Department of Journalism CSU, Chico
PART II
SECTION 11
GRADUATES/ALUMNI
Appendix: Comm and Journalism Times newsletters; Report on alumni in Appendix, Section 3
1. How many students have been graduated from the unit since the college or
university first offered a professional program?
Before the fall of 1990, students at CSU, Chico could earn a degree in communication
studies with an emphasis in news-editorial or public relations. There are no records to
indicate how many graduates had an emphasis in news-editorial or public relations. From
1991, when the department first awarded degrees, to 2002, 749 students received bachelor
degrees in journalism.
2. List by specialty each member of the graduating journalism class of 2000 (spring,
summer, winter) and those graduate's current jobs.
Public Relations
Bingham, Heather, Rae, account coordinator, Ogilvy Public Relations
Davis, Steven, account coordinator, The Hoffman Agency
Hall, Lindsay, senior account executive, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Hadreas,
Phillip, M., did not reply to survey
Binion, Daniel, A., staff reporter, The Gridley Herald, PR
Bowden, Jaime, N., copy editor/page designer, North County Times/Howard Pubs.
Bryant, Adam, J., director of corporate sales, Billings Mustangs Baseball Club
Burrough, Jessica, R., did not reply to survey
Cannuli, Amy, M., senior account executive, Ann Hill Communications
Chen, Hsin-Ni, graduate school
Choudhari, Aparna, account executive, Applied Communications
Cooley, Jennifer, L., did not reply to survey
Crawford, Jennifer, M., did not reply to survey
Downey, Justina, M., did not reply to survey
Ewen, Erika, L., public relations coordinator, Maloof Sports & Entertainment Freitas,
Jessica, L., did not reply to survey
Williams, Melissa, K., did not reply to survey
Valavanis, Alisha, A., graduate student
Thilmony, Marcia, M., marketing coordinator, Impact Marketing Associates Nabulsi,
Omar, H., did not reply to survey
Nelson, Jennifer, B., did not reply to survey
Milne, Heather, A., public relations manager, Redding Medical Center,
McGee, Casey, A., associate account executive, Waggener Edstrom Strategic
Communications
Lyde, Tamara, A., did not reply to survey
Kresky, Elizabeth, B., advertising account executive, Monterey County Coast Weekly
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Ginder, Erin, M., account coordinator, Manning, Selvage & Lee
Krain, Ethan, L., did not reply to survey
Henderson, Stephanie, J., did not reply to survey
Fucanan, Chris, B., client executive, Voce Communications
Garing, Valerie, J., account executive, InterActive Public Relations Guzman,
Nicole, R., recruitment coordinator, Cisco Systems
Gelke, Richard, J., did not reply to survey
Bruce, Matthew, W., outside sales, Dynamic Details, Inc.
Staples, Andrew, J., did not reply to survey
Rogers, Kevin, R., did not reply to survey
Hampton, Jennifer, did not reply to survey
Stephens, Victoria, N., business owner/freelance writer
Broussard, Nicole, R., copywriter, Ambassadors Performance Group
McGaughey, Katryn, N, client executive, Voce Communications Williams,
Lacey, did not reply to survey
Stratton, Lisa, account coordinator, Hill & Knowlton
Geissman, Matt, , assistant account executive, Bock Communications
Eisenlauer, Elise, A., associate account executive, George P. Johnson Co.
Belcher, Christine, Syau Yuen, did not reply to survey
Blair, Amanda, L., did not reply to survey
Hill, Kristen, Therese, did not reply to survey
Leide, Diane, E., did not reply to survey
Walker, Ann Marie, did not reply to survey
Magellan, Karen, M., publicist assistant, Warren Cowan & Assoc. Albee,
Jennifer, L., did not reply to survey
Chambers, Shannon, Ann, did not reply to survey
Diehl II, Bradley, M., did not reply to survey
Hart, Alicia, E., account executive, Sacramento News & Review
News-Editorial
Langlois, Roseann, M., courts and business reporter, Napa Valley Register Pucci,
Michael, L., public affairs representative, Kaiser Permanente
Zemel, Tami, D., did not reply to survey
DeCicco, Megan, Dickson, sportswriter, Oakland Tribune
Rusk, Bryan, analyst, state of California
Rivera, Lisa, former reporter, Seattle Times and Chico Enterprise-Record, now
homemaker.
