The director of the Public Affairs Reporting program is Professor Jason R. Piscia, a 1998 PAR graduate who returned to the University of Illinois Springfield following a 21-year career at The State Journal-Register (SJ-R).

After completing his PAR internship with the SJ-R, the newspaper hired him as a general assignment reporter. He also covered higher education, business and city government before becoming the newspaper's first-ever online editor, in charge of managing the SJ-R's website. Piscia was then promoted to digital managing editor, directing coverage and overseeing production for both the SJ-R digital and print editions.

Under his direction, the SJ-R's website won numerous awards for excellence from the Illinois Press Association and Illinois Associated Press Media Editors.

In his role at the SJ-R, Piscia helped mentor and ultimately hired several PAR alumni.

A native of Peru, Illinois, Piscia holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication from Illinois State University, where he was a reporter and editor for the student newspaper, The Vidette.

In addition to being the main instructor for PAR courses, Piscia teaches classes about mass communication, political communication and media law.

Contact him at jason.piscia@uis.edu or (217) 206-7494.