Amara Aguilar, Ed.D.
Los Angeles, California
E-mail: amara.aguilar@gmail.com
Dr. Amara Aguilar is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Journalism and Communication who centers her work around community reporting, Latino communities, social media, new tech, and engaging diverse communities. Classes she has taught include visual journalism, podcasting, interactive media design, social media storytelling, and content creator journalism.
Experience
Professor of Professional Practice, Journalism
University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
August 2014 - present
Position includes teaching journalism courses, such as: Experiential journalism in Latin America, international communications studies, social media storytelling, visual journalism, engaging diverse communities, mobile and emerging journalism, emerging technology, graduate capstone courses, journalism immersion courses for master’s students, magazine production, interactive design, social media storytelling for Latinx audiences, experiential storytelling, among others. Accomplishments include: Launching USC’s first Latinx-focused media outlet, Dímelo; developing curriculum focused on design, Latinx, social media, emerging technology, engaging diverse communities. Awarded a Center for Excellence in Teaching fellowship and selected as a Center for Public Diplomacy fellow. Served on university-wide campus climate committee, Annenberg diversity task force, undergraduate and graduate curriculum committee, various hiring committees, among others. Annenberg Media faculty adviser for Dímelo and led several student reporting trips to Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Executive Producer, Producer & Creative Post-Production Director for documentary series entitled, “Abuelita’s Kitchen: Stories from the Borderlands”; Project Investigator
Project funded by $536,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Worked as executive producer, producer, post-production and more for four-part documentary series. Worked on script writing, research, interviews, location scouting, hiring, and more for the project. Served as project investigator for the project as well.
Digital Editor and Zine Editor, NPR Next Generation Radio
Spring 2010-present
Work as digital editor and zine editor for selected week-long projects throughout the year for NPR Next Generation Radio. Recent projects include projects based at USC, Portland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Indigenous Projects, and more. Links for USC project: https://issuu.com/amara_media/docs/nextgen_usc_march2024_zine_singlepdf; Website: https://usc2024.nextgenradio.org/
Project Investigator and lead faculty for IDEAS World Learning grant project, “Mexico Experiential Study Abroad,” program
Spring 2023 to present
Served as PI and developed a new hybrid study abroad program at USC Annenberg focused on experiential journalism in Latin America. Link: https://annenberg.usc.edu/current-students/international-programs/mexico-experiential-storytelling-abroad-mesa
SPJ/RTNDA Google News Initiative Trainer
2018-present
Conduct workshops, develop curriculum and training for various newsrooms on Google News Initiative tools. Organizations and newsrooms trained include: Associated Press, ABC News, NAHJ, NABJ, NGLJA, AAJA, local newsrooms and university newsrooms. The program was formerly under SPJ and in 2024 moved to RTNDA.
ieiMedia Valencia, Spain Study Abroad Program Director and Faculty
Summers 2015 – 2023
Served as director for two summers and also worked as a faculty member. Director responsibilities include recruitment, curriculum development, itinerary design, securing translators, fixers, housing, excursions, classroom space, Spanish lessons, etc. Also taught intercultural lessons on customs, culture, food, safety tips, and journalistic practices in Spain.
Saddleback College, Department Chair and Assistant Professor of Journalism (tenure track)
September 2012 – August 2014
Tenure track teaching position included teaching multimedia, journalism, radio, and video courses; development of curriculum; establishing degrees and certificates; advising the development of mobile and tablet apps; advising student publications (newspaper, magazine, online/social media sites); developing department policies, contributing to development and implementation of vision of the Journalism Department that includes the fusion of a variety of media related disciplines (TV, radio, journalism), writing program review, serving on committees, applying for and managing grants, organizing and leading advisory board meetings, training students on new technology, community outreach, etc.
Pierce College, Assistant Professor of Multimedia (tenured)
September 2012 – August 2014
Tenure track teaching position included teaching multimedia, journalism, radio, and broadcasting courses; development of curriculum; establishing degrees and certificates; created and advising a public radio model internet radio station; advising student publications (newspaper, magazine, radio station and online sites); developing department policies, contributing to development and implementation of vision of the Media Arts Department, writing program review, serving on Distance Ed Tech, accreditation committees, among others, organizing and leading advisory board meetings, etc.
