Linthicum majored in political science at Vanderbilt, where he served as the founding editor of Versus magazine and managing editor for one semester. He also worked as a staff writer for The Vanderbilt Hustler student newspaper and co-founded the campus Army ROTC newspaper.

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A veteran journalist with more than 50 years of experience, Linthicum served as executive editor and vice president of The Daily Record in Maryland from 2006-12, leading the paper to recognition as the best news organization of its size in the U.S. and winning more than 300 local, regional, and national awards.

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He spent 28 years at The Baltimore Sun in various roles, including assistant to the publisher, metropolitan editor, and director of Maryland news coverage. He also founded TDL Group Inc., providing training and consulting to media organizations that included The Poynter Institute and American Press Institute.

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Recently serving as president of the Board of Trustees for the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association Foundation, Linthicum has taught as an adjunct journalism instructor at the University of Maryland for 22 years, winning a Faculty Mentor Award in 2019. He is also the author of “A Man Called Mark: The Biography of Bishop Mark Dyer.”

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Carter majored in classics at Vanderbilt, graduating cum laude in 1974. He worked as sports staff writer for both The Hustler and The Commodore yearbook from 1970-74, alongside future notable writers including Skip Bayless and John Bloom (Joe Bob Briggs). He also served as an assistant in athletics media relations.

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A veteran of more than 50 years in college media relations, Carter currently serves as a National Football Foundation consultant and executive director of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors Hall of Fame in 2005.

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His career has included leadership roles at the Big 12 Conference as director of media relations, the Southwest Conference as assistant commissioner, and Mississippi State University as sports information director. He has covered 30 NCAA Baseball World Series, six NCAA Basketball Final Fours, and 84 postseason football games.

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Carter holds an MA in journalism from the University of North Texas, where he was a President's Scholar. He has authored multiple books, including “Tales from Aggieland” and “Dizzy: Dean of Baseball and My Podnah.”

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Muchnick served as editor-in-chief of The Hustler from 1974 to 1975, leading the paper through notable investigative work, including an investigation of the politicization of the Vanderbilt Television News Archive that garnered national attention through coverage in TV Guide.

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A career independent journalist and investigative reporter, Muchnick has focused on exposing the darker aspects of American sports culture. The most recent of his five books published by ECW Press is “UNDERWATER: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and Around the Globe.”

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His investigations have prompted journalistic and official action in multiple countries, including the United States, Ireland, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. He has successfully defended against two lawsuits attempting to suppress his investigative work and won a Freedom of Information Act case against the Department of Homeland Security.

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“Muckraking can be lonely work, but it can also be rewarding, in mostly non-monetary ways, if your boss — in this case, myself — doesn't pay you enough to pull punches,” Muchnick said.

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He also was lead respondent in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, which affirmed the economic rights of freelancers in new technologies.

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The late legendary sportswriter Frank Deford praised his work, saying, “Irv Muchnick produces magnificent investigative journalism.” His connection to Vanderbilt Student Communications remains strong through his “lifelong bond with VSC advisor and mentor Jim Leeson,” to whom he dedicated “CONCUSSION INC.: The End of Football As We Know It.”

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Schone majored in philosophy at Vanderbilt and went on to earn an MA in communications from the University of Georgia. His first published work appeared in Vanderbilt’s Versus magazine, which sparked his interest in a journalism career. He has built an impressive career as an editor and investigative journalist with expertise in national security, crime, culture, and politics.

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Most recently serving as managing editor for digital investigations in the NBC News Investigative Unit, Schone has won or shared in a variety of journalism awards, including Sigma Delta Chis, Emmys and the Peabody. He was previously digital managing editor for the ABC News Investigative Unit, ran political coverage for Salon.com through two election cycles, and was a long-time senior contributing writer to Spin magazine.

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Schone is also the co-author of the 2002 national bestseller “Son of a Grifter,” which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to dozens of publications ranging from the New York Times to Rolling Stone to Harper's Bazaar to the radio show “This American Life.”

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He spent three years as an adjunct professor at NYU's journalism graduate school, teaching in the Cultural Reporting and Criticism curriculum. His 15 years of freelance experience demonstrate his versatility across multiple forms of journalism and media.

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Peebles served as editor-in-chief of The Hustler in 1994, leading the paper into the digital age by establishing its first email address for letters to the editor. She also was co-editor of “Ripple,” the paper's weekly arts magazine section. Despite having no prior journalism experience, she quickly developed her skills through mentorship from fellow students.

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“Finally, one evening as final exams neared, as I typed in my story on a computer at the Hustler office, the assignments editor, Ana Alfonso, was there, and I told her I hadn't been able to figure out how to write something that didn't get a thorough rewrite,” she said. “In about five minutes, she explained to me what I now know as the inverted pyramid. ... That one conversation changed my whole life.”

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Currently serving as a data reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Peebles specializes in investigative journalism. She was part of the team that won a 2022 IRE Award for the “Dangerous Dwellings” series, which prompted tougher requirements for landlords throughout Georgia.

