Mike Foley

Mike Foley is a veteran newspaper editor and executive now on the faculty of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

After nearly 30 years with the Times Publishing Company, which publishes the St. Petersburg Times, the largest newspaper in Florida, he joined the faculty in August 2003 as a master Lecturer in the journalism department. Foley’s classes focus on news reporting and writing.

He was appointed the first Hugh Cunningham Professor in Journalism Excellence in May 2006 and was honored as UF’s Teacher of the Year for 2006-2007.

He has been involved in a wide variety of industry and community service, including serving as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes, president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, judge for the Hearst Foundation College Writing Awards and as a trustee of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Florida.

He earned a bachelor’s degree (with honors) from the University of Florida in 1970 and received his master’s in mass communication from UF in 2004. He was selected as a Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Journalism and Communications in 1994. He has served on the college’s advisory council. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration in 1991 by Tampa College.

He plays bass guitar in Suzette Jennings and Moodswingz, a band that plays jazz, Motown and R&B.