CINCINNATI – The Scripps Howard Foundation has named five investigative journalists to its latest class of Roy W. Howard fellows. The fellows will spend a year getting hands-on experience working at nonprofit newsrooms across the country.
The nonprofit newsrooms hosting the fellows during the program are: Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, Flatwater Free Press, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, InvestigateWest and Public Health Watch.
Created in partnership with the Howard family, the fellowships honor Roy W. Howard, former chairman of the Scripps Howard newspaper chain and a pioneering news reporter whose relentless pursuit of the news took him around the world, spurred innovation and helped lay the groundwork for modern journalism.
The fellowships, awarded biannually, are given to graduates of the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland, which were established in 2018.
This class of fellows all graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism program, culminating with a capstone experience producing a national investigation in the Cronkite School’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.
The ninth class of Roy W. Howard fellows:
Sam Ellefson, an investigative journalist from Phoenix, is joining the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for his Roy W. Howard fellowship year. Ellefson’s reporting has focused on law enforcement employment practices in the Southwest borderlands and the repatriation of Native American remains and funeral objects in Arizona. He completed a Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He has been an investigative reporter at ASU’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism; a labor reporter at the Copper Courier; the editor-in-chief of State Press Magazine; and a contributing writer for Arizona Highways Magazine. A dual citizen of Sweden and the U.S., Ellefson aspires to report from Scandinavia in the future.
Aspen Ford, an award-winning investigative journalist with a passion for data and collaboration, will be joining InvestigateWest as that news organization’s first Roy W. Howard fellow. Ford has experience reporting on Indigenous affairs, the environment and police accountability. She recently earned her Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and holds a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma with a double major in Spanish and media studies. Ford began her journalism career at The Oklahoman and is a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
Christopher Lomahquahu, an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community, is the new Roy W. Howard fellow at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. He graduated with a Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. A first-generation college graduate, Lomahquahu holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Social Work from Arizona State University. In his 11-year journalism career, he has covered culture, sports, education and government affairs. He was part of an award-winning investigation into the Native American Grave and Repatriation Act, focusing on two of Arizona’s institutions and its collections at Arizona State University and the Arizona State Museum.
Eshaan Sarup graduated in December 2024 with their Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU. During this program, they worked on investigative projects published by ICT, USA Today and Honolulu Civil Beat. They also interned at the Arizona Republic and Times of San Diego. Sarup holds an undergraduate degree in public policy from the University of Virginia and freelanced for multiple papers Charlottesville, Virginia. They will be joining Public Health Watch in January as that news organization’s first Roy W. Howard fellow.
Joshua Shimkus graduated with his Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism from Arizona State University in December 2023. He worked on several award-winning stories and projects during his time there, including wasteful state spending on a makeshift border wall, the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the impacts of lithium mining in the United States. Following graduation, Shimkus reported for the Quad-City Times, a daily newspaper serving the Quad-Cities region in Iowa and Illinois. Prior to his career in journalism, he was a farmhand, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, a congressional staffer on Capitol Hill and an AmeriCorps volunteer. Shimkus joins the Flatwater Free Press in January as its Roy W. Howard fellow.
The Scripps Howard Foundation is a private foundation established in 1962 to advance charitable causes important to The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) and the Scripps and Howard families. The Foundation is dedicated to creating informed and engaged communities through journalism education.