Journalism Departmentwww.ccsf.cc.ca.us/Departments/Journalism Spring 2011

City College journalism students win big

The journalism department at City College dates back to 1935. For more than, 70 years, hundreds of our students have pursued successful careers in the media. Many of

them got their start on our award-winning campus publica-tions.

Some of the journalism department’s recent successes include:

• The Journalism Association of Community College

General Excellence award for The Guardsman, The Guardsman Online, and Etc. Magazine.

• The California Newspaper Publishers Association second place statewide award in General Excellence for a community college newspaper.

• Our students have consistently done well in statewide journalism competitions. The Guardsman has won JACCfirstplaceawardsforpagedesign,newsphotog-raphy and advertising design.

2FAQs, awards

3Faculty,mentoring

4Press Club,spring courses

The Guardsman staff brings home 18 awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal confernce at San Jose State University on Nov. 6.

RAMSEY EL-QARE / THE GUARDSMAN

2 | CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO Journalism Department SPRING 2011

What is so special about City College’s journalism program? Our program offers a state-of-the-art computer lab, two award-winning publications, instructors who are working journalists on local publications, a coaching program for students, intern-ship opportunities because of our close ties with publishing community in the Bay Area, and a curriculm that keeps pace with the changing needs of today’s newsroom.

Does the journalism offer transferable courses?Yes. Three courses in our pro-gram are transferable to four-year institutions. The three courses are Journalism 19 (Contempo-rary News Media), Journalism 21 (News Writing and Reporting) Journalism 37 (Introduction to Photojournalism).

Do any of the courses in the department fulfill general edu-cation requirements?Yes. Journalism 19 (Contempo-rary News Media) meets the GE requirement in humanities.

Can I get a degree or certificate in your program?The department offers an AA degree in journalism that takes about two years to complete and leads to transferring to a four-year college. A Certificate of Award in Journalism is also

available for those students wish-ing to gain journalistic skills for possible employment within an 18-month period.

If I complete two years of study in your program and want to transfer to a four-year college, is that possible?Yes, it is possible to transfer to a four-year institution. Students in our program have enrolled at San Francisco State University, UC

Berkeley, San Jose State Univer-sity, Humboldt State University, and UC Santa Cruz, to name a few.

Will I encounter any problems when it comes to enrolling in one of your courses?No. You should not encoun-ter any problems enrolling in our courses. Enrollment is our deparment is moderate. Class size is about 30 students per

class, which allows for plenty of opportunities to interact with faculty and fellow students.

What kinds of jobs can I expect to qualify for once I complete your program?The program has been able to prepare students for entry-level positions in newspaper design and pagination, copy editing, news writing and photography for non-daily publications.

Frequently asked questions

RAMSEY EL-QARE / THE GUARDSMAN

The Guardsman Op Ed editor Nick Palm listens attentively to Journalism Association of Community Colleges Norcal conference keynote speaker Dan Gillmor.

Does the department offer any scholarships?Yes, the department has a $100 scholarship for continuing stu-dents. The application deadline is April 1. The department also makes avaialble information on journalism scholarships offered by local and statewide organiza-tions.

Are internships available to students in the program?Yes, the department has working relations wiht numerous neigh-borhood newspapers and some alternative publications in the area. Instructors in our depart-ment also have connections with the two dailies: the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner.

Are there any other resources offered through the depart-ment?Yes. The department sponsors a mentoring program, a student press club, a media career fair, and a “Brown Bag” lecture series. It also has an extensive library of media-related books and videos.

If I need to talk to a journal-ism advister is there someone I should see?Yes, speak to Department Chair Juan Gonzales who has been with the program since 1985. Call (415) 239-3446.

Award-winning publications continue amazing success City College journalism students won 18 awards in various categories at the Journalism As-sociation of Community Colleges’ regional convention held Nov. 6 at San Jose State University. City College was joined by 22 Northern California com-munity colleges at the regional conference. The Spring 2011 state conference for JACC will be held April 7-9 in Sacramento. Nearly 60 California community colleges are expcected to attend. Award-winning journal-ism students included the follow-ing: Mail-in Contests: Honorable Mention Critical Review - Jes-sica Luthi, Honorable Mention Editorial Writing - The Guards-man Staff, Enterprise Story/Series - Fleur Bailey, Alex Emslie and Hannah Weiner, Honorable