Long Beach Press-Telegram Faculty Apprentice
Summer 2009
Worked as a video journalist during summer 2009 for the Long Beach Press-Telegram as part of a Pierce College faculty apprenticeship program. I researched stories, conducted and shot interviews, edited pieces using Final Cut Pro and worked with the video and web editors at the Press-Telegram to publish shot video documentaries.
Cal State Long Beach, Adjunct Journalism Professor
October 2005 – August 2008
Classes taught included online journalism, writing for the web, media design, writing across the media, reporting and information gathering, photojournalism, etc. Duties include developing course content, lecturing, grading, etc. Also advised the online editions of the Daily 49er and Dig Magazine.
Cerritos College, Adjunct Journalism Professor
August 2005 – December 2008
Hired to teach intro to multimedia reporting, talonmarks.com production class, beginning news writing, advise the student magazine Wings. Wings was honored in 2007 with a state general excellence award by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges. Duties for Cerritos College also included advising, developing course content, teaching fundamentals of magazine writing and design, lecturing on other various topics, grading, etc. Also serving on vocational advisory board for the journalism program, and contributed to curriculum development and program review.
Cerritos College Performing Arts Promotions Specialist
May 2004 – February 2006
Responsible for all publicity for music and theatre events. This entailed composing press releases and feature stories for local media and taking photographs. In addition, duties included creating brochures, monitoring budget, as well as researching and developing audience base. Also responsible for designing advertisements, posters, postcards, programs and all other print and online publicity materials. Responsibilities consisted of maintaining theatre and music web sites, including content development. Also responsible for ticket sales and as a new feature made tickets available for purchase online.
Cerritos College Instructional Aide/Advertising Manager
March 2002 – May 2004
Duties included instructing Cerritos College journalism students in the department’s open lab on use of computer design software such as InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. I also taught students how to use digital cameras and video cameras, and provided input on journalism curriculum and yearly goals. In addition, I was responsible for selling and billing of ads, designing ads and interacting with clients. I also assisted in training students on how to maintain and utilize the college newspaper website (www.talonmarks.com), voted one of the top online student newspapers in the state by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.
LA Times Community News, Designer/Writer
January 2000 – March 2002
Duties included planning and designing A1 cover pages and sports pages for the Daily Pilot, a daily community newspaper with 40,000 circulation that covers Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Also was responsible for some copy editing, writing headlines, decks and captions as well as proofing pages. Job also required writing features and game stories. I was the college beat writer for the Daily Pilot and had a column that ran once a week. Beat included covering UC Irvine athletics. Job also entailed creating sports cover designs and graphics using Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop. In my first assignment as a designer, I was responsible for designing the Westside Weekly, a regional supplement to the Los Angeles Times. Job involved planning and designing the entire publication by working with photographers, photo editors, reporters, city editors and copy editors. Job also entailed creating Page 1 designs, graphics and logos using Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop.
The Hockey Players Corp. Content Publisher
January 2001 – August 2001
Team beat writer for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Duties included compiling stories as well as writing columns for www. worldhockeynet.com, a website supported by The Hockey Players Corp., based in Canada. The web site was discontinued due to the slowing economy and cutbacks.
Los Angeles Times (Orange County) Sports Stringer and Reporter
August 1997 – September 2000
Duties included covering high school and some college sports events as well as working on the sports desk (taking calls, inputting agate and writing game summaries). Also freelanced for OC Calendar Weekend section.
