Student clubs and organizations
Get involved! Explore Cronkite’s student groups.
Cronkite students have numerous opportunities to get involved on campus through student media, clubs and organizations from their very first day! Students can produce content for campus media organizations such as The State Press or Blaze Radio, or join impactful multicultural organizations and professional development groups.
Asian American Journalists Association
AAJA formed in 2012 as one of the first university-based organizations affiliated with the national Asian American Journalists Association. The association provides support to Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists and offers information, guidance and scholarship assistance to Asian American and Pacific Islander journalism students.
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President: Susan Wong at sswong2@asu.edu
Vice president: Tyler Bender at tkbender@asu.edu
Faculty adviser: Christina Leonard at christina.leonard@asu.edu
Association for Women in Sports Media
The Association for Women in Sports Media launched in 2013 in response to the growing number of female students’ interests in sports journalism. The chapter is affiliated with the national AWSM professional organization, which provides networking, mentoring and advice. The club is open to both men and women and works to promote fair portrayals of female professionals in sports media.
Co-Presidents: Susan Wong at sswong2@asu.edu & Mallory Schnell at mschnell@asu.edu
Vice president: Olivia Eisenhauer at liv.eishenhauer2@gmail.com
Faculty adviser: Paola Boivin at paola.boivin@asu.edu
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists
The NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists Arizona State University Chapter is a dedicated, inclusive group for people in media who identify with sexual orientations and/or gender identities other than heterosexual and cisgender and their allies. This chapter is devoted to promoting and protecting LGBTQIA+ student journalists; educating community members on LGBTQIA+ issues for comprehensive, sensitive, and thoughtful coverage; reducing misunderstandings and prejudices toward LGBTQIA+ people and cultures; creating a safe space where LGBTQIA+ journalists can discuss professional, ethical, and community concerns — both in media and at the university level. This chapter is most successful when it strives for inclusivity, with intersectional members with diverse backgrounds.
Co-President: Brenda Munoz Murguia at bmurgui1@asu.edu
Co-President: Sivan Plotkin at splotkin@asu.edu
Blaze Radio
Blaze Radio is operated by the Cronkite School and staffed primarily by journalism students who produce news, sports, music and online content for over-the-air and online audiences. Blaze Radio also is aired outside the Cronkite building through speakers placed along Taylor Mall.
Participation in the radio station has grown from about 30 students in 2008 to more than 400. Blaze Radio was named the best college radio station in the country by the Princeton Review in 2021. Every year the station is recognized at the International Broadcasting System (IBS) and sends students to the awards ceremony in New York City.
The student-run radio station offers a way for students to immediately get involved in broadcast journalism and practice their writing, reporting, announcing, social media and production skills. In addition, students in the school’s broadcast intermediate reporting classes report and produce newscasts that air on the station throughout the school year.
Members maintain a website and social media pages for news, sports and alternative music fans. The promotions team plans and promotes concerts, remote broadcasts and other events via social media and traditional methods. The Sports department provides the sole radio play-by-play coverage for dozens of ASU athletics games each year. The news department sends members out for event coverage in the Phoenix-metro area, and hosts a wide variety of broadcasted shows. Music students enjoy opportunities ranging from artist interviews to personal DJ shows. Student work has also expanded into podcasting.
Station manager: Autriya Maneshni at stationmanager@blazeradioonline.com
Program Director: Gideon Kariuki at programdirector@blazeradioonline.com
Production Director: Scott Daniels at production@blazeradioonline.com
Cronkite Foreign Affairs and International Reporting Club
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Cronkite Foreign Affairs and International Reporting Club brings together students who are interested in international reporting and current events to discuss issues related to global journalism and connect with professionals who have worked internationally.
President: Fiona Flaherty at flflaher@asu.edu
The Cut Network
The Cut Network is a student-led mini network that produces content weekly for multiple digital platforms. Students write, direct, produce and anchor the production from a studio at the Cronkite School. The Cut Network covers entertainment, sports, and political/local news attracting multiple audiences to the program.
Reporters, photographers and other members go out into the field for live hits and coverage. To prepare for this role, they endure a three-week boot camp where leaders show them the ins and outs of the organization.
