Nazmul Ahasan and MJ Johnson named Class of 2023 commencement speakers

Two students have been selected by their peers as the Class of 2023 commencement speakers: Nazmul Ahasan and MJ Johnson.

This is a high honor at the school and reflects the respect each of them has earned. Congratulations to them both!

Nazmul Ahasan

Nazmul Ahasan is a journalist and researcher with experience in data and investigative journalism, and social science research. Since last summer, he has worked at the Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW), partnering with The Washington Post and the Public Health Watch on investigative stories. Until recently, he worked with the Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) at UC Berkeley, where he helped build a database of police use-of-force incidents across California. His most recent contributions appeared in The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Foreign Policy. Before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Nazmul widely covered Bangladesh, where he was born and raised, for The Economist, The Telegraph, Haaretz, and Devex, among others. In his previous life, Nazmul worked at The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest English-language newspaper, where his weekly column chronicled the country’s gradual descent into authoritarianism.

MJ Johnson

MJ Johnson is a journalist and video producer who was born and raised in Japan. Her work has been featured in the San Francisco Examiner, KQED, Oaklandside, The Oregonian and Environmental Health News. She received her B.A. in Journalism from San Francisco State University. As part of her master’s thesis at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, she produced a film on the homeless crisis’ effect on marginalized groups in the Bay Area. She chairs the Berkeley chapter of Asian American Journalists Association and is a strong proponent of AAPI representation in newsrooms and documentary spaces.