Waddell, DeBolt, McLeod honored

David Waddell

Paul DeBolt

Paul McLeod

Two communitiy college professors and one universtiy professor were honored as outstanding instructors by the California Journalism Education Coaltion at the annual convention of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges March 29.

Honored were:

• Paul McLeod, who teaches journalism and advises student publications at both Los Angeles Harbor (Wilmington) and Saddleback (Mission Viejo) colleges,
• Paul DeBolt, who teaches journalism and advises the student publication at Contra Costa College (San Pablo), and
• Dr. David Waddell, who teaches journalism and advises the student publication at California State University, Chico.

McLeod is a former LA Times reporter and splits his time between the two Southern California community colleges, which are about 50 miles apart, as a part-timer at each. Both colleges have print and online publications. At Saddleback College, in particular, he has successfully introduced student to New Media reporting skills along with their traditional print product.

DeBolt is one of the most senior and most respected community college journalism instructors in the state. He’s been at Contra Costa since 1980 and his students produce what some call one of the best student publications in the nation. He just advised his 750th issue of the college newspaper, the Advocate. In the last two years, especially, his students have embraced New Media reporting methods for the online version of the newspaper. DeBolt has twice served as president of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.

Waddell’s students also publish both in print and online and their publications are often listed when talking about the best examples of student work in the nation. Under his leadership the program runs a number of outreach projects each year for Chcio State alumni, high school students and community college students. He was recently selected to serve as the president of the California College Media Association, an association of public and private university programs.