Journalism Advisory Council

Formed in the mid-1990s, the Journalism Advisory Council helps the school achieve our mission to prepare students to face the complex challenges confronting journalists in the 21st century.

Council members advise the school's director and faculty. They also volunteer their services in fundraising, planning and community outreach for the school.

“In 1994, a strong network of journalism alumni and supporters mobilized to save the program from threatened closure,” said Frank Sotomayor, former chair of the council. “Donations to the school are vital for it to continue to grow. Many of our alums' careers were jump-started by journalism training."

Council members, many whom are graduates of the University of Arizona School of Journalism, are available to talk to classes and mentor students.

Meet the Journalism Advisory Council members

Michael A. Chihak ('71, Chair): Chihak retired after 45 years as a newsman. He worked for the Tucson Citizen as a reporter, desk editor and editor/publisher; The Salinas Californian as executive editor and publisher; USA Today as assistant national editor; The Associated Press as a correspondent; and Arizona Public Media as news director. He has chaired the School of Journalism Advisory Council since 2022.

 

 

 

Joe Altman ('99): Tax professional in Tempe for RSM US LLP, a global accounting and consulting firm. Worked for The Associated Press in Detroit, New York and Phoenix as an editor and reporter.

 

Jo Marie Barkley ('86): Retired from the University of Arizona after 34 years as a member of its public affairs and marketing teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cathie Batbie-Loucks: Cathie is senior director of content and creative services at KVOA-TV in Tucson. She manages news and marketing content on all station platforms, and she recruits, hires and trains news and marketing staffs. She was KVOA news director for nearly 12 years prior. Cathie joined KVOA in 1999 and has been in broadcasting since 1996, starting at WTWO-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana. She earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism at Indiana University.

David Bodney: Senior counsel at Ballard Spahr law firm, serving as a litigator focusing on media and constitutional law. He founded the firm's Media and Entertainment Law Group.

Jim Calle (’85): Jim is a federal labor and employment lawyer who represents law enforcement. He is a 1985 UA journalism graduate who worked as a news photographer and reporter and who taught classes at the School as an adjunct instructor. He also lived and worked in the Republic of Moldova helping the country shed its Soviet-era laws and practices.

 

 

 

Valerie Cavazos ('91 Radio/TV): Emmy-nominated investigative reporter with more than 20 years of television news experience. 

Mariana Dale ('14): Reporter for KPCC, the National Public Radio station in Los Angeles, covering early childhood. Previously reported for KJZZ in Phoenix, where she shared a national Edward R. Murrow Award for coverage of teacher strike.

 

John D’Anna ('83): D’Anna is the Managing Editor of The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif. Before moving to wine country, he spent 27 years in a variety of senior reporting and editing roles at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, where he was responsible for the print presentation of the paper’s project on the border wall, which won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. He was also a key member of the Republic teams that were Pulitzer finalists for breaking news for the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson and the deaths 19 wildland firefighters in the Yarnell Hill Fire. A 1983 graduate of the UA School of Journalism, he also holds an MBA from Benedictine University and served as an adjunct faculty member at the Cronkite School for 15 years.  He is also a 5th degree black belt and three-time world Taekwondo champion.

 

 

Scott Harelson (‘84, Radio/TV): Former media relations manager at Salt River Project in Phoenix.

Kimberly Kayler, CPSM ('94): Kayler is president of AOE, a full-service public relations and communications agency with more than 75 employees. She has unique expertise in crisis communications and her firm has won many national awards. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin in their MBA program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Kline: As President and CEO of the Arizona Media Association and Arizona Local News Foundation, Kline leads all shared services and advocacy for a coalition of more than 350 radio, TV, print and online brands with a focus on future-proofing local media and its critical role in community connection. Chris previously led the Arizona Broadcasters Association and before that spent 15 years working in Arizona local media at radio, TV and print operations, plus at CNN in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

Pila Martinez (’96): Senior director for strategic communications, University of Arizona; former reporter for Arizona Daily Star, Associated Press.

David McCumber: McCumber is the executive editor of the Arizona Daily Star and Arizona state editor for Lee Enterprises, the Star’s parent company. Prior, he was news director for Lee’s 23 western states daily news operations, based in Butte, Montana. He has been newspapering for 50-plus years, including editing the Star’s 1980 Pulitzer Prize winning stories on improprieties in the UA football program. He was a Pulitzer Prize juror in 2010 and 2011.

Dan Mitchell ('04): Mitchell is integrated communications director for the Salt River Project in Phoenix. His department plans and executes brand and crisis communications for the utility company. He has worked at SRP for seven years. Prior, he was communications director for Ann Kirkpatrick’s 2014 U.S. House and 2016 U.S. Senate campaigns and was deputy communications director in her district office 2014-16. Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English at UA in 2004.

Nate Olivarez-Giles ('08): Editor and writer for Apple in Los Angeles, California. At Apple he's worked on the Singal and Webby winning podcast Time to Walk, as well as being a member of the teams that built and launched the Mindfulness app on Vision Pro and the App Store Today tab. Before that, he was assistant technology news editor at The Wall Street Journal, a podcast host and producer at TWiT.tv, a staff writer at WIRED, and a staff writer/videographer at the Los Angeles Times. He's also a fiction writer, designer, illustrator, and web developer.

Nicole Santa Cruz ('09): Reporter for ProPublica, based in Phoenix, covering issues of inequality in the Southwest. Former reporter at the Los Angeles Times, where she wrote the Homicide Report blog. Received Daily Wildcat Young Alumni Award in 2011.

Caitlin Schmidt ('14) Schmidt is co-founder of and reporter for Tucson Spotlight, an online newsletter. She is an adjunct instructor in the School of Journalism, teaching Reporting Public Affairs. She worked for the Arizona Daily Star for nearly 10 years as a sportswriter, investigative reporter and community service journalist. She had internships with the Star, The New York Times, CNN and KVOA-TV. Caitlin earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at UA in 2014.

 

 

David Silver: Silver retired in 2024 after 13 years as deputy senior director of development for the UA Foundation and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, including fundraising work for the School of Journalism. Prior, he was a sports reporter, sports director and sports anchor for Tucson’s KGUN-TV, where he worked for 28 years. Dave previously was sports director at TV stations in Palm Desert and San Luis Obispo. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at San Diego State University.

Mark Woodhams: Woodhams is well- known to hundreds of journalism alumni after serving as director of Arizona Student Media and adviser to the Daily Wildcat for 23 years. He is a lifetime member of the College Media Association and twice served as president of the Association of University Student Media Managers. In 2022 he was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the Associated Collegiate Press. A newspaperman earlier in his career, he once owned a weekly paper in Connecticut.

 

 

Honorary members

• Chyrl Hill Lander ('76): Former vice chair of the council, journalist at Arizona Daily Star, TUSD spokesperson and UA journalism adjunct instructor. 
• Bobbie Jo Buel ('79): Former editor of the Arizona Daily Star.
• Patty Weiss Gelenberg (’71): Former KVOA 4 anchor in Tucson.
• Bruce Itule (’69): Longtime journalist and journalism professor; UA professor emeritus of journalism.
• Gerald Sass: Former executive vice president of the Freedom Forum.
• Arlene Scadron (’75): Former journalism head and student newspaper adviser at Pima College.
• Frank Sotomayor (’66): Former editor and Pulitzer Prize winner at Los Angeles Times; former associate director for Institute for the Justice and Journalism at USC.