Iowa State University’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication will welcome new faculty member Tony Moton, assistant teaching professor, in August of 2023.
Moton will address teaching, research and service in sports media at the undergraduate level.
“Moton brings a wealth of professional experience in sports media to the Greenlee School team. I look forward to our students meeting him this semester and seeing the amazing content they will produce under his instruction.” said Michael Dahlstrom, director of the Greenlee school.
Moton holds a bachelor’s in humanities/mass communications from Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), a master’s in journalism/news editorial from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an MFA from the University of California-Los Angeles in screenwriting.
An award-winning journalist and screenwriter, he has earned journalism honors for sports feature writing from the Nevada Press Association (twice) and investigative reporting from the Kansas City Press Club. In 2003, he received a prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award while at UCLA for his feature-length screenplay “All Bets Are On,” about a Little League baseball player’s relationship with his charismatic but ill-fated grandfather. Famed director Francis Ford Coppola is among previous Samuel Goldwyn Awards winners. Moton maintains his screenwriting pursuits with several projects in development.
“I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the Iowa State family,” Moton said. “I want to help make sports media a destination major for students who dream of working in one of the hottest and fastest-growing industries we have to offer.”
Moton writes regularly for Nebraska Quarterly Magazine, an alumni publication of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his contributions include feature stories about Stu Lantz, the long-time TV color commentator of the Los Angeles Lakers; the growing presence of emotional support animals (ESAs) on college campuses and the impact of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) on the Nebraska campus.
He previously has worked as a sportswriter, columnist and investigative reporter in Des Moines, Minneapolis, the Quad Cities, Omaha, Louisville, Kansas City and Las Vegas. Among his major beats were the Chicago White Sox, the former Minnesota North Stars, the music industry and pop culture. He also has been an on-air talk radio host, a TV sports magazine host and a journalism professor at Drake University.
Before coming to Iowa State, Moton taught at Wartburg College, where he specialized in sports media, helping to orchestrate Knight Vision and streaming sports productions and taught courses in sports media, newswriting and broadcasting. He developed and advised Knight Vision’s 30-minute “Fall Sports Special,” which received a Crystal Pillar for outstanding achievement in the College Sports Program category from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Upper Midwest Chapter. The award was presented at the 2023 Student Production Awards ceremony in Minneapolis last March.
Moton’s official start date is Aug. 14, 2023, and his office is in Hamilton Hall.