Jon Funabiki to Join SF State as Professor

April 27, 2006

Jon Funabiki, deputy director of the Media, Arts and Culture unit of the Ford Foundation, has accepted a position as journalism professor at San Francisco State University. He will begin in August.

While with the Ford Foundation in New York, Funabiki had a major role in approving grants for media projects, including AAJA's Executive Leadership Program leadership summit, Camp AAJA 2004 and the AAJA Endowment and Challenge Funds.

In 1990, Funabiki became the first director of SFSU’s Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism. While there, he oversaw "News Watch: A critical look at coverage of people of color," a project that examined racial stereotypes, slurs, bias in reporting and cultural insensitivity in the print and broadcast news media.

"I've loved every bit of my work at the Ford Foundation for the past 11 years," Funabiki told AAJA, "and I expect to build on some of these experiences in my new position at San Francisco State University, where I'll be teaching and developing a new center on community, ethnic and independent media. I'm excited about the possibility of focusing my attention in this rapidly developing area of the media, and I really appreciate the opportunity presented by the university. Plus, it will be great to get back to the Bay Area--which is at the heart of many of these changes and the home of AAJA central."