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Alumni and Friends

  

Alumni Association Board 2008-2009

Chair

Alexis Gelber ’80, books editor, The Daily Beast, and contributing editor, Newsweek

Vice Chair

Michael Kubin '05, CEO and managing editor of Ionic Media, Inc.

The Board

Myron Belkind '62, professorial lecturer, George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs
Rebecca Castillo '06, assistant director, Columbia Scholastic Press Association
Jane Eisner '78, editor, The Forward
Zubeida Jaffer '96, writer/author
Shahabadeen Karim '95, news producer, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Fiona Kirk '00, freelance journalist
Margaret McBride Lehrman '70, senior producer, coverage and special events for NBC News
Richard Levine '63, president and chairman of the board of directors, Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, Inc.
Steven Litt '80, art and architecture critic, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
Elizabeth Reagan Parker '93
Andrew Pergam '01, reporter with NBC30/WVIT-TV
David Peterkin '82, executive director of news practices for ABC News
Barry Rothfeld '73, president and publisher of the Poughkeepsie Journal
Irina Slutsky '00, reporter, Geek Entertainment TV
Gayle Pollard Terry '73, freelance writer
Thomas Watkins '84, news editor, CNN
Stephen Wolgast '92, staff editor at The New York Times
Rick Zednik '94, commercial director and deputy chief executive, EurActiv

About the Alumni Board

Each board member serves staggered terms, which are renewable for a full three-year term (maximum of two terms), and attends three annual meetings.  The Society of Professional Journalists-Columbia chapter president and the alumni director serve as ex-officio members of the board. The chair of the Alumni Association serves as an ex-officio member of the J-School Board of Visitors as well as an ex-officio member of the Columbia Alumni Association.

The Alumni Board was announced in April 2008, the culmination of a two-year process.  In 2006-2007, an Alumni Association Task Force met to examine the mission, goals and best practices of a journalism school's alumni association, following the lead of Columbia University, which undertook an examination of its own Alumni Association.  With the guidance of an outside consultant, the task force developed a strategic plan, which included a mission statement, primary goals and strategies. During 2007-2008, a transition team had the opportunity to lay the foundation for an Alumni Association that would work closely with the alumni relations office and serve as a link between the school and its alumni.