Mention Feature Photo - Chloe Ashcroft,Front Page Layout Tabloid - The Guardsman Staff, 4th place Informational Graphic - The Guardsman Staff, Honor-able Mention Inside Page Layout

Tabloid - The Guardsman Staff, Honorable Mention News Story - Greg Zeman, Honorable Mention Profile Feature Story - Bonta Hill, 1st place and Honorable Mention Sports Game Story - Bonta Hill, 2nd place Student Design Adver-tisement - The Guardsman Staff, Newspaper General Excellence - The Guardsman, and Online Journalism General Excellence - The Guardsman Online. On-the-Spot Contests: 1st place Opinion Writing - Greg Zeman, and 1st place News Photo - Frank Ladra. Bring-in Contests: 1st place Bring-in Photo - Robert Romano and Honorable Mention Bring-in Copy Editing - Susan Boeckman

Editor Recognition: Greg Zeman-The Guardsman and Susan Boeck-man - Etc. Magazine.

Past JACC AwardsTHE GUARDSMAN

JACC Pacesetter Award200920051998

JACC General Excellence

NorCal General Excellence

200920082007200620052004

200220012000199919981997

20102008200720062005

20042000199819971996

2010 2003

ETC. MAGAZINEJACC General Excellence

2010 2009

20072003

2001

THE GUARDSMAN ONLINEhttp://www.theguardsman.com

JACC General Excellence NorCal General Excellence20092005

20031999

20082004

19981996

2010

| 3CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCOJournalism DepartmentSPRING 2011

With a career in journalism dating back to 1970 as

a reporter and publisher, City College journalism department Chair Juan Gonzales draws upon his varied professional experi-ences to instruct his students.

As the founder and editor of El Tecolote, a biweekly, bilin-gual newspaper published since 1970 in San Francisco’s Mission District, he continues to cover the issues that affect the neigh-borhood.

Currently, Gonzales is project director of Voices for Justice: The Enduring Legacy of the Latino Press in the United States. The project documents 200 years

of Latino journalism through film, a companion book and an interactive Web site.

In 2010, El Tecolote cele-brated its 40th anniversary. For those years of service, Gonzales was honored by the Society of Professional Journalists with its “Distinguished Service Award.”

Similarly, he received a “Heroes of Excellence” award from KGO-TV.

In 2009, Gonzales was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Journal-ists Hall of Fame. He was also honored by KQED-TV as an “Unsung Hero” in the Latino community. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom also recognized Gonzales as a Latino media leader during Hispanic Heritage Month in September.

Gonzales teaches three class-es per semester and serves as adviser to the campus newspaper, The Guardsman.

He is a member of the Jour-

nalism Association of Commu-nity Colleges, the San Francisco Newspaper Association and the New American Media.

From 1998 to 2000, Gonzales served as JACC NorCal faculty president.

Gonzales possesses an asso-ciate degree in journalism from San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and a master’s degree in mass communications from Stanford University.

He worked as a reporter for the San Francisco bureaus of the United Press International and the Associated Press.

Working journalists share skills, experience with students

Tom Graham worked for 22 years as a feature copy editor

at The San Francisco Chronicle, where he edited, designed and paginated the daily Datebook, Pink, Style and Review sections. A former City College student and editor of The Guardsman, Graham has taught journalism part-time here for 20 years.

In addition to serving as student adviser for Etc. Maga-zine, Graham teaches courses in Feature Writing, Magazine Edit-ing and Production, Contempo-rary News Media, News Writing, Public Relations and Newspaper Design.

He wrote numerous stories for the Chronicle, including a popular series called “Walk-

ing Man” that documented his attempt to walk every street in San Francisco. Some of his stories appeared in the Outdoor section, including first person pieces about bungee jumping, backpacking the 212-mile-long John Muir Trail, skydiving out of a plane, and rock climbing in Yosemite.

Before joining the Chronicle, Graham was editor for the Pulit-zer Prize-winning Point Reyes Light newspaper in West Marin. He also worked as managing editor for the California Farm Bureau in Sacramento.

Earlier in his career, he was editor of the Mountain Messen-ger newspaper in Sierra County and worked as a reporter for the Tahoe World in Tahoe City.

In addition to City College, Graham has taught journalism at USF, SFSU, Solano Community College and College of Marin. He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Jose State University.

