Mass Communication & Journalism Alumni & Friends E-Newsletter

                                                                         A message from the MCJ Alumni &
                                                                         Friends Chapter President . . .

                                                                         By Ron Orozco

Welcome to your first e-newsletter for the new "MCJ Alumni & Friends Chapter." Don't rush through it. Read it with a Starbucks black iced-tea lemonade at your side.

This e-newsletter is designed to reacquaint you with the Mass Communication & Journalism Department at California State University, Fresno. You'll read about many positive changes taking place in the department. MCJ professors are currently booking the main speaker and panelists for the Tatarian Symposium, which will be held again in the fall. You won't want to miss it.

This newsletter also is intended to reconnect you with the students that you sat next to in those McKee-Fisk journalism classrooms or hung out with in the Collegian office. We know you're interested in how and what they're doing.

Recently, I had lunch at BJ's Restaurant in Fresno with an old journalism buddy, Dennis Touros. In the early 1970s, we were in the same journalism classes with professors such as Molen, Tucker, Shepard, Rehart and Tatarian. Over the years, however, we had lost contact. Over avocado-and-turkey sandwiches, I learned Dennis is married with teenaged kids and continues to work in the insurance business.

I also learned Dennis hasn't stopped writing. He is a huge Giants fan. So he regularly digs out information about the Giants and others in their farm system. Then he ships the information to friends via e-mail. I'm now receiving his e-mails -- and feeling grateful that we reconnected.

It's our goal that the "MCJ Alumni & Friends Chapter" reconnects you in various ways. It's great to catch up with an old journalism friend over lunch. But it is also important that the chapter helps you to maintain contact with the MCJ Department and with others. This e-newsletter is just one example.

The chapter plans to award scholarships to journalism students and to become an advocate for literacy programs. And we need your help. You're important to us. We value your professional expertise. We know you have something important to offer to others.

The first step? Get involved in the "MCJ Alumni & Friends Chapter." Maybe it will cause you to reminisce with a journalism friend over a turkey-avocado sandwich.