Causey is an enterprise and investigative reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Nevada.  He was an award-winning investigative reporter and enterprise team leader for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, FL and covered crime and government for The Times in Shreveport, LA. He has been a mentor/editor for VOICES, an AAJA program for college students to develop multimedia and reporting skills.

Hoang is a business reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic in Yakima, WA. Her beat includes a wide range of topics including agriculture, aviation, retail and economic development. Hoang currently serves as president of AAJA-Seattle. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, running, cooking and watching Korean dramas.

Howard is a CNN media coordinator who leads colleagues on projects to improve the department’s methods of acquiring and disseminating the latest video elements.  She freelances as a CNN international associate producer, field produces and writes for CNN.com. Howard has been AAJA-Atlanta’s president for three years.

Lin is the assistant editor for CivilBeat.com, an online investigative news website based in Honolulu. She was previously on staff at The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

Tanglao is a homepage editor at ABCNews.com in New York.  She handles programming for the network’s website/mobile devices. She previously worked at KCBS2/KCAL9 in Los Angeles, CA and The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, CA.  She received her graduate degree from the University of California Los Angeles in Asian American Studies in 2010.

Questions?  Contact Marcia Santillan, Professional Programs Coordinator, at MarciaS@aaja.org or 415-346-2051, ext. 107.

About the Dinah Eng Leadership Fellowship

The Dinah Eng Leadership Fellowship widens opportunities for mid-career AAJA members to enhance their skills and advance in news management. Fellows get financial assistance for programs such as AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program, university-level management programs and leadership courses at institutions that include the Poynter Institute and journalism schools that charge tuition.

Read the announcement about 2013 Dinah Eng Leadership Fellows.

Learn more about the first 2013 Dinah Eng Leadership Fellow.

Ernabel Demillo (AAJA-New York) is host of CUNY-TV’s “Asian American Life,” focusing on social, political and cultural issues in the Asian American community.  She is a journalism professor at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, NJ, and previously was a veteran broadcaster at FOX-5 in New York, Court TV and MSNBC.  Demillo was also nominated for a 2011 and 2013 Emmy for Best Science Program for CUNY-TV’s Science and U!.  She is a former AAJA-New York board member, AAJA-New York Chapter Vice President of Broadcast (1997-2001), head of the Student Television Project in 2000 in New York and 2001 in San Francisco.

June Chang (AAJA-Asia) was awarded a $15,000 grant from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to collect a series of Koreans’ oral histories on video. She is an English news anchor in Seoul, a lecturer at universities in Seoul and serves as a guest analyst on Korean issues for international media outlets. Chang, the Asia Chapter’s AAJA Advisory Board representative, has been recognized as an honorary publicity ambassador for Gangnam, Seoul and has received Yonsei University’s Meritorious Award for contributions to the community.

Adam Kealoha Causey (AAJA-Florida) has taken a new job as an enterprise and investigative reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously worked at The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville where his reporting led to reform in the local college financial aid system and the resignation of a college president.  He previously worked at The Times in Shreveport, LA and has been recognized as a 2010 – Finalist, Watchdog Reporting, Gannett Awards of Excellence. He is also a mentor/editor for VOICES, an AAJA program for college students to develop multimedia and reporting skills.

Arsalan Iftikhar (AAJA-Washington, D.C.)  was awarded the 2013 Distinguished Young Alumni Award from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and serves as senior editor for The Islamic Monthly magazine in Washington, D.C.  As a global media commentator, he participates weekly on National Public Radio (NPR) discussing domestic and international issues and is author of the book Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslims in the Post-Osama Era.

To submit your own Member News, send a 30- to 40-word write-up (subject to editing) with a biography and a photo to AAJA Professional Programs Coordinator Marcia Santillan at marcias@aaja.org.

See what our Members accomplished in 2012

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See what our Members accomplished in March 2013

See what our Members accomplished in April 2013

Spencer Hsu (AAJA-Washington, D.C.) was named a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.  As an investigative reporter for The Washington Post, he explored flawed forensic evidence in a series of criminal cases prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department. Hsu’s watchdog journalism caused a review of more than 20,000 cases. Hsu has also covered homeland security, Washington, D.C.-area members of the U.S. Congress and Virginia politics for the Post. His previous recognitions include the 2012 Scripps Howard Foundation Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize  and The Innocence Network Journalism Award.

Doris Truong (AAJA-Washington, D.C.) has received the eighth Robinson Prize from the American Copy Editors Society. The award recognizes “substantial contributions to the craft of copy editing and excellence in overall copy-editing skills” and includes a $3,000 prize. Truong is a multiplatform editor at The Washington Post. She is immediate past president of AAJA and is currently vice president of UNITY: Journalists for Diversity. She is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and the 2003 AAJA Executive Leadership Program.

Tomoko A. Hosaka (AAJA-San Francisco Bay Area) is Chief Operating Officer at Plympton, a digital publishing startup. The company, founded by journalist and author Jennifer 8. Lee, aims to revive serialized fiction for the digital age. Hosaka was previously News & Politics Manager at Ustream and a Tokyo-based reporter for The Associated Press. She serves on AAJA’s Governing Board and is a graduate of the 2012 Executive Leadership Program.

Sital S. Patel (AAJA-New York) is a reporter at MarketWatch, covering Wall Street and financial services, based in New York.  Prior to joining MarketWatch, Sital worked as a producer, reporter, researcher for Fox Business Network where she has covered a broad range of financial stories including different aspects of Wall Street, earnings, the stock market and politics. Patel was a past New York Chapter President, a 2009 graduate of the Executive Leadership Program and currently serves as an AAJA National Advisory Board Representative for the chapter.

