award-winning reporting for Reveal on unpaid work camps masquerading as rehab. Her book, “Untreated,” will chronicle the many problems plaguing the country’s addiction treatment system, how it got this way and how we could do better for the millions of people in the US struggling with addiction.
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THE STUDENT
Kelly Dereuck
Kelly Dereuck is a graduate student researching the use of public records to report on private equity.
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The Teams
Class of 2021
THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Michael Grunwald
Michael Grunwald is working on a book for Simon & Schuster about how to feed the world without frying the world. It’s about the food we eat, the farms that make the food, the forests that get cleared to make room for the farms, and the search for technological and political solutions that can prevent us from eating the earth.
READ BIO
THE STUDENT
Mark Ossolinski
Ossolinski is working with Grunwald to investigate the relationship between agribusiness and climate change.
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THE FELLOW
FELLOW
Shoshana Walter
Shoshana Walter is writing a book that builds on her award-winning reporting for Reveal on unpaid work camps masquerading as rehab. Her book, “Untreated,” will chronicle the many problems plaguing the country’s addiction treatment system, how it got this way and how we could do better for the millions of people in the US struggling with addiction.
READ BIO
THE STUDENT
Cianna Morales
Morales is working with Shoshana Walter to investigate the shrouded rehab industry that has grown up around America’s opioid epidemic.
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The Teams
Class of 2020
THE FELLOW
Pamela Colloff
Staff writer, New York Times Magazine
and Senior Reporter at ProPublica
Writing a book about the criminal justice system and jailhouse informants.
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THE STUDENT
Steven Garrison
Working with Pamela Colloff to investigate the criminal justice system in Missouri and
other states.
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THE FELLOW
John Eligon
New York Times National Correspondent
Developing a book project about the Black Lives Matter movement.
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THE STUDENT
Eligon’s student reporter will be assigned in the fall of 2020.
Recent Stories
Watch here for new stories regularly.
“False Witness”
The New York Times Magazine