Medill Prof. Karen Springen said she has forged lifelong relationships with her students over a 21-year tenure at Northwestern, having served as a trusted mentor and confidante for many generations that have passed through the arch. As an homage to her advocacy for students, she has been colloquially dubbed the “Medill Mom,” a title that has withstood various graduating classes.
Springen’s humble nature belies a storied career in journalism. Prior to joining Medill faculty, she wrote for Newsweek for 24 years, covering breaking events like the Jeffrey Dahmer trial, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 1996 Olympics and the Unabomber. She was also among the first journalists to profile former first lady Michelle Obama during her husband’s Senate campaign.
The Daily sat down with Springen to chat about her career, insights on working at Medill for over two decades and developing longstanding bonds with her students.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Daily: You’ve been a Northwestern professor for nearly 21 years. What has kept you at NU for all of this time?
Prof. Karen Springen: I absolutely love Medill. Even though I didn’t go here, I feel like I’m up there on the purple pride. The students are so curious, which is the number one most important attribute for a journalist, and I learn from them as much as they learn from me. I also really like my fellow faculty. We have a really kind dean.
It’s also been nice to have been here in different ways. When I first started teaching here, I was working full time at Newsweek magazine, and I taught an 8 a.m. class. It’s been such a privilege to get to teach here full-time.
The Daily: Did you still live in Highland Park when you were teaching at 8 a.m.?
Prof. Karen Springen: Yes. Isn’t that wild? It was actually back then I also had two kids at home. It was a lot, but it was pretty wonderful, and I really realized how much I liked sharing with students why I love being a journalist. You want them to learn so they don’t make your mistakes. You want to share what you know without telling too many war stories. It’s like you get to be a lifelong learner.
You want to inspire them to be curious and inspire them to do stories on what interests them, inspire them to ask good questions. I had a teacher that said, “Take that extra step, make that extra call,” and I try to get students to do that.
I also want students to not judge themselves too harshly. I think it’s really easy when you’re at a school where people were valedictorians or newspaper editors-in-chief in high school to feel inferior. I just want to remind people, “It’s amazing you’re here.” There’s so many different ways you can shine here.
The Daily: What drew you to Northwestern as someone who was working in journalism professionally?
Prof. Karen Springen: It’s the best journalism school in town, for sure. I like how we’re not just theoretical, I like that students are actually pitching, reporting and writing stories, and that we’re helping them with all that through all the stages. It’s not just reading textbooks — it’s doing it. Since students are also getting a well rounded education at the same time, they’re interesting people.
One of the great honors here is when a student says, “I’m going to be in a performance, I wondered if you might want to come,” and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, yes.” Or later, when they graduate, and they say, “I’m getting married, I wonder if you might want to come,” and I’m like, “Yes!” I’ve been here a long time, so my students have gotten married and had babies and all that. I actually keep in touch with a surprising number of them. I’m honored when former students will call and ask my advice and I get to be a lifelong teacher or mentor to them.
The Daily: You covered breaking news stories, including serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 1996 Olympics and the Unabomber. How did you maintain composure when covering such horrific events?
Prof. Karen Springen: Back in the day, Newsweek did team reporting, so it wasn’t all just on one person. We were lucky that there’d be a whole bunch of people on the team for all those big stories. It was almost like a support group.
Jeffrey Dahmer lasted for a while for us, but you still got to do other kinds of stories — it was a mix. I actually always say to students that life is a mix. We have some gloomy things happen, but then some funny things. That helped us when we covered some of those tragic stories. You would not be covering a tragic story nonstop. I think sometimes people just think of how journalists are in some movies and they forget that we can be human too.
The Daily: You were among the first journalists to cover former first lady Michelle Obama for Chicago Magazine in 2004. What was that experience like?
Prof. Karen Springen: First of all, she was lovely. I had pitched this story and originally asked someone I knew at the University of Chicago press office, where she had worked, how I’d go about setting it up, and he had said go through the campaign. The campaign PR was handling Barack Obama running for Senate, because this was back in 2004.
Then I got my hour in her house. A Medill alum and Newsweek friend was my editor, Jennifer Tanaka. I remember Jennifer wrote the headline “First Lady in Waiting.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh, are you sure we should say that?” And of course it ended up true.
The Daily: You’re known to some students as the Medill Mom. Can you tell me a little bit about that title and where it originated?
Prof. Karen Springen: The first person who called me their Medill Mom was a wonderful former student named Catie L’Heureux. She was the managing editor of New York Magazine’s The Cut. She made it possible for Medill Journalism Residency students to do their Journalism Residency internships at The Cut. Because of her, so many amazing careers were launched. So it’s an honor to me that Catie L’Heureux started that title.
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