
Cronkite Borderlands Initiative
Our students cover issues important to the Southwest, including immigration and Indigenous communities, and tell the stories of borders near and far.
Telling the stories of our borders
Arizona State University’s Charter inspires the university community to assume fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves. The Cronkite School is proud to serve our border, Indigenous and bilingual communities by telling their stories, and by participating in a university-wide initiative to enhance our recruitment and retention efforts toward building a faculty fully reflective of the Southwest Borderlands’ diversity.
Students at the Cronkite School have opportunities to learn from Southwest Borderlands faculty while serving border, immigrant and Indigenous communities in Arizona and around the world.
Students in Cronkite News cover border, immigration and Indigenous issues across Arizona, with coverage appearing on Arizona PBS (which reaches 1.9 million households across the state) and across more than 100 other media outlets.
Southwest Borderlands Initiative Professor Rick Rodriguez, the former executive editor of The Sacramento Bee and the first Latino president of the American Society of News Editors, teaches a seminar called “Latino and Transnational Issues,” which provides an in-depth examination of cross-border dynamics. Rodriguez also teaches an advanced reporting class in the spring semester, which includes a trip for students to report on border issues abroad.
Southwest Borderlands Initiative Professor and renowned documentary filmmaker Marcos Colón teaches documentary production and supports Cronkite’s bilingual programs. Colón is most well known for writing, directing and producing the films “Beyond Fordlândia: An Environmental Account of Henry Ford’s Adventure in the Amazon” and “Stepping Softly on the Earth.” These documentaries represent diverse perspectives on humanity’s complex relations with the natural world; they also profile Indigenous environmental activists from the Amazon region seeking solutions to environmental and health crises through the aid of diverse ancestral traditions.
The Southwest Borderlands Initiative receives generous funding from The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and has benefitted thanks to support from the Adelaida and Barry Severson Cronkite Global Initiatives fund. Students pursuing reporting projects abroad and in border communities may also benefit from financial assistance provided by the Angela and Bill Silcock Global Experience Fund.
Browse student border projects reported abroad: An Island Divided: Haiti & The Dominican Republic (2023) | Tapachula Mexico: Lives in Limbo (2022) | Panama: Migrants’ Toughest Test (2020) | Seeking Stability: Venezuelans in Peru (2019) | Puerto Rico: Restless & Resilient (2018) | Queretaro: Promise of Prosperity for Mexico (2017) | Hungary: Europe’s Borderland (2016) | Nicaragua: Channeling the Future (2015) | Chiapas: State of Revolution (2014) | Two Borders (2013) | Puerto Rico: Unsettled Territory (2012)