To honor its slain alumni Rob Hiaasen, who was killed during a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper, University of Florida has created a new investigative journalism position.
Ted Bridis an award-winning investigative journalist will join as the Rob Hiaasen Lecturer in Investigative Reporting at the UF’s College of Journalism and Communications.
Hiaasen, who graduated from the UF’s journalism school in 1981, was killed along with his four colleagues in the Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28 earlier this year. He was working as an assistant editor with the newspaper.
A recipient of John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford and an adjunct professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, Hiaasen began his career with The Plam Beach Post and then joined The Baltimore Sun as a feature writer.
“He was the rock of our family. He was the little brother but he was still the guy that brought us together when times were tough,” Rob’s brother Carl Hiaasen told CNN.
“But most of all, I think what he would want me to talk about is journalism and the importance of community journalism. He was killed while he was doing what he loved to do.”
Bridis who will be teaching courses in fact-finding and investigative reporting at the school has worked as an editor of the Associated Press’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington investigative team and recipient of various national and international awards.