Lorraine Ahearn

Lorraine Ahearn is an assistant professor of journalism and researches the media history of marginalized communities.

She has taught media writing, editing and layout, strategic writing and the senior capstone. She returns to Elon from the University of South Alabama, where she taught ethics, reporting, magazine writing, and graduate classes in communication theory and creative content. She holds a PhD in media and journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's and B.A. from UNC-Greensboro. 

Ahearn was a political reporter and longtime metro columnist for the News & Record in Greensboro as well as a commentator for WFDD (88.5) at Wake Forest University. A native of New York, she was an investigative reporter for the Annapolis Capital, a stringer for the New York Times, and began her career as a film and drama critic in the D.C. area. Her journalism honors include an Associated Press Mark Twain Award for Investigative Reporting and a national Casey Medal for Distinguished Commentary.

She has two sons and enjoys kayaking, camping, mountain biking, and tennis.