English major elected to National Humanities Center Leadership Council

Adventuresome notions of zookeeping, law enforcing, firefighting, doctoring humans or pets, driving a bus, or owning a shop tantalize many 5-year-olds’ minds. Then adulthood sets in, and people often find themselves pursuing passions different from what they imagined during childhood.

But this is not the case with Julie Deacon.

Why it matters

Since her early childhood, the Virginia Tech junior who is majoring in creative writing and minoring in international studies hoped her path would involve writing. That lifelong dream is finding new validation. The National Humanities Center Leadership Council in November accepted Deacon into its membership.

“Julie is a great example of a dedicated student who knows where she wants to go,” said Laura Belmonte, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, “and with her love of writing and journalism, she is the perfect ambassador for the humanities when it comes to representing Virginia Tech in this highly competitive role on the leadership council.”

The leadership council, housed in the nonprofit National Humanities Center at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, helps prepare select students with humanities-based leadership skills. These young scholars are from institutions that are center sponsors. Universities nominate them to the council ranks.

Elected students participate in round tables and discussion sessions about the importance of humanistic perspectives in addressing the concerns of contemporary society. They then embark on a semester-long research project, which they will present at a symposium later in the year. After this, they work on other initiatives and career development.

War zone research

Deacon’s focus with her research project involves the extent to which journalism is justifiable in war zones, examining different perspectives on peace coverage and its benefits and detriments.

She will interview journalists and spend time in historical collections.

“In terms of the main focus for the research project, I’ll be able to utilize a lot of past information in archives for firsthand accounts. The American Red Cross archive database has a lot of information on war journalists and peace coverage, as does the National Archives,” she said. “I can use these archives to help build my research project with information from United States wars and worldwide conflicts that involved journalists living on assignment in war zones, and hopefully I’ll be able to get first-hand references from different established journalists. There are so many more resources than I ever thought there would be about such a focused topic.”

Although she is not sure she will pursue this avenue of journalism, she became intrigued with the idea after talking to editor Michael Marshall at the Crozet Gazette, a community newspaper in Virginia where Deacon works as a freelance writer. When she first met him, he mentioned wanting to be a foreign correspondent at the start of his career. Deacon thought that sounded fascinating.

“It’s such an interesting perspective,” she said. “When we think about war, of course our minds naturally go to those directly involved in the fighting, but there are also those who report news and development to the general public. Media and communication are so influenced by how events are reported, where they’re reported, and who’s reporting them. I thought that’d be an interesting topic to dive into, and everything came together to make the role of journalism in war zones the focus of this research project. I’m thankful and excited that the National Humanities Center is giving me the resources to pursue it.”

Early career writing

The realities of a war zone are different from the types of journalism prevalent in Deacon’s writing experience. Currently, she is a digital media intern for the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Prior to this, when she first started at Virginia Tech, she wrote for the Collegiate Times and then segued to the newspaper in Crozet, Virginia.

Deacon also completed a bridge experience internship with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Virginia Tech. A bridge experience offers students an experiential learning opportunity, such as an internship, in exchange for credit toward graduation. For this, Deacon revised and edited content for student access and career development.

After deciding to pursue journalism, she began working for the Crozet Gazette in the summer of 2023 and continues to freelance for the publication.

The latter experience is one she finds fulfilling, delighting in opportunities to interact with a wide variety of people. These include  athletes who overcome personal challenges,  business owners, and an 85-year-old who was once a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press who reported on the American entertainment industry for predominantly foreign media markets. With the paper’s small team of seven employees, Deacon considers herself fortunate to be able to write alongside these more seasoned writers and that she can continue working for what started as a summer dream job.

“It’s been such a great experience working for a local paper,” she said. “You find out there’s always something to write and talk about, and interesting people to talk to everywhere you go.”

Humanities forward

Deacon finds her peers on the leadership council just as interesting. From Vanderbilt to Yale, there is a vast, diverse group of majors. These include neuroscience, engineering, the arts, and liberal arts, all engaged in propelling the humanities forward. In an age when STEM fields can dominate discussions of education and career prospects, Deacon’s experience at Virginia Tech and her work with the leadership council have made her optimistic about the enduring value of the humanities.

“I completely understand the desire to major in a discipline with guaranteed high pay and job security, but I don’t think those should be the sole reasons to earn your degree in something,” she said. “In my eyes, I think having the opportunity to come to college and choose how you might want to spend your future is an incredibly fortunate thing that we get to do, and it’s important that you focus on what you enjoy and what truly interests you.”

For Deacon, that career is writing. Her journey is one that bridges the divide between STEM and the humanities and speaks to the role of young leaders shaping a more empathetic and understanding world.