Education
• Doctorate in Education, December 2020
University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education, Organizational Change and Leadership
• Master’s Degree, 2006
California State University, Fullerton, Communications (Journalism/New Media)
• Bachelor’s Degree, 2000
California State University, Fullerton, Journalism
• Associate in Art’s Degree, 1997
Cerritos College, Journalism
• Certificate in Online Teaching, USC Center for Excellence in Teaching, 2020
• Apple Certified Trainer, Final Cut Pro
• Apple Developer, iOS, iPad, iPhone
• Android Developer, Google Play
• Certificate in Graphic Design, Cal State Long Beach
• Certificate in html, North Orange County Community College District
Awards and Honors
• Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Teaching Award (2021)
• USC Mentoring Award for Undergraduate Students (2021)
• Online News Association Challenge Fund Innovation in Journalism Education Winner (2020)
• TOW Knight Disruptive Educator for innovation (2018)
• NAHJ Champion “Who Brought Me Up” Award (2018)
• MediaShift’s top innovative journalism educator (2017)
• Scripps Howard Foundation-AEJMC visiting social media fellow (2017)
• Apple Distinguished Educator, higher education (2015)
• California Journalism Education Coalition Journalism Educator of the Year (2014)
Recent Awards as Faculty Adviser or Course Professor
• “Thinking of getting vaccinated: We’ve got you covered,” Annenberg Media Dímelo, First Place, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), mobile storytelling category, 2021
• “Covid Chronicles,” Visual Journalism Classes, Third Place, AEJMC, team storytelling web category, 2021
• “First Aid Beauty,” PR351B class entry, Best in Direct Advertising, AEJMC, 2021
• “KinderYou,” PR351B class entry, Best in Video Advertising, AEJMC, 2021
• “Dia de los Muertos,” Dímelo entry, Award of Excellence, Best of Digital News Design, Format: Use of Video in Digital Storytelling/Infographics/Social Media, Society for News Design, 2021
• “Dímelo Spotify,” Dímelo entry, Award of Excellence, Best of Digital News Design, Format: Use of Audio in Digital Storytelling/Infographics/Social Media, SND, 2021
• “Dímelo,” Award of Excellence, mobile apps category, Broadcast Education Association, 2020
• “An Abuelo Fighting Fires,” Annenberg Media Dímelo entry, Finalist, Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Mark of Excellence Awards, 2020
• “L.A. TACO x USC Community Zine Engagement Project,” student team entry, First Place, Reynolds Journalism Institute, Student Innovation Competition, 2020
• “Voices of America,” mobile application & interactive design, General Excellence award, World Journalism Coalition Paris, 2019
• “Dímelo,” finalist for outstanding independent student publication, SPJ Regional Conference, 2018
• “Twins overcome adversity,” Dímelo entry, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, student broadcast winner, 2019
Recent Publications
• “Visuals get a boost from AI-powered tools” (2023, NiemanLab)
• “Journalism schools emphasize listening” (2021, NiemanLab)
• “A lesson in mobilization,” (2020, USC Annenberg, Relevance Report)
• “Journalists, let’s create stories for Alexa” (2017, MediaShift)
• “Dear Facebook, more news please?” (2016, CNN)
• “How to tell diverse social media stories with a simple phrase: ‘Dímelo” (2016, MediaShift)
• “Courageous women inspire a new generation,” (2015, MediaShift)
Books and Research
• “Reporting on Latino/a/x Communities: A Guide for Journalists,” co-authored and co-edited; Published in May 2022 by Routledge.
• “Latinas in journalism: Examining their biggest challenges and opportunities,” Paper Presentation, AEJMC, MAC Group, August 2021.
