Dr. Mark Hilburn is an assistant principal at Millard West High School in Omaha, Neb., and adjunct professor in the College of Communication, Fine Arts, and Media at the University of Nebraska Omaha where he was named the 2026 Adjunct Professor of the Year. For 16 years, Mark taught journalism and advised the MWHS Wildcat News broadcast, Catalyst newspaper, Prowler yearbook, Uproar radio, and Wildcat Sports Network livestreaming. His publications have been Pacemaker, Crown, All-American, Best in Show and NSAA State Journalism Championship winners, the first school inducted into the NHSPA Cornhusker Hall of Fame, and Mark has advised four Nebraska Journalists of the Year. Mark was named the Nebraska Journalism Teacher of the Year in 2015, was the first adviser to receive the Dr. Sherrie Wilson Outstanding Service Award for Journalism in 2019, and the JEA Future Administrator Award in 2020. Mark is the past President of the Nebraska High School Press Association, presents and judges at national JEA/NSPA and CSPA conventions and teaches journalism workshops across the country. He holds a doctoral degree in Education Leadership, and two Master’s degrees, Journalism and Mass Communication and Secondary Education Curriculum and Instruction, from the University of Nebraska. Mark is looking forward to his 9th summer as a faculty adviser at WJMC.