Biography

Traci Peterson joined UT Arlington after 13 years as a newspaper reporter in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. She has covered law enforcement and public safety in Missouri and in Arkansas, where she also reported on state social services and the prison system. In 2004, she won two statewide journalism awards for stories about deaths at a state-run, long-term care facility in Arkansas. Traci moved to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2005 and covered breaking news in Fort Worth and community groups and schools in Arlington. She earned a 2009 Texas State Teachers Association School Bell Award and was named to the Texas Association of School Boards Media Honor Roll in 2010. Traci graduated from Drury University in Springfield, Mo., with a bachelor's degree in English. She lives in Arlington.

Beats

• Science, health and sustainability issues, College of Science, College of Education and Health Professions (Kinesiology)