In addition to posting The Cut Network episodes on YouTube, the staff publishes new articles each week and regularly engages with viewers on social media. Leaders of The Cut Network like to think of the production as preparation for the school’s professional program, Cronkite News.
Executive producers: Alexandra Zurborg at azurborg@asu.edu and Pratham Dalal at pdalal6@asu.edu
Senior producer: Amelia Dellaripa at adellar1@asu.edu
Faculty adviser: Gregg Elder at Gregg.Elder@asu.edu
Downtown Devil
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Downtown Devil is an independent online news publication dedicated to covering the downtown Phoenix community. Since 2009, after a group of Cronkite freshmen launched the website in Gordon Commons, the Downtown Devil covers anything happening in downtown Phoenix like City Council, local arts and entertainment, small businesses and downtown education systems through writing, photography and video.
Downtown Devil attracts up to 80 students, many of them freshmen, each year and has won a number of regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Downtown Devil alumni have gone on to hold jobs at prominent publications such as CNBC, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and more.
Executive editors: Mikenzie Hammel at mphammel@asu.edu
Editor-in-chief: Amber Victoria Singer at avsinger@asu.edu
Fashion Journalism Club
The Fashion Journalism Club attracts students interested in careers in fashion industry reporting. Members report and write stories for the digital publication, as well as a seasonally printed magazine, on local and national fashion week events and network with industry professionals.
President: Alexia Hill at amhill32@asu.edu
Vice president: Morgan Cole at mrcole6@asu.edu
Faculty adviser: Abby Zufelt at abby.zufelt@asu.edu
Inferno Intel
Inferno Intel provides an outlet for sports-minded Cronkite students to cover ASU sports. The site features digital and multimedia content, including feature stories, videos, photos, game stories and much more. Prior to June 2019, our organization was called Devils in Detail, a website affiliated with FanSided. We chose to take a different direction, as we want to provide the most unbiased, quality and wide-reaching content to Sun Devil fans and college sports aficionados alike.
President: Ray Belkora at rbelkora@gmail.com
Faculty adviser: Paola Boivin at paolaboivin@asu.edu
Multicultural Student Journalists Coalition
The Multicultural Student Journalists Coalition re-debuted in the summer of 2020. The Cronkite School once hosted a similar group; however, that group dispersed into individual diversity organizations starting in 2010. A group of student leaders decided the diversity organizations could be stronger and make a larger impact if there was a unifying force behind them. The MSJC believes that there should be separate diversity organizations as well as a united one to create the most effective results for student journalists of color.
Faculty adviser: Venita Hawthorne James at vhawthor@asu.edu
National Association of Black Journalists
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The National Association of Black Journalists formed in 2011 with a focus on career advancement and networking. The group, which is open to students regardless of race, is affiliated with the national organization. It provides social and professional opportunities for students and enables members to help each other advance in their careers.
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
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National Association of Hispanic Journalists launched in fall 2010. It was one of the first NAHJ student chapters in the country. Working with national and local chapters, students are mentored by professional journalists, apply for scholarships and attend the organization’s national convention.
President: Marisol Ortega at mbortega@asu.edu
PR Liaison: Gabriela Reynaga at greynag2@asu.edu
Faculty adviser: Julio Cisneros at julio.cisneros@asu.edu
National Press Photographers Association
The ASU student chapter of the National Press Photographers Association is committed to the enlightenment and education of students interested in the field of photojournalism. Through the exploration of journalistic writing, digital media and photography, students take part in valuable hands-on experiences and skill-building opportunities.
Faculty adviser: Emmanuel Lozano at emmanuel.lozano@asu.edu
Native American Journalists Association
Native American Journalists Association exists to empower Native American journalists here on campus, but also exists to highlight those issues impacting Native Americans every day. NAJA is open to any student who is Native American or to any student who wants to cover Native issues — even if they’re not Native. We believe that it is important for Native students to have a voice and for the issues impacting our communities to be investigated and brought to light.
