Berkeley Journalism mourns the loss of businessman and philanthropist Herb Sandler, 1931–2019
Herbert M. Sandler, founder of ProPublica and a devoted supporter of investigative reporting at the Graduate School of Journalism—among many other passions, from medical research to human rights—died on June 5 at the age of 87. The extraordinary roster of projects and programs either supported or started by the Sandler Foundation runs too long to…
Read MoreEva Rendle Awarded Inaugural Brian Pollack Documentary Scholarship
Second-year master’s candidate Eva Rendle has been named the recipient of the newly established $3,000 Brian A. Pollack Documentary Film Scholarship. The fellowship, established in 2018, is awarded annually to a promising student of documentary selected by the prestigious program’s faculty. Brian Pollack…
Read MoreDrew Costley Awarded Jim Marshall Fellowship for Photojournalism
The fourth annual Jim Marshall Fellowship for photojournalism has been awarded to second-year student Drew Costley. Costley, originally from Arlington, Va., has redirected his energies to photojournalism after having focused on writing for 15 years. “I chose photojournalism because I want to visualize the stories of those who have spent too long living in…
Read MoreAlumni Portrait: New York Times Reporter and Columnist David Gelles
If any journalist can attest to the value of digging into surprising finds or leveraging even the most tenuous connections, it’s The New York Times’ David Gelles. That kind of tenacity got the reporter and columnist a Page 1 credit in the Times when he was five weeks into journalism school and, several years later,…
Read MoreAlumni Portrait: Washington Post National Security Correspondent Nick Miroff
Nick Miroff doesn’t write about the happiest stories in the world. Soon after he started full-time at the Washington Post, there was the massacre at Virginia Tech. He covered opioid addiction in Appalachia before the rest of the country knew the devastating extent of the crisis. Earlier this year, he laid out what would happen…
Read MoreFive Alums Honored with Pulitzer Win for Fire Coverage
Members of the Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Press Democrat scoop journalism’s top prize for breaking news. Five UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism alums were among those honored with Pulitzer Prizes this year, when The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif., earned journalism’s top prize for breaking news. Kathleen Lund Coates (’78), Robert Digitale (’79), Julie…
Read MoreAlum Brett Murphy (’16) named Pulitzer Prize finalist for USA Today series on port truckers
Brett Murphy of the Class of 2016 has received one of journalism’s highest honors, just years after finishing his graduate studies at UC Berkeley. The nine-part series, described by Pulitzer judges as “a graceful, data-driven narrative populated by the truckers who transport goods from America’s ports—spirited characters exploited by some of the country’s largest and…
Read MoreAlumni Portrait: Sam Green (’93)
It was April 1992, and Sam Green had never been to Los Angeles before. A first-year student in the School of Journalism’s documentary program, he had volunteered to help a classmate shoot a video story on bilingual education in the city. It was a Wednesday, and the two friends had packed their supplies and one…
Read MoreAlumni Portrait: NPR Editor and Correspondent Ron Elving
It was luck more than anything that got one of the country’s foremost Washington, D.C. journalists into the news business in the first place. Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent at NPR’s Washington Desk, went to Stanford University without giving The Stanford Daily much thought. He got a Master’s in English from the University of…
Read MoreAlumni Portrait: Writer Jon Mooallem
Neanderthals, bipedal black bears, lesbian albatrosses, and wallets returned to their owners after being lost for decades: the cornucopia of subjects tackled by Jon Mooallem are matched only by their quirkiness. The New York Times Magazine contributing writer’s work has run in publications like California Sunday Magazine, Slate, and ESPN The Magazine, and in podcasts…
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