Please join me in congratulating NAHJ members Rodrigo Cervantes of Atlanta and Teresa Frontado of Miami, along with NABJ members Tracy Brown and Sandra Stevenson, who have won the four coveted spots in the New York Times Leadership Academy. This is the first year the Times has included NAHJ members in the academy, and we are very proud they have chosen two of our most accomplished members for the opportunity.

It was a lack of programs for midcareer professionals that prompted The New York Times in 2006 to develop a program intended to help journalists of color who wanted to move into the top levels of their profession. The New York Times Leadership Academy, which is now offered to members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists.

Each year four candidates are selected to participate in the academy, which includes a program of workshops with editors in the newsroom at The Times this week and participation in the Maynard Institute Media Academy, an intensive management training program at Harvard University in the spring.

The Times Leadership Academy is open to journalists with strong leadership and managerial potential who want to develop their careers in that direction. Applicants should have two to five years of experience working in a range of newsroom management positions, including – but not limited to – department or section heads, deputy or assistant editors, assignment editors, slots, photo editors, photographers, layout/design and graphics editors. Journalists selected to attend the Academy have their expenses paid by The Times, including transportation and housing.

Dana Canedy, senior editor at The Times in charge of the program, said, “The Leadership Academy is a critical part of our industry and newsroom commitment to diversity. It is a great program for developing promising editors of color.”

This year’s participants are:

Tracy M. Brown

Tracy M. Brown

I’m a deputy editor at Newsday on Long Island. My duties include editing the Sunday LI Life features section and overseeing the reporters who cover Long Island’s East End as part of Newsday’s daily towns coverage. I have lived on Long Island since 1995, moving here from Kansas City to take an editing job at New York Newsday. My Newsday career has included assignments on the copy desk, in the Viewpoints (editorial) department and on the business desk, where I was a deputy editor, editor of the Sunday and Monday business sections and editor of Newsday’s special business sections.

Rodrigo Cervantes

Rodrigo Cervantes

I was born and raised in Mexico City, and since 2007, I have worked in Atlanta as the editor of MundoHispánico, Georgia’s oldest and largest Hispanic newspaper and one of the Spanish-language media companies of Cox Media Group (CMG). I also enjoy writing opinion columns and, under my alter-ego “Cascajo,” drawing cartoons. I graduated with honors in communication sciences and journalism from the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico City Campus. In 2005, I was granted a Fundación Carolina Scholarship from the Spanish government to obtain an M.B.A. in the San Pablo School of Business (Madrid). I also received additional training in digital journalism, opinion writing, investigative reporting, public relations and advertising. My professional experience includes working as a reporter, special correspondent, editor and special sections coordinator for Reforma, Mexico’s premier daily. As a consultant, I have also participated in areas such as advertising, marketing, public relations, content analysis and scriptwriting. In 2010, I was appointed as one of the first members of the Cox Media Group Diversity Advisory Group, and in 2009, I was awarded a Poynter-McCormick Leadership Fellowship. Other honors I have received include the Power 30 Under 30 Award for Professional and Community Excellence in Atlanta, the Outstanding Alumni Medal from the School of Journalism and Communication of the ITESM, and several José Martí Awards for Cartooning and Opinion Writing Excellence from NAHJ. I have collaborated as a guest speaker for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Foundation for American Communications, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), the Atlanta Press Club, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgia State University and Emory University.As the Editor of MundoHispánico, I led reorganizations in the newsroom and the redesign of the paper. I also helped the company diversify its market by contributing to the launch of new products, such as the monthly parental magazine Padres & Hijos Atlanta, the guides for better living Mundo Legal and Mundo Salud, as well as the newspaper’s digital strategy (Web site and social networks). I love good art, books, music, movies and friends – but I have a high tolerance for the bad ones, too.

