The Knight-Wallace Fellows program has named 12 national journalists for 2005-06. Six international fellows will be designated next month.

While on leave from regular duties, Knight-Wallace fellows pursue custom-designed sabbatical studies and attend twice-weekly seminars at Wallace House—a gift from newsman and U-M alumnus Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary. The group is the 33rd to be offered fellowships by the University.

Fellows receive a stipend of $55,000, supported by gifts from news organizations, foundations and individuals committed to improving the quality of information reaching the public.

Fellows and their projects:

• John U. Bacon, freelance (his work has appeared in ESPN The Magazine, Fortune, The New York Times, Time and other publications). The American institution of collegiate athletics;

• Vanessa Bauza, Havana bureau chief, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Challenges facing democracy in Latin America;

• Jamie Butters, business and auto industry reporter, Detroit Free Press. China’s economic transition from communism to capitalism;

• Christopher Carey, business reporter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Criminal subculture in the U.S. securities industry;

• Charles Clover, Middle East and Africa page editor, Financial Times. The Russian idea of “Eurasianism”;

• Gail Gibson, national correspondent, The Baltimore Sun. The Supreme Court and free speech in wartime America;

• Vindu Goel, business editor, San Jose Mercury News. The impact of religion on politics;

• Graham Griffith, senior producer, WBUR (Boston). The impact of the 1994 Republican Revolution 10 years later;

• Drew Lindsay, features editor, The Washingtonian. Education and the new civil rights movement;

• Tony Norman, columnist and associate editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rumor, religion and reform in the African-American experience;

• Lisa Rapaport, reporter, Sacramento Bee. The business of healthcare for immigrants and the uninsured;

• Fara Warner, freelance (her work has appeared in Fast Company, The New York Times and other publications). China as an automotive superpower.

Professor Charles R. Eisendrath, program director, is a former foreign correspondent for Time Magazine with experience in print, broadcast and online journalism.