Debra Jasper is director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism in the John Glenn School of Public
Affairs at Ohio State. The program provides mid-career journalists with training in public affairs reporting and
digital media technologies, such as podcasting, video field production and Web site design. Debra became director
of the program in 2004, after spending nearly two decades covering politics and producing in-depth investigative
and enterprise projects for Kentucky and Ohio newspapers. Formerly the statehouse bureau chief for The Cincinnati
Enquirer, she has won more than 40 journalism awards, including 17 first-place investigative and enterprise
reporting awards for her coverage of: the state and national foster care system; the abuse and neglect of people
with mental retardation; the lack of care for medically fragile children; workplace violence; and government
corruption and misspending. Debra earned her M.A. in journalism at The Ohio State University, where she is
currently finishing her Ph.D. in diversity and cultural studies in Educational Policy and Leadership.