Pinney, Morgan, P. did not reply to survey
Nieto, Daniel. did not reply to survey
Martinez, Jason, did not reply to survey
Mathews, Jessica, Engelbrecht Advertising
Meyer, Jamie, did not reply to survey
Johnson, Laura, L., entertainment/content editor, The Sacramento Bee Online Irwin,
Tracy, J. did not reply to survey
Hamilton, Robert, L., did not reply to survey
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Okajima, Ayako, technical writer, SkySoft
Carroll, Joslyn, M., did not reply to survey
Deuel, Rebecca, L., editorial assistant, IEEE Computer Society
Lombard, Jennifer, J., did not reply to survey
O'Keefe, Dennis, W., did not reply to survey
Treanor (Schubert), Julie, Anne, former reporter, Marysville Democrat, now homemaker
Trump, Jamie, Jean, reporter, Auburn Journal
Lopez, Yvette, R., copywriter, Amazon.com
Darling, Shannon, E., education reporter, Visalia Delta-Times
Striegel, Randall, copy editor, Contra Costa Times.
3. List names of earlier graduates who have established distinguished careers.
Graduates with distinguished records
Cynthia Oxley Rude, senior vice president, Paine PR
Rebecca Hanks, press secretary, U.S. Sen. John McCain
Becky (Anderson) Bowers, copy editor, St. Petersburg Times
Todd Bishop, Microsoft reporter, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tom Sellers, copy editor, The Sacramento Bee
Randy Sumimoto, sports copyeditor, San Jose Mercury News
Chantal Lamers, graphics reporter, Orange County Register
Joelle Babula, health/medical reporter, Las Vegas Review Journal
Niesha Gates, reporter, The Sacramento Bee
Jack Sirard, business columnist, The Sacramento Bee
Doni Greenberg, local columnist, Redding Record Searchlight
Kimberly Bolander, regional reporter, Redding Record Searchlight
Rick Silva, managing editor, the Paradise Post
Frank Whitlatch, senior writer, communications and public affairs, CSU, Sacramento Lori
Campbell, human resources coordinator, Sutter Medical Center.
Sarah Fry, development director, College of Communication and Education, CSU, Chico
Jade Greene, project manager, financial systems, Visa International.
Marisa Lizakowski, hotel public relations manager, The Kimpton Group.
Tiffany McKenzie, assistant international manager, California Division of Tourism Jean
Nelson, development director, Oregon State University.
Stephanie Smith, partner, The Brite Agency, Asheville NC.
Heidi Taff, senior public relations manager, IABC, San Francisco.
Kristi Gordon, producer, KKFX-TV, KCOY-TV
Holly Henderson, communications director, Orange County treasurer
Lisa DeLaby, public relations and marketing manager, Butte Community College, Danelle
White, account director, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, London.
Stephanie McGovern Yoder, press secretary to state Rep. Joseph Canciamilla
Sheila Rooney, vice president, Fleishmann Hillard Public Relations
Theresa Campbell, international public relations director, Silicon Graphics
Michelle Bowman, owner, Bowman Communication
Elisa Bongiovanni, copy editor, Contra Costa Times
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Kristin Dove, vice president-marketing, Pacific Service Federal Credit Union
Rebecca de la Torre, public affairs specialist, U. S. Dept. Agriculture Marideth Post,
public relations manager, Kimpton Hotel Group
Natalie Sequeira, senior manager, public relations, Apple Computers Denise
Styerwait (Apra), public relations manager, Cross Media, Worldwide.
4. What records are kept of graduates' employment histories? How are alumni
records maintained?
Before 1996, keeping track of graduates was an informal process. The department was
five years old, and graduates were few. Faculty relied on anecdotal information about the
success of graduates and their assessments of the journalism department's role in
preparing them for their careers.
Considering the size of the department, it seemed to be enough to rely on students'
volunteering information about their careers and opinions about the department. At
graduation, faculty encouraged students to keep in touch. One retired faculty member
even has a collection of business cards students have sent him. After contact, faculty
usually entered the graduate's name in a database used by the college as a mailing list for
the communication school Comm newsletter (see Appendix, Section 11). Within each
issue of the letter is a mail-back feature so students can keep in touch and also tell the
school about other graduates they might know.
As part of the self-study process in 1996-97, the faculty came to realize that the
department needed to do a better job of keeping track of its graduates. In part, it was
understood that the department had lost track of too many graduates and the number was
going to increase. Faculty members view all the graduates not only as a scale for
measuring success in reaching educational objectives but also as a resource for future
students.
Beginning in 1998, an annual survey was mailed to all graduates of the previous year.
