Program Overview

O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism

The O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism is a program backed by Marquette University, designed to help news professionals delve deeper into their work while mentoring student journalists. The program honors Marquette alumni Alicia and Perry O'Brien, whose daughter, Patricia Frechette, and her husband, Peter, donated $8.3 million in 2012 to create the fellowship. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a co-founder and partner of the program.

Program Details

• The O'Brien Fellowship accepts applications from journalists using print, digital, or visual mediums.
• Applicants may also produce news or opinion content, but those producing opinion content should inform and support their views with independent, in-depth investigative reporting.
• The fellowship provides a $75,000 salary stipend and additional support for fellows to complete in-depth journalism projects that advance justice and equity on local and national issues.
• Fellows are traditionally in residence but can now apply for remote or partial remote arrangements.
• The O'Brien newsroom is housed at Marquette University's Diederich College of Communication near downtown Milwaukee and the Lake Michigan shore.
• Fellows publish or broadcast their projects through their home news organization or another outlet.
• They integrate Marquette's best journalism students into their projects as reporters and researchers.
• Fellows help identify a journalism student for a university-funded summer internship at their news organization or other publisher.

Mission and Legacy

Marquette University, as a Catholic, Jesuit institution, has educated journalists for over 100 years with the mission to work with the community for the greater good. The O'Brien Fellowship promotes this mission by supporting public service journalism that aims to make a difference.

Notable Projects and Fellows

• Mia Thurow, an O'Brien Fellowship student intern, worked on a series examining the impact of conviction integrity units on the American judicial system's rate of wrongful conviction.
• Eddie B. Allen Jr., an independent journalist and O'Brien Fellow, is working on a project to examine the national problem of wrongful convictions.
• Britta Lokting, an independent journalist and O'Brien Fellow, is investigating how certain states curtail the parental and custodial rights of people with disabilities.
• Miles Moffeit, a former special projects reporter, is examining the lack of accountability for police misconduct.
• Alison Dirr, the City Hall reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is looking at how lead poisoning affects the health and lives of Milwaukee residents.

Featured Stories and Investigations

• Vacancies at Milwaukee Public Schools: An investigation into staff vacancies and their impact on students.
• The Right to Read: A series on reading disparities in schools and efforts to close them.
• The Flight of Banks: An examination of the struggles Milwaukee entrepreneurs face in accessing funding.
• A New Prescription: An investigation into the social determinants of health and their importance compared to medical services.

Awards and Recognition

• The Dori J. Maynard Justice Award, sponsored by the O'Brien Fellowship, honors social justice reporting that illuminates ignorance, systemic racism, intolerance, negligence, and inequality. The 2025 award was given to Washington Post reporters for their series on Indian Boarding Schools.