Jessica Chen (AAJA-New York) has joined the News 12 team as a freelance reporter in the New York metro area. Prior to becoming part of News 12 team, she was a reporter at KRNV in Reno, NV, and worked in Taiwan at Next TV Broadcasting Limited. Chen is a graduate of University of California, San Diego and enjoys reporting human interest stories.

Corky Lee (AAJA-New York) and his work is being featured in a photography exhibition at Stony Brook University titled “Asian Roots/American Soil.”  He is a freelance journalist, who for 41 years years has used his camera to ensure that the faces of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and their experiences are included in American history. By documenting the civil rights struggle, he has retold these stories through a special lens.

Photo Credit: Jason Jem

To submit your own Member News, send a 30- to 40-word write-up (subject to editing) with a biography and a photo to AAJA Professional Programs Coordinator Marcia Santillan at marcias@aaja.org.

See what our Members accomplished in 2012

See what our Members accomplished in January 2013

See what our Members accomplished in February 2013

See what our Members accomplished in March 2013

The Asian American Journalists Association will allow student members to vote in local and national board elections starting this year.

Recognizing the growing importance of its student members, AAJA’s governing board voted unanimously to expand student voting rights during the national spring board meeting in New York City in March. It will mark the first time students will have the right to vote in AAJA’s 32-year history. Students may not run for elected office.

Sonali Kohli, a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles and an aspiring reporter, said she is eager to engage more in AAJA activities. “Students should learn to be involved with AAJA early on,” Kohli said. “Giving voting rights is a large part of being involved. It’s a real positive step.”

“Students are AAJA’s next generation of chapter presidents, national officers and industry leaders. The board is excited to see more engagement from our student members,” Paul Cheung, AAJA National President, said.

AAJA currently has 430 student members across the country, and offers several scholarships and signature programs like J-Camp and Voices for aspiring journalists. By expanding the ability to vote to its student members, the board welcomes a new generation of journalists that represent AAJA’s future.

Dennis Clemente (AAJA-New York) was the recipient of a Plaridel Award for Outstanding Commentary with his article, “Is It Okay to Lose Your Language? Not For These FilAms,” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. As a contributor to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he covers news, lifestyle features, business and entertainment and blogs at reimaginetech.com and americanizewho.com. Clemente has been a member of AAJA since 2004.

Betty Lin-Fisher (AAJA-At-Large) is the first Asian American recipient of the 2013 Robert G. McGruder Diversity in Media Distinguished Leadership Award at Kent State University in Ohio. She is a consumer reporter, columnist and a general business reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal.  Her previous awards include a 2009 Society of Business Editors and Writers Best in Business Projects for her Reclaim the Dream series, plus recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Cleveland Press Club.  She is a previous AAJA Mary Moy Quan Scholarship recipient and a graduate of the 2003 AAJA Executive Leadership Program.

Kyung Won Lee (AAJA-Sacramento) has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus of West Virginia University. The Korean American journalist’s series of investigatory pieces on Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant who was wrongfully convicted in 1973 for murder, led to a retrial and subsequent acquittal.  Kyung Won Lee founded Koreatown Weekly, the first national English-language Korean American publication, and established the English Edition of the Korea Times in Los Angeles.  He also established the Korean American Journalists Association.  During his career, he has received a plethora of awards and distinctions, including AAJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Human Relations Commission of Los Angeles County’s John Anson Ford Award and the Freedom Forum’s Free Spirit Award.

Dinah Eng (AAJA-Los Angeles) is a 2013 Best in Business winner from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, for the ongoing feature “How I Started” in Fortune Magazine.  She a contributing writer for Fortune Magazine and is a columnist and freelance writer for Scripps Howard News Service. Eng has received numerous awards, including the Columbia University Distinguished Service to Journalism Award and the National Association of Minority Media Executives Lawrence Young Breakthrough Award.  She is a past president of AAJA. Eng founded AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program and served as its director for its first 15 years.

Thomas Lee (AAJA-Minnesota) has won two awards, in the Breaking News and the Features categories, from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for his coverage on Best Buy. The Star Tribune has also nominated Lee’s work for the Pulitzer Prize. Lee has written for the Star Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Seattle Times and China Daily USA. He also served as Minnesota Bureau Chief for MedCityNews.com and Detroit Bureau Chief and National Medical Device Editor for Xconomy.com.  He is a former Voices Editor, Minnesota chapter president, an AAJA national vice president for print and a 2005 graduate of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program.

Lorene Yue (AAJA-Chicago) is a 2013 Best in Business winner from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Her package, “The Cost of Crime: The Story of Austin,” was one of three feature winners in the print, weeklies category.  Yue is a business reporter at Crain’s Chicago Business who has worked for the Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press , Kansas City Star and The Journal-News in Hamilton, Ohio. She is a longtime member of AAJA and was named Chapter President of the Year in 2007. She is currently a co-director of the JCamp high school journalism program.

To submit your own Member News, send a 30- to 40-word write-up (subject to editing) with a biography and a photo to AAJA Professional Programs Coordinator Marcia Santillan at marcias@aaja.org.

See what our Members accomplished in 2012
See what our Members accomplished in January 2013
See what our Members accomplished in February 2013

Liu heads a new online entertainment section for The Sun Sentinel called SouthFlorida.com. For the past ten years, she has served on the volunteer staff of AAJA’s VOICES student convention news program, the last three years as its director.