Teresa E. Frontado

Teresa E. Frontado

I am an online journalist with 17 years of professional experience in media in the United States and South America. I worked for three major newspapers in Venezuela and was the U.S. correspondent of El Nacional for seven years. This is my second stint at El Nuevo Herald.com. My first tour of duty was during the Elián González crisis, from 1999 to 2001. I came back in 2007 to be the senior multimedia producer and then was promoted to online editor. A year ago I was named continuous news editor in charge of assigning breaking news to reporters, coordinating joint coverage and projects with The Miami Herald.com and overseeing content and functionality of El Nuevo Herald.com and its mobile editions, as well as social media strategy. I obtained my journalism degree at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, Venezuela, and have two master’s degree: one in law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the other in Latin American history from the University of Miami. When not working, you can find me attending my son’s soccer games or my daughter’s dance recitals. I also volunteer at several organizations in Miami.

Sandra M. Stevenson

Sandra M. Stevenson

I am the weekend international picture editor at The New York Times. Over the course of six years, I have worked as the Metro section photo editor and assignment picture editor, positions that involve working with staff and freelance photographers to cover most sections of the publication. I am originally from Albuquerque, N.M., but grew up in Cheyenne, Wyo. I received a degree in English from Syracuse University, as well as a degree in film and photography from l’Universite Toulouse – Le Mirail in France. Prior to joining the Times, I was in the photo department at the Associated Press, working my way up from a photo assistant to overseeing coverage in Latin America and the Caribbean. I then moved on to work for two photo agencies, Corbis and Worldpicture Network. I started as a page at NBC and was later a production assistant and production associate for Today, NBC Nightly News and Weekend Nightly News. After NBC, I was a program coordinator for The Black Filmmaker Foundation. I am also the photo editor for the New York Times Student Journalism Institute in New Orleans, and currently serve as the co-chair of the African Heritage Network Affinity Group at The New York Times.

- Michele Salcedo,

NAHJ President

Yes, you — if you are a midcareer journalist, member of NAHJ and would like an academic year’s study at Harvard, Stanford or Michigan. In our continuing commitment to support our midcareer members, NAHJ is again matching applicants to mentors who know firsthand how to put a successful application together.

We launched this program last year, and once again, NAHJ past president Cecilia Alvear, a 1989 Nieman fellow herself and chair of the Diversity Group at the Nieman Advisory Board, has graciously and generously agreed to head this initiative.

Through the years several NAHJ members have been awarded these prestigious fellowships.They stand ready to guide this year’s NAHJ applicants through the process. The fellowships allow you to spend an academic year at these centers of higher education and expand your knowledge in ways that will help elevate the level of journalism you practice and give you resources and a professional network to draw upon for the rest of your career.

Claudia Nuñez of La Opinión participated in the program last year. She was selected for the Knight-Stanford fellowship and was a finalist for the Nieman. Here’s the letter she wrote after receiving her acceptance.

“Before I express my appreciation, I would like to take a minute and ask you if you have heard the following phrase: ‘A luckless journalist is not a journalist?’ I don’t know who the author of this tongue-in-cheek phrase is, but the reality is that these words describe exactly my fortunate encounter with the new mentorship program of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) for fellowship applicants. This is the first time that I have decided to pursue one of the prestigious fellowships available for journalists in the country and curiously, this is the first time that the NAHJ has offered this resource. As a Hispanic reporter whose primary language is not English, one of my greatest fears was the effective presentation of my personal essay and study plan. I was very fortunate to have a mentor of such high caliber as Frank Sotomayor.  This proved to be very valuable. Frank helped me polish my text in a language that I have yet to master, and he would provide intelligent criticism that would be available through the entire process. Thank you NAHJ for this grand idea and Thank You Frank Sotomayor for your great advice.  Frank, is there a mentor for the Pulitzer?

If you have questions about the fellowships or the application process, feel free to contact Cecilia.

Here’s the list of fellowships and their deadlines. We encourage you to apply for all three.
1) The Nieman Foundation for Journalism fellowship at Harvard University
Deadline for U.S. Fellows: January 31, 2012
Deadline for International Fellows: December 1, 2011

2) The Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Deadline for U.S. and International Fellows: February 1, 2012

3) The Knight-Stanford Fellowship
Deadline for U.S. Fellows: February 1, 2012
Deadline for International Fellows: December 1, 2011

Good luck to all!
¡A sus órdenes!

Michele Salcedo
President, NAHJ