Jon Rochmis has been teach-ing at City College since

2000. Among the courses he has taught are News Writing and Reporting, Advanced Reporting, Feature Writing, Copy Editing and Internet Journalism. In addi-tion, he has been a lecturer at San Francisco State and at Skyline College, where he taught News Writing and Mass Communica-tions.

With more than 25 years of experience in Bay Area journal-ism, Rochmis has been an editor and reporter in sports, news, business, technology and feature departments.

After graduating with a degree in journalism from UC Berkeley, Rochmis began his

career at the Berkeley Gazette/Richmond Independent.

He then covered sports, news and business at the Oakland Tribune for nine years, with six years as the beat writer for the San Francisco 49ers.

Following his 15-year stint in newspapers, Rochmis was a book/magazine editor for a small publishing house in downtown San Francisco.

In 1995, he jumped online as the first editor at SF Gate.com, where he helped conceive and administer the tone and presenta-tion of one of the first news sites on the World Wide Web.

Rochmis also helped launch BayInsider.com as senior content producer, and then worked for three years as content editor and then executive editor at Wired News.

Currently, Rochmis is a marketing writer with a market-ing/communications agency that specializes in high technology.

Jessica Lifland is the founder and director of San Francisco

Photonite, a monthly community photography group sponsored by the Bay Area Press Photog-raphers Association and the SF Exposure Gallery.

Lifland has worked as a staff photographer for the Contra Costa Newspaper Group and the Evansville Indiana Courier and Press.

Since returning to the Bay Area in 2002, she has been involved in a variety of projects as both an editor and photogra-pher. She was a project organizer and photographer for the Amer-ica 24/7 project. She has edited and photographed for several book projects, including Extreme Digital Photography and We Do.

As a photo journalist, Lifland has shot a variety of assignments for magazines like Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, Stern and Le Monde. She works on assign-ment for newspapers such as the New York Times, USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Lifland has a BFA in photog-raphy and a BA in art history from Cornell University. She has a Master’s Degree from Ohio-University’s School of Visual Communication. While at Ohio she completed internships at the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo., The Denver Post and Long Island’s Newsday.

JuanGonzales, instructor,department chair

TomGraham,instructor, magazineadviser

Jon Rochmis,instructor

JessicaLifland, instructor

Spring 2011Advising Hours

Meet with Juan Gonzales, journalism department chair, to discuss opportunities in the field of journalism.

Ocean Campus50 Phelan Ave.Bungalow 214

Monday, Wednesday,Friday

11 a.m. – noon

Tuesday1 – 2 p.m.

Thursday10 a.m. – noon

For an appointment, call(415) 239-3446

Mentoring program links students with professional Bay Area journalistsThe journalism department’s mentoring

program has helped many students network with professional journalists and photogra-phers.

“You look at these mentors and they are top-flight. They’re names in the business,” said journalism instructor and writer Jon Rochmis, who helps coordinate mentors for the program.

Department Chair Juan Gonzales attri-butes the succes of the program to the support it receives from the Bay Area’s media.

Dan Verel, a journalism major and former mentor program coordinator, found new mentors and paired them with students

for the seven-to-eight-week program. The mentor program encourages

students to take advantage of the Bay Area’s large population of professional journalists. Students learm how to pitch story ideas like a pro and have an opportunity to talk one-on-one with writers, editors, photographers and designers.

“Students sometimes get a chance to shadow a reporter or photographer, or sit down with a designer or editor,” Verel said.

Gonzales believes being mentored can improve a student’s ability to get a job.

KGO TV news anchor Cheryl Jennings knows just how hard it is to break into jour-nalism. She was rejected by 19 of the 20

television stations she originally applied to.“I think the program is an outstand-

ing way to learn about the business from the inside,” Jennings said. “I would highly recommend it. I wish it had been in place when I attended City College. It makes me re-evaluate what I do every time I explain the business to a student.”

Laura Impellizzeri, an assistant metro editor at the Chronicle and a new mentor, said the program is a positive experience for both students and mentors.

“It’s always beneficial for us to have a wide variety of people walking through our offices, bringing in new ideas and challeng-ing old ones,” said Impellizzeri.

