Voice Media Group announced today that Joe Pappalardo

has been named editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer.

The job will represent a homecoming for Pappalardo, who

worked as a staff writer at the Observer in the early aughts

before beginning a career with national magazines.

A 1995 graduate of the journalism school at the University

of Missouri, Pappalardo cut his teeth as a reporter at the

Mexico City Times, the Associated Press and the Corpus-

Christi Caller-Times before moving to the Observer.

He then went on to serve as associate editor for National

Defense magazine, associate editor for Smithsonian Air &

Space magazine, and senior editor for news at Popular

Mechanics.

During his seven years at Popular Mechanics, Pappalardo

traveled to Afghanistan, Moscow and French Guiana on

assignment, penning long-form features while also helping

the magazine make a highly successful transition to daily

digital publishing. While at Air & Space, he also authored

the non-fiction book Sunflowers: The Secret History, which

was described by Entertainment Weekly as a “compulsively

readable” account of how sunflowers – yes, sunflowers –

have shaped human history.

Pappalardo made his way back to Dallas last year, and has

continued to freelance for Popular Mechanics and

American Way magazine.

He’ll start at the Observer on December 7.