EIU Faculty Senate

Joe Gisondi, a professor of Journalism at EIU, has turned the student-run newspaper, the Daily Eastern News, into one of the premier college news organizations in the country, has authored two books, regularly runs sports journalism workshops across the country, and has been named one of the most influential advisers of the last 100 years by the Associated Collegiate Press.  

Gisondi’s primary responsibilities at EIU revolve around supervision of student journalists who run the DEN and teaching journalism classes, with a particular, although not exclusive, focus on sports reporting.

After 20 years as a working journalist, and a master’s degree from the University of Central Florida, Professor Gisondi joined the EIU faculty in 2002. He has had a profound impact on EIU students and on the EIU and Coles County community. Along the way, he found time to earn a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction from Spalding University.

As student media director, the student newspaper has been named the Best College Media Group for the past two years by the College Media Association among the 50-plus national honors, has won 82 awards in the Illinois College Press Association journalism competition over the past three years, including for best news website and best print edition, and has earned four nominations and one win for an Associated Collegiate Press's Pacemaker Award. Previous to EIU, his student newspapers at Valencia College in Orlando won three ACP Pacemaker Awards among four nominations and the newspaper was twice named Florida student-newspaper of the year. In part for these accomplishments, in 2022 Professor Gisondi was named to the inaugural class of the Associated Collegiate Press's “Pioneers,” presented to distinguished journalism educators and advocates who have provided exceptional leadership for collegiate media programs and made remarkable contributions to collegiate journalism.

In addition to his work with students, Professor Gisondi has continued an active writing career. He has published a textbook, The Field Guide To Covering Sports, on sports reporting that is used across the country, and perhaps, most notably, a book reporting on people around the country who are actively searching for the cryptid Bigfoot. He also founded the website ColesCountySports.com, contributing prolifically to stories on the site covering the range of sports in Charleston, Mattoon, and the rest of the county.

Professor Gisondi is a more than fitting recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award.