Faculty adviser: Dawn Gilpin at dgilpin@asu.edu
Public Relations Student Society of America
PRSSA is a nationwide organization focused on providing students who aspire to have careers in the public relations/communications industry with experience in the field, via networking, internships, scholarships and other resources. ASU Cronkite’s chapter offers opportunities for students to meet public relations professionals, gain mentors, broaden industry knowledge and communication skills, and share fellowship with other public relations professionals.
President: Mara Blakslee at mblakslee@cox.net
Vice President: Jae Early at jaearly@asu.edu
Staff adviser: Krista Hinz at khinz@asu.edu
Society of Professional Journalists and Online News Association at Arizona State University
For more than 100 years, SPJ has been dedicated to encouraging a climate in which journalism can be practiced more freely and fully, stimulating high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism and perpetuating a free press. The Online News Association is a nonprofit membership organization for digital journalists, connecting journalism, technology and innovation. Since 1999, ONA has been at the forefront of a truly revolutionary age in digital media. The programs and services it provides help digital journalists in news organizations around the globe and across the corporate, independent and non-profit sectors adapt to the changing environment.
President: Lydia Curry at lecurry1@asu.edu
Vice President: Nikita Chaturvedi at nchatur3@asu.edu
Faculty adviser: Julia Thompson at julia.thompson.1@asu.edu
The State Press
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The State Press, ASU’s oldest student media outlet, has published news and information for ASU audiences for 130 years. While independent of the Cronkite School, students who are part of The State Press, ASU’s daily student news outlet, work out of a newsroom on the fourth floor of the Cronkite building with approximately 1,800 square feet of space that includes an open newsroom workspace, conference room and student and professional offices. (The newspaper also has a newsroom on the Tempe campus.) Student Media students who have received training on broadcast equipment use a Cronkite television studio and control room to produce and edit videos. In addition, the editorial adviser to The State Press, an alumnus and longtime adjunct Cronkite faculty member, maintains an office in the building.
In 2014, the State Press became an all-digital publication – the first major university student newspaper to convert entirely from print to online. The news organization publishes at statepress.com and maintains an active social media presence. It also publishes The State Press Magazine, which appears online and is distributed as a print product on campus each quarter.
The State Press is an independent news organization, with students controlling editorial decisions. A part-time editorial adviser works with students to promote high standards of journalism and provide training. An advisory board made up of faculty, students and journalism professionals select editors and offer editorial advice.
More than 100 students – most of them journalism majors – typically work for The State Press each year. Additionally, students from Cronkite classes, such as the beginning and intermediate news writing and reporting courses, regularly contribute material for publication. Many Cronkite students get their first news experience at The State Press, volunteering as reporters, photographers, videographers and producers in their freshman year; some then move into paid reporting, producing and editing roles later in their academic careers.
Executive editor: Greta Forslund at execed.statepress@gmail.com
Online Editor-in-chief: Piper Hansen at editor.statepress@gmail.com
Magazine Editor-in-chief: Sam Ellefson at statepressmag@gmail.com
Multimedia Director: Andrew Onodera at multimedia.statepress@gmail.com
Walter Cronkite College Council
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The Walter Cronkite College Council consists of appointed leaders and students associated with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Through event programming, funding advocacy, community service and providing leadership opportunities, the council strives to support and serve undergraduate and graduate students and organizations. Membership is open to all students attending the Cronkite School.
President: Hailey Forbis at hforbis@asu.edu
Staff adviser: Mary Cook at mary.cook@asu.edu
Walter Cronkite Sports Network
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Cronkite Sports Network is a student-run broadcasting and digital organization that offers play-by-play and production opportunities for students. Launched in 2012 by a group of sports-minded students, Cronkite Sports Network covers all ASU Division sports for its multimedia-rich site. Students partner with the Pac-12 Network to cover women’s basketball and soccer, hockey, softball and gymnastics. The network also produces “Cronkite Sports Live,” an online sports show that airs live on Friday afternoon during the fall and spring semesters on YouTube.
President: Ethan Ryter at eryter@asu.edu
Vice president: Sammy Miller at shmille3@asu.edu
Faculty adviser: Gail Rhodes at glrhodes@asu.edu