Professor Monica Malpass makes her debut this fall as an adjunct professor in the journalism program at Hunter, bringing her many years of expertise to Reporting and Writing 101, “a class not only designated for journalism students but an elective for many others,” said Malpass.
Malpass began her career as a reporter for the student-run newspaper at the University of North Carolina, The Daily Tarheel, and after graduating went to WPVI in Philadelphia, where she worked for 31 years and co-anchored the morning, noon and 5 p.m. news, and also hosted the station’s political talk show, Inside Story.
Malpass earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Arts in political science from Villanova University. She has also received two honorary doctorates, from Neuman College and Peirce College, and was a Rotary International Scholar, among many other honors.
Journalism was not always on her mind. During spring break of her sophomore year of college, Malpass’s older brother, in a half-joking and half-serious way, said: “You know you talk a lot, why don’t you get into TV or something and get them to pay you?” She declared journalism as her major and volunteered for the school’s newspaper.
After many volunteering positions, not-so-well-paid internships, and rejection letters, she obtained a job as a part-time weekend reporter thanks to her ability to produce an audition tape on the spot, even if it was a bad story. She doesn’t take “no” as a definite, more like a maybe or a down the road. “I really want my students to learn how to hang in there in the face of negativity,” said Malpass.
Malpass transitioned to freelancing four years ago. She always wanted to live in New York City. For Malpass, it was about career growth and broadcasting nationally and internationally.
Besides being a Hunter professor, Malpass is a business anchor at NASDAQ and New To The Street, a business news contributor for Broadcast Retirement Network, and a freelance magazine writer.
“What I really want to teach is, you must believe in yourself and have grit,” she says, noting that making it in journalism requires more than just courage, but also the ability to hear “both good advice and bad, to know how to filter it, and to still believe in yourself and plow ahead.”
