A new year begins for the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, the fundraising and educational arm of SPJ. The foundation elected new directors, each with considerable experience in journalism and some with service to the Society as past national presidents and regional directors.
I have the privilege to become president of the Foundation for the next two years. I follow Todd Gillman, Sue Porter, Paul McMasters and Paul Steinle in the recent line of foundation leaders; all have left their mark on the work and collegiality of the foundation’s board.
The officer corps — the men and women who lead the board — has long experience working with the Society and the foundation. Betsy Ashton, a writer and artist and foundation member for almost a decade, was re-elected vice president; and Irwin Gratz, Morning Edition producer for Maine Public Broadcasting, was elected secretary. Howard S. Dubin of Manufacturer’s News, active in SDX leadership for decades, was elected to another one-year term as treasurer.
Also elected to the board were Al Leeds, president and editorial director for Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service and an SPJ member for more than 30 years; Robert Leger, assistant editorial page editor for the Arizona Republic and SPJ president 2002-03; and Alex Jones, director of The Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University.
Re-elected to the board were Gillman, Washington correspondent for the Dallas Morning News, and Bill Ketter, vice president of the Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass., and a former SPJ regional director.
The board also includes representatives appointed by the Society of Professional Journalists, all serving one-year terms. They are Dave Aeikens, reporter for the St. Cloud Times and SPJ secretary-treasurer; Ann Augherton, Arlington Catholic Herald, SPJ Region 2 director; Clint Brewer, executive editor of the Nashville City Paper, SPJ president-elect; David E. Carlson, director of the Interactive Media Lab, University of Florida, immediate past president; Mead Loop, associate professor and chair of the Journalism Department at Ithaca College and vice president for campus chapter affairs; and Christine Tatum, business writer for the Denver Post and president of the Society of Professional Journalists.
These individuals join current board members to make up the foundation’s 26-member board of directors.
Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing on these pages some of the accomplishments of the foundation in supporting SPJ’s important work building the next generation of journalists. We’ll also share our contributions to other organizations that are engaged in making it easier for journalists to do their work and for the public to be better informed. Our grants have made a difference, helping recruit and stage workshops at the Chicago national convention, and supporting an active ethics advice line that helps journalists to do the right thing.
Since its founding in 1961, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation has promoted excellence and ethics in journalism. SDX is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization that supports the educational programs of the Society of Professional Journalists and serves the professional needs of journalists and students pursuing careers in journalism.