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Her work has led to significant policy changes, including the overhaul of sexual harassment policies in Georgia state government and the creation of the first-ever database of police use-of-force deaths in Georgia. She previously worked at The Washington Examiner, Texas Watchdog, and The Tennessean.

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“I wouldn't be in this field at all had I not gotten the chance to write for The Hustler despite having no prior experience or training whatsoever in journalism,” she said.

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Robbins majored in communications with a minor in piano performance at Vanderbilt, where her involvement in student media transformed her career trajectory. At Vanderbilt Television, she served as station manager for two years, business manager, and news reporter, while also creating and producing “The Bubble,” a popular weekly news/comedy show that helped revitalize the station.

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“The shift over to camera happened while working at VTV because there was one day I was going to shoot a full segment that I was putting together and my camera guy didn't show up,” she said. “The station manager at the time gave me a crash course on the camera, showed me how to use it, showed me the iris ... it wasn't automatic. And so I went out, shot my own little piece. (I thought) This is actually pretty fun. I ended up enjoying the technical and the camera side of it more than being in front of the camera.”

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During her tenure as station manager, Robbins transformed VTV from a struggling channel primarily showing syndicated content into an active production hub. She expanded original programming, built a team of content creators, and established systems that increased content creation.

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Today, Robbins serves as cinematographer for Netflix's “Bridgerton” (Seasons 3 & 4) and was the first full-time female cinematographer for Shondaland. Her major productions include “Grey's Anatomy” (ABC), where she served as lead cinematographer for one season and pioneered new COVID-19-safe filming techniques, and “Keep Breathing” (Netflix).

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“We had to reinvent the wheel on how to shoot because we had to keep everybody safe on set,” she said about her work on Grey's Anatomy. “That whole season, season 17 is the COVID Grey's Anatomy. No one got COVID on that set.”

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Robbins holds an MFA in cinematography from the American Film Institute and has won the Emerging Cinematographer Award from the Local 600 Camera Union.

Wolken majored in communication studies at Vanderbilt, where he served as editor-in-chief, sports editor, reporter, and copy editor at The Hustler. His commitment to the paper extended throughout his entire undergraduate career.

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“Almost from the day I stepped foot on campus until the time I left, my life revolved around The Hustler,” he said. “From writing to copy editing, recruiting people to work for us or pasting up the boards to take to the printer twice a week, it was my education, social life and fraternity.”

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Currently serving as a national columnist at USA TODAY since 2012, Wolken has covered six Olympic Games, five Super Bowls, 12 College Football Championship Games, and 16 Final Fours. His coverage areas include college sports, the NBA, the Olympics, horse racing, and tennis.

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“Sometimes, I look back in amazement at the scope of my career and the stuff I've been able to do in an era where there is so much specialization,” he said.

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In 2024, Wolken published his first book, “Cocomania,” a young adult nonfiction title about Coco Gauff's rise in tennis and US Open victory. Prior to USA Today, he worked at The Daily, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Colorado Springs Gazette, and Charlotte Observer.

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Shaw majored in communications at Vanderbilt, where he served as station manager at Vanderbilt Television during his senior year and executive producer and host of “Vanderbilt Sports Weekly.” He also worked as a sports columnist and reporter for The Hustler.

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During his tenure as station manager, Shaw led VTV through a significant technological transformation, securing funding to digitize the station's operations and enabling students to edit content from their dorm rooms.

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“My experience at VTV put me ahead of the curve for a career in sports broadcasting as I had learned about how technology can drive a media experience,” he said.

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Shaw most recently launched the Chicago Sports Network, the official broadcaster of the Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox as the Chief Revenue Officer. Shaw has built a career at the intersection of sports, media, and technology. He previously spent nearly 10 years at Meta as Director and Head of Global Sports Media Partnerships, working across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Quest.

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Shaw also holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and has consistently been at the forefront of sports media innovation throughout his career.

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Blaine majored in political science at Vanderbilt, where he served as news editor and reporter at The Hustler. He started through VSC's Media Immersion program and broke significant stories, including an investigation into discrimination at a campus Christian fraternity that sparked years-long debate about religious freedom and LGBTQ+ rights.

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“My sophomore year, I had caught a tip through some friends that the Christian fraternity on campus had basically forced someone out for coming out as gay,” he said. “It turned out to be a year or two-year-long issue at the school. It started a huge uproar among social conservatives who started putting money behind radio ads in Nashville.”

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Blaine is an executive producer of Playbook at Politico in Washington, D.C. He previously served as managing editor for politics at CNN, where he led coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign and helped produce the historic general election debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. He was part of the team winning an Overseas Press Club award for breaking news coverage of the October 7 attack in Israel.

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“I came in pre-med, I mean that went out the door real quick,” he said. “But this student media thing, I mean, I was like am I crazy? I'm gonna go into journalism. But I decided to follow it through.”

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Prior to CNN, he worked at BuzzFeed News as deputy political editor and ABC News as associate producer in the Washington bureau.

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