Rudder Tower

The Battalion's top editors will moderate a Sept. 23 conversation with ABC News' Mireya Villarreal (https://www.dgepress.com/abcnews/bios/mireya-villareal/) about her career journey and accomplishments in journalism. Villarreal, an award-winning national correspondent for the television network, started her broadcast career as a sports reporter in South Texas. She advanced to investigative reporting in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, joined CBS News and now works for ABC covering prominent news stories primarily in the southern region.  Battalion Editor-in-Chief Amy Leigh Steward and Managing Editor Nicholas Gutteridge will lead the discussion with Villarreal beginning at 9:10 a.m. in Rudder Tower, Room 501. Gutteridge is a finalist (https://studentpress.org/acp/2024/08/29/2024-reporter-of-the-year-finalists/) this year for the Associated Collegiate Press reporter of the year. The discussion is open to the public and Texas A&M journalism majors and minors are encouraged to attend. Villarreal's reporting can be seen across all ABC programs and platforms, including "World News Tonight with David Muir," "Good Morning America," "ABC News Live Prime" and "Nightline." In Texas, she's known for her on-the-ground reporting of the Uvalde school shooting, her coverage of the U.S. - Mexico border and her storytelling about the disappearance and death of Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen. She also was part of an ABC News team that won a 2024 duPont-Columbia Award for "The Power of Water (https://dupont.org/abc-environmental-reporting-credits)", a special that focused on the impact of climate change. In 2023, she won the 2023 NAHJ ñ Award for her work with the "ABC News Live Prime" team on an investigative special, "THC: The Human Cost (https://ondemand.abcnews.com/playback/abcnews/2023/09/230913_abc_awards_NAHJ_LIVE_THC_SPECIAL_2500.mp4)," which focused on human trafficking in the Pacific Northwest in illegal marijuana farms. Villarreal's reporting accolades include three Lone Star Emmys, several AP award and she was part of a team that won the 2020 Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast for in-depth and exclusive coverage from the U.S.- Mexico border. Before joining ABC News in 2021, Villarreal served as a national correspondent at CBS News for seven years, covering the Western and Southern regions.

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