4 | CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO Journalism Department SPRING 2011

Journalism Schedule for Spring 2011The spring semester begins January 18. For more information, please call Juan Gonzales at (415) 239-3446

Jour 19: Contemporary News Media 3.030423 001 Lec. M W F 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. ARTX 185 Gonzales38559 551 Lec. T 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 217 GrahamIntroduction to modern mass communication, with an emphasis on development of news media, analysis of the credibility of the media and its impact on daily life. CSU/UC/CAN

Jour 21: News Writing and Reporting 3.036563 001 Lec. M W F 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. HC 213 Gonzales35449 534 Lec. T 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 218 RochmisTechniques of newspaper reporting, developing and writing and a news story, training in information gathering and inter-viewing sources. PREREQ: ENGL 94. CSU/CAN

Jour 22: Feature Writing 3.037191 552 Lec. W 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 217 Graham38971 551 Lec. R 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 218 RochmisFundamentals in feature writing for magazines and newspapers with special empahsis on profile and interpretive news features. Practical experience in interview and in-depth research techniques. Training in how to write a freelance story for publication. PREREQ: ENGL 93 or 94 or PLACEMENT IN ENGL 96. CSU

Jour 23: Electronic Copy Editing 3.035189 551 Lec. W 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 218 RochmisLearn to edit newspapers, magazines and Web site stories for accuracy, style and organization. The writer-editor relation-ship is emphasized throughout the course. PREREQ: JOUR 21, 22 and GRPH 25. CSU

Jour 24: Newspaper Laboratory 3.030427 001 L/L M W F 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. BNGL 214 GonzalesAdvanced newspaper laboratory course focused on the publication of the college paper, The Guardsman. Plus four lab hours TBA. PREREQ: JOUR 21, JOUR 22, AND GRPH 25. CSU

Jour 25: Editorial Management 3.039460 001 L/L M W F 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. BNGL 214 GonzalesAn advanced journalism course that trains prospective print editors on all aspects of operating a publication, including developing a publishing schedule and story assignments, coordinating a writing staff, designing a page, writing headlines and cutlines, sizing photographs, understanding the business side of print journalism, and working with other editors and printers. COREQ: JOUR 24. CSU

Jour 29: Magazine Editing & Production 3.034984 551 L/L M 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 217 GrahamStudents will study the editorial, business, graphic, and production skills required for publishing a campus magazine. Course is appropriate for students interested in creative writing, graphic and fine arts, photography, business, and journal-ism. PREREQ: JOUR 21 AND JOUR 22. CSU

Jour 31: Internship Experience 3.038374 001 Exp Hours Arr BNGL 214 GonzalesSupervised on-campus or off-campus employment in a branch of journalism or a closely allied field to which the student shows him/her self to be best adapted. PREREQ: JOUR 24. CSU

Jour 37: Intro to Photojournalism 3.037192 551 Lec. W 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 211 Lifland39729 552 Lec. R 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 1125 Valencia St. Rm. 217 LiflandEmphasis on concepts of news and feature photography. Must have experience in photography and must have a camera. Digital SLR preferred. Most assignments involve taking pictures of people, telling stories and conveying information. CSU

The City College Press Club, sponsored by the journalism

department, is affiliated with the campus Inter-Club Council and the Associated Students.

It serves as a resource for our journalism students by providing them with opportunities to partic-ipate in club sponsored career days, guest lectures by media

professional, journalism confer-ences and social events.

Recent activities have includ-ed film screenings and forums on the future of print journalism.

This student-run organization is a great way to network. A facul-ty adviser helps students plan community volunteer programs.

City College Press Club sets up media-related events

Where have all our graduates gone?

Jennifer BalderamaCopy Editor

New York Times

Johnny BrannanNews Writer

Honolulu Advertiser

Time BrownReporter

New York Times

Alex K. FongPage Designer

San Jose Mercury News

Mario FortsonPage Designer

San Francisco Examiner

Cheryl JenningsNews AnchorKGO-7 News

Paul KozakizwicPublisher

Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon

Orlando MolinaSports Writer

Contra Costa Times

Rob NaglePage Designer

San Francisco Examiner

Jim PowellCopy Editor

Los Angeles Times

Lubna TakruriCopy Editor

Associated Press

Pedro TuyubEditor

Mission Dispatch

Colleen CumminsPhotographer

The Appeal Democrat

Alex MullaneyPublisher

The Ingleside Light

Editor-in-Chief Greg Zeman celebrates his epic first place win for on the spot opinion writing at Journalism Asso-ciation Community Colleges NorCal conference at San Jose State Univer-sity Nov. 6.