Besides filling out an anonymous survey designed as an exit evaluation of the
department, alumni are asked to provide personal information about their employment
and their current addresses. This information is then given to the department secretary
and the college's development director (new position since last accreditation visit) who
each maintain an alumni list. These lists are updated both by the fund-raising process
and by paying to have the U.S. postal service provide address corrections after the
Comm newsletter is mailed.
In fall 1999, a newsletter written and produced by Tehama Group Communications staff,
was established to further solidify links with alumni. The Journalism Times focuses on
alumni, current student and faculty activities. The newsletter has yielded an increase in
alumni updates and visibility for the journalism program (see Appendix, Section 11).
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The department's web page, new since the last accreditation visit, has become a good
source for job histories. Alumni are invited to provide information through a simple
form. We have found that many graduates are eager to use this method.
The department also continues to encourage students to keep in touch with faculty.
Faculty members value the informal e-mail contact, the telephone conversation, the
weekday lunch with a graduate who is passing through town. Clearly, many of the
department's graduates have a tie to the Chico community and loyalty to the department
and faculty.
5. Discuss current placement statistics.
When compared with the national survey of mass communication graduates, our students
appear to be competitive. For example, nationally more than 75 percent of JMC graduates
are employed six to eight months after graduation, while 89 percent of our students are
employed. Nationally the median salary is $25,000; for our students it's $34,500. The
higher salary probably is due to a "Bay Area Effect": many of our students take their first
jobs in the Bay Area, where salaries and the cost of living are quite high. Nationally 64
percent of JMC graduates are working in the communication field, while 64 percent of our
graduates report that they are employed in communication fields.
6. Discuss surveys measuring current students' satisfaction. See
No. 12, below.
7. Discuss exit interviews with graduating seniors.
When designing an assessment program in 1995, the faculty had concerns about formal
surveys and exit interviews of current students or graduating seniors who may be too
close to their studies to adequately assess them. First, we thought that annual student
evaluations of faculty provide individual faculty members an adequate and constant
stream of assessment that allows them to make changes in their courses. Further, the
retention and promotion process requires that faculty reflect on those comments and that
they adjust their courses based on those comments. Second, the curriculum, which
requires all students to engage in a lab experience, also provides the department with a
constant source of "interviews" with students as they perform communication work under
the guidance of faculty. And last, the internship process requires that students and their
professional supervisors file weekly reports. This information goes to the department
chair who then can call on faculty to assess their efforts.
So, the decision was made to interview all graduates one year after graduation when they
could best assess the usefulness and their satisfaction with the program.
8. Describe the methods used to communicate regularly with alumni, such as
newsletters and other publications. See samples in Appendix, Section 11.
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Within the college, three departments join to produce a biannual newsletter, Comm, which
is produced and written by public relations students in Tehama Group Communications.
The group also produces a newsletter Journalism Times for the department. The college's
development director mails copies to all alumni in her database. Both publications invite
alumni to mail back forms that update their accomplishments and job histories.
9. Describe the involvement of alumni in educational and public-service programs,
including placement, internships, curriculum development etc.
Since Chico is in a rural area, alumni involvement varies. A steady stream is invited back
to campus to be guest speakers for the student professional organizations, IABC and SPJ.
Alumni also speak at the weekly critique of The Orion and provide their insights to
students. It's a long drive and long day for those who visit, and they usually get nothing
but satisfaction and a dinner with a few students. But we find that alumni are eager to
return. Until 2000, we had a yearly Alumni Forum, which brought five or six of alumni to
campus to visit classes and faculty. This week has been replaced by the professional
advisory board meeting.
The last accreditation visit suggested that we begin fundraising, which has been
successful. Alumni were called on to endow a $10,000 scholarship in the name of a
beloved public relations professor who retired in the late 1990s. The scholarship was
endowed and awarded within four years.
10. Describe the involvement of alumni in advisory boards. How have reviews or
reports by such boards contributed to changes in the unit's curriculum or other
aspects?
In 1998, we established our first advisory board, which included a number of alumni.
The current board has four alumni out of 11 members. Our use of the board is evolving,
especially as we consider direct measurements of learning assessment. In past meetings,
the board typically has met with faculty who present information about the program,
supplemented by written material. This is usually followed by a Q&A session and then
group break outs to discuss each option. In one case, the meeting focused on teaching
resume skills and resume assessments. Sometimes, the board members have met with
groups of students to discuss careers and job placement.
