DENVER—Cristina Azocar, director of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism and an assistant professor of journalism at San Francisco State University, has been elected president of the Native American Journalists Association by NAJA’s board of directors.
Azocar (Upper Mattaponi) also was re-elected Sunday to a second, three-year term on the board during NAJA’s annual convention, held in Denver. She previously served as NAJA’s secretary and treasurer.
“I joined NAJA as a student in 1992, and I’m honored to be able to give something back to an organization that I grew up with,” Azocar said in a statement released Monday. “I promise to work very hard to make this a successful year.”
Azocar succeeds Mike Kellogg (Navajo), publisher of the Stillwater (Okla.) NewsPress, who was elected treasurer by the board.
NAJA’s board also announced the hiring of Jeff Harjo (Seminole), editor of the Kickapoo Traveling Times, as NAJA executive director. Harjo succeeds interim Executive Director Kim Baca (Navajo/Santa Clara Pueblo), who will leave the organization when NAJA moves from Vermillion, S.D., to Norman, Okla., at the end of July.
Bryan Pollard (Cherokee), editor of The Cherokee Phoenix in Tahlequah, Okla., was elected vice president. Pollard previously served as NAJA secretary.
Shirley Sneve (Rosebud Sioux), executive director of Native American Public Telecommunications in Lincoln, Neb., was elected NAJA secretary.
Newly elected to the board was Rhonda LeValdo (Acoma Pueblo), a graduate student in journalism at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Ronnie Washines (Yakama), NAJAs outgoing vice president, was re-elected to a second term on the board.
NAJA is a national nonprofit organization that works to encourage American Indians to pursue journalism careers. It also works with media organizations to encourage fair and thorough coverage of Indian people and issues.
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