Ron Coddington

Before joining the staff in 2010, he served as art director of USA Today, where he led a creative team in the development of breaking-news and long-term projects. Coddington began his career as a staff artist with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has also served as assistant art director of the San Jose Mercury News and was part of the staff awarded the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for general news reporting of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and its aftermath. He has also worked for Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services, where he participated in the development KRT Europe and KRT Interactive.

Coddington has appeared as a speaker at the Poynter Institute, the Society for News Design, the Online News Association, and other venues. He has participated as a judge for the Online News Association, Society for News Design, and other competitions.

Stories by This Author

News

‘My Gut Response Is Fear and Dread’: Thoughts on Returning to Campus This Fall

By Fernanda Zamudio-Suarez, Ron Coddington June 1, 2020

Many colleges plan to resume in-person instruction in August or September. Some faculty and staff members aren’t so sure.

Adjunct Voices

An Adjunct’s Balancing Act Has Its Ups and Downs

By Ron Coddington January 2, 2014

Desiree Robertson says the way in which she has to divide her time slows her growth as a professor.

Adjunct Voices

An Adjunct Wonders When It’s Time to Stop Chasing the Dream

By Ron Coddington November 14, 2013

Joe Fruscione has been trying for years to land a tenure-track faculty job, without success. Now he’s on the verge of giving up.

Adjunct Voices

An ‘Indefinite’ Adjunct Sees Progress, and Tensions, at His University

By Ron Coddington October 1, 2013

“A lot of adjuncts don’t know if they’ll have a job, if they’ll have income from one semester to another. That’s a big source of stress,” explains C.N. Le, a senior lecturer at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Adjunct Voices

An Adjunct Struggles to Get on the Tenure Track

By Ron Coddington July 17, 2013

“You can see these other full-time professor positions, and you’re qualified for them,” says Shannon Berry, an adjunct, but the rigors of earning a living don’t leave her time to finish her dissertation.

Adjunct Voices

An Adjunct, Unable to Make Tenure Track, Embraces Plan B

By Ron Coddington March 11, 2013

Hoping for tenure is “like moving to New York City and trying to become a dancer on Broadway,” says Matt Thompson, of Old Dominion University.

Adjunct Voices

An Optimistic Adjunct on the Economic Edge

By Ron Coddington December 21, 2012

Rob Balla teaches up to eight classes a semester on as many as four campuses in northeastern Ohio. “This is the best job I’ve had. I honestly like it,” he says. But Mr. Balla and his family live on the economic edge: “I can’t remember the last time I actually went and saw a doctor. We go to school…

News

How a For-Profit Pace Can Increase Student-Loan Debt

By Goldie Blumenstyk, Ron Coddington October 15, 2010

A student who adheres to a strict 12-credits-per-quarter pace over five years and borrows the maximum student-loan amounts can incur an extra $12,500 in debt compared with a 15-credit, four-year plan.

News

One Math Course, Variously Valued Within a Single University System

By Sara Lipka, Ron Coddington October 15, 2010

A student who completed Technical Mathematics I at Bronx Community College and tried to transfer its credits would get markedly different results at the City University of New York system’s 11 senior colleges. And an attempt to transfer one “equivalent” course would reflect even more discrepancies.

News

30 Ways to Rate a College

By Alex Richards, Ron Coddington August 29, 2010

There’s no real consensus among college-ranking systems as to what makes an institution great. But almost nobody checks into student outcomes.