So far, we have tried to keep the duties of the board members light. The advice we
receive is informal and valued, an indirect assessment activity. For example, following
the first meeting of the board, the faculty members immediately recognized that we
needed to dramatically increase the use of the Internet in our classes. We also decided to
establish our first Internet reporting class. During the resume workshop, we learned much
about the expectations of editors and PR managers, which renewed our commitment to
teach basic skills such as grammar and spelling.
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It seems that each advisory meeting has provided insights about jobs, careers and
internships. Since some members of the advisory board hire interns from our program, we
have heard many comments about what is good and bad about our students. After one
meeting, the public relations faculty decided to revise the structure of the writing for
public relations course to include more exercises on media relations. In another case, the
meeting resulted in a donation of newspapers for the computer lab from two of the area
newspapers.
As we ponder this question, (it wasn't in the 1996-97 accreditation report), it now seems
possible to expect more from our board. Although we may "chase" away some busy
members, we hope to bring to the board members a plan to involve them in a direct
assessment activity (for example, reviewing student portfolios). It might be interesting to
ask some sibling universities how they maintain and use their advisory boards.
2003 Department of Journalism Advisory Board
Steve Blust, Sacramento Bee
Tom Gascoyne, Chico News and Review
Jim Finefrock, San Francisco Chronicle
Doni Greenberg, Redding Record Searchlight
David Little, Chico Enterprise Record
Bob Walt, Walt and Company Public Relations, Santa Clara
Robert Deen, Ogilvy Public Relations, Sacramento
Ann Prater, Enloe Hospital, Chico
Cynthia Rude, Payne PR, Costa Mesa
Shelly Schlenker, Catholic Healthcare West
11. Describe the program used to track graduates to determine the extent to which the
unit's objectives are realized. How has information gathered contributed to changes in
the unit's curriculum or other aspects?
As part of an ongoing assessment of the journalism program, the department collects data
from alumni who graduated the previous year. The purpose of the survey is to assess
student learning and its relevance to students once they begin their jobs. The survey also
provides a snapshot of the alumni: where they work, what they earn, what they did while
students. The goal is to help the faculty with data that can be used to assess their teaching
and the curriculum.
The post-graduation survey is mailed in May to each student who graduated the previous
year. Chico State has only one graduation ceremony per year, so the mailing list includes
students who also graduated in the winter and summer terms previous to the May
graduation. The survey was designed to reflect three documents: the department's mission
statement, its assessment document, and the ACEJMC accreditation handbook.
The first survey was conducted in May 1998. It has been repeated every May. The
survey offers three areas of interest to faculty: 1) alumni ratings of how well they were
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prepared for their jobs; 2) a list of alumni employers and jobs; and 3) a set of qualitative
data from an open-ended question that invited students to make general comments. About
41 percent of our graduates responded from 1998 to 2002: a total response of 149 alumni.
About 3 percent of the surveys are returned as undeliverable.
See answer to No. 12 for the results and changes. See Appendix 1 for a copy of a recent
report to faculty.
12. Summarize the responses from alumni to surveys or other measures of their degree
of satisfaction with the educational experiences provided by the unit. How has the
information gathered contributed to changes in the unit's curriculum or other aspects?
Alumni rate us highly in all areas (see Appendix 1). All means are above 4.0 on a 5.0
scale, except for visual skills (3.87), technology (3.71), multicultural (3.32). Our
strongest ratings are for teaching ethics (4.39), teamwork (4.49) and professionalism
(4.44). The highest rated skill (somewhat of a surprise) is WRITING and editing (4.52).
So even though faculty constantly complain that students need to do more writing, our
alumni say they have all they need. There is skewed distribution, with the vast majority
of students strongly agreeing or agreeing that we prepared them well for their jobs. With
such strong support, there are not many differences to report. One of interest might be
the difference in starting salary (probably a Bay Area effect). Public relations students
report a salary of almost $35,000; news-ed option students report almost $28,000.
Although the survey asks students for" general comments," it is revealing that so many
have felt compelled to offer advice. Obviously these alumni have clear ideas and strong
feelings about their jobs and their time in Chico. Two of the most common themes come
from PR students, who suggest that we provide 1) More business courses and skills and
2) More about media relations and pitching stories to media. Other common themes
include calls for more career counseling, technology, and desktop publishing.
Combined with our other assessment activities, the survey results have led us to two major
revisions of the curriculum since the 1997 visit. As described elsewhere in the report in
more detail, we added a visual communication requirement, we emphasized skill courses,
we reduced the number of required theory courses, we passed a department policy asking
faculty to document efforts that taught students about working in a diverse society, we
developed an Internet course, and we developed a jobs Website.
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