Bracey Harris
OXFORD, Miss. – Bracey Harris of Byram is slated to graduate May 10 from the University of Mississippi with an impressive record of achievement, including two recent prestigious national journalism fellowships.
Majoring in broadcast journalism in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, with a minor in business administration, Harris was awarded a CBC-UNC Diversity Fellowship and a fellowship to attend the New York Times Student Journalism Institute.
The former was an intensive weeklong workshop, held in March at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The annual competitive fellowship opportunity, for 12 top students from throughout the nation, is led by UNC journalism faculty and professionals at Capitol Broadcasting Co.’s WRAL in Raleigh. The program is geared toward seniors and graduate students finishing their programs and pursuing careers as producers, reporters, photojournalists and online editors.
The workshop provided valuable hands-on experience, said Harris, who is a student in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and a Luckyday Scholar.
“I trained as a producer at WRAL-TV, a CBS affiliate,” she said. “At the end of the week, I produced a newscast that was put on by fellows in the program.”
In late May, Harris travels to Dillard University in New Orleans for the New York Times Institute. The institute selects 24 student journalists from throughout the nation to cover real news for two weeks under the leadership of staff from The New York Times, The Boston Globe and the host university.
“I will be responsible for writing an enterprise story about New Orleans,” Harris said. “By the end of the program, we will produce a newspaper. I have seen copies of past publications and can tell the expectations are high. What’s really exciting is that the paper will contain The New York Times masthead.”
The work is in line with her career aspirations, she said.
“Ultimately, I want to produce in-depth multimedia projects,” she said. “Writing and telling stories is what makes me happy.”
Considering Harris’ impressive student resume, reflecting the skills she has gained over her four years at Ole Miss, there’s no doubt she is ready to compete not only at the institute but also in the job market.
At the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center, manned by journalism students, Harris is multimedia editor of The Daily Mississippian newspaper and a former anchor for the live half-hour television broadcast “NewsWatch.”
In summer 2012, Harris and two other Meek School students, enrolled in a magazine writing class, taught by Dean Will Norton, producing a publication with students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. She was named Best Magazine Writer by the Southeast Journalism Conference, and her internships include print and television work in Jackson.
“Bracey is a student with strong journalistic ability and uncommon insight into human behavior,” Norton said. “She is a person of integrity whose work reflects her character.”
Listed on the Chancellor’s Honor Roll, Harris is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the university’s highest academic honor across all disciplines, and she belongs to Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society. She was secretary of the Columns Society, a group of 24 students who serve as official hosts for the university, and she has served on the Judicial Board for Panhellenic and risk chair for her sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.
As Harris looks back on her four years at Ole Miss, she recalls her first attraction to the Oxford campus.
“I came to the campus my sophomore year in high school for the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association and immediately fell in love with it,” she said. “After attending the MOST conference as a senior, my mind was set. I had the opportunity to talk with current students and admission employees and ask important questions. When I left, I knew that Ole Miss was the place where I wanted to spend perhaps the four most important years of my life.”
A graduate of Terry High School, she is the daughter of Rozelia Harris and the late Frederick Harris, both natives of Vicksburg.