Alumni & Giving

Distinguished Alumni honors, more accolades

It is challenging keeping formal tabs on the vast number of Journalism graduates – 7,000 alumni and counting – since CSUNs inception in 1958. Still, CSUN Journalism faculty, staff and students maintain strong and longstanding ties to the profession at regional and national news and media outlets and organizations, public relations agencies, non-profit foundation and in many other careers.

Some are well-known and actively involved in the Department and University, such as these notables: Bill Griffeth, Julio Cesar Ortiz, Milton G. Valera and Bill Imada (CSUN Human Resources Management). Journalism grads also include CNBC Anchor at Large Sue Herera, former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and Keith Weaver, executive vice president of Global Policy and External Affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Several have received CSUN’s Distinguished Alumni Awards. Hundreds more alumni are well represented across the spectrum of both legacy and news media outlets not just in Los Angeles but across the U.S. and around the world. Alumni, like Spanish-language multimedia journalist Daniel Ramirez, also make periodic stops in campus newsrooms to meet and mentor current students.

Julio Cortez, an Associated Press photographer based in Baltimore, MD, is a frequent contributor, leading workshops for The Sundial staff and speaking at Department scholastic journalism outreach events, such as the annual CSUN High School Journalism Day, held each fall and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times’ High School Insider, the Southern California Journalism Education Association and the Society of Professional Journalists’ LA chapter. 

Cortez and fellow alumnus Ringo Chiu won Pulitzer Prizes in 2021 for their coverage of the aftermath of the May 2020 death of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.

Lupita Baltazar, 2023 graduating senior and member of the inaugural Telemundo Local Academy class, was featured in an NBC Los Angeles piece, highlighting challenges as a first-generation college student.

Julio Cortez, an Associated Press photographer based in Baltimore, MD, is a frequent contributor, leading workshops for The Sundial staff and speaking at Department scholastic journalism outreach events, such as the annual CSUN High School Journalism Day, held each fall and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times’ High School Insider, the Southern California Journalism Education Association and the Society of Professional Journalists’ LA chapter.

Prominent alumni also include broadcasters: Veronica Rocha, Barbara Starr, Amber Partida, all working for or veterans of CNN, as well as A Martinez, one of the hosts at NPR’s Morning Edition; TYT Network’s Ana Kasparian; KNBC-4 Los Angeles reporter and anchor Jonathan Gonzalez; Wall Street Journal reporter Adolfo Flores; Los Angeles Times’ reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Pringle; U.S. Rep. Tony Cardenas’ communications director Clarissa Rojas; NWEA’s senior director, Strategic Communications and Marketing Lida Alikhani; Adriana Chavira, adviser for the Pearl Post at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, and Cary Osborne, manager, Alumni Relations and Editor of Publications for the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

This ongoing and active connection includes inviting alumni and other news and related media and public relations professionals to campus for events and activities, such as the annual Journalism Career Day, held each March, Speed Mentoring and the annual CSUN High School Journalism Day, both offered in Fall.

One example, alumnus Dan Weidman, managing director of Enterprise Internal Communication at Union Bank in Los Angeles, routinely appears as a guest speaker and is a key member of the CSUN Public Relations Advisory Council, launched in February 2018. Other alums on the council include grads Trevor Chapman and Sydnee Grossman.

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