Fellowships
• USC Center for Public Diplomacy U.S.-South Korea NextGen Creative Fellowship
• Center for Excellence in Teaching, USC Annenberg faculty fellow
• USC Center for Public Diplomacy faculty fellow
• Scripps Howard Foundation-AEJMC visiting social media fellow
Selected presentations, Workshops and Speaking Engagements
• “Bridging the newsroom and the classroom: Tackling big projects with student journalists,” IRE Conference, Anaheim, June 2024
• “Covering minority religions with accuracy and empathy,” Religion News Association Conference, April 2023
• “Empowering all students in college newsrooms,” SPJ national conference panel, September 2021
• “Engaging Communities is More Important Than Ever, Here’s How You Can,” SPJ national conference, September 2021
• SPJ-Google News Initiative training on digital tools and storytelling, AEJMC Global Conference, August 2021
• “Latinas in journalism: Examining their biggest challenges and opportunities,” Paper Presentation, AEJMC Global Conference, MAC Group, August 2021; Co-authored manuscript in progress
• “Developing your content strategy,” NFL Executive Training, USC Annenberg, May 2021
• “Navigating academia: Becoming a journalism educator or grad student while in the newsroom,” NAHJ national conference, July 2021
• “Latinas in Journalism and Journalism Education – Dondé Estan?” AEJMC Global Conference, Commission on the Status of Women, August 2020
• “Covering coronavirus: Street reporting without the street,” USC Center for Health Journalism, April 2020
• “Soft power through digital storytelling,” Conference on Soft Power, India, USC Center for Public Diplomacy speaker, December 2018
• “Creating social stories: PD strategies through engaging narratives,” USC Center for Public Diplomacy mini-course, Berlin, October 2019
• “Ignite session: GIFs for journalists,” World Journalism Education Congress, Paris, September 2019
• “More than a Google search,” NABJLA, September 2019
• “Telling data-driven stories,” International Center for Journalists, conducted two-day online training with exercises, selected finalists for WJS data innovation fellowship and mentored finalists, summer 2019
• “Table talks: Reporting tools and techniques,” Online News Association Conference, September 2018
• “Google Fundamental Tools for Journalists,” NLGJA Conference, September 2018
• ““News Coverage of Immigrant Communities in Los Angeles: Innovating New Pathways to Trust & Engagement,” Presenter at USC event, March 2018
• “Hack the gender gap: Women’s hackathon on diversifying AI at WVU,” Featured speaker, MediaShift, November 2017
• “ABC@USC,” conducted several sessions for ABC News journalists, July 2021
• “Startup competition around chatbots and bots at the InNEVation Center,” MediaShift, February 2017
• Keynote speaker, JEA national high school journalism convention, April 2016
• “Hack the J-School,” ONA LA, January 2016
• “Technology speaks: How storytelling is becoming an experience,” V3 Conference, 2015
• “Hack the gender gap: Women’s hackathon at USC Annenberg,” October 2015
Recent Grants Received
• National Endowment for Humanities production grant, “Abuelita’s Kitchen: Stories from the Borderlands,” $536,000 (2022-2024)
• IDEAS World Learning grant to develop hybrid study abroad program in Latin America, $35,000 (2023-2024)
• Solutions Journalism Grant, $10,000 (USC Dímelo to produce zine on mental health and Latino communities) (2023-2024)
• USC Collaborative Teaching Grant, Voices of our Abuelas: Stories about food in Los Angeles project, $20,000 (2021)
• Reporting on Inequities Project, a collaboration with Annenberg Media Dímelo/South LA, University of Wisconsin, Local Voices Network, Cortico, $10,000 (2021)
• USC Good Neighbors Grant, Las Fotos Project Community Partner, awards ranged from $17,000 - $35,000 for the last five years.
• Online News Association Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education Grant, L.A. TACO x USC community zine project, $20,000 (2020)
Selected Media Mentions & Press
• “SPJ selects Amara Aguilar, University of Southern California professor, for Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award,” SPJ, 2021
• “Class connects with L.A. TACO to create community ‘zine’,” USC Annenberg News, April 2021
• “Latinx Files,” Los Angeles Times, February 2021
• “Frank Rojas tells real L.A. stories in the classroom and the newsroom,” USC Annenberg News, 2021
• “Through photojournalism, young women document injustices and reasons for hope in L.A.,” USC Annenberg News, November 2020
• “LAUSD high school student shares her summer AYA experience,” USC Annenberg News, July 2020
• “Students report on the forgotten stories of Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane Maria,” October 2019
• “EducationShift20: Honoring innovative journalism educators,” MediaShift, 2018
• “Talk that talk,” Editor & Publisher, 2018
• “Next Generation Radio Project: The art of radio storytelling,” USC Annenberg News, 2018
• “After viral success, Annenberg Media looks toward what’s next,” USC Annenberg News, December 2018
• “How the Women’s Hackathon at WVU Tackled Diversity in AI,” MediaShift, 2017
• “USC Annenberg students join Fusion to tell stories from the U.S.-Mexico border,” USC Annenberg News 2017
• “Annenberg students create a USC chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA),” USC Annenberg News, 2017
• “Snap Inc. snaps up Dímelo stories for Discover section,” USC Annenberg News, 2017
• “Live Video After Police Shooting Brings New Immediacy To Bearing Witness,” NPR The Two-Way, 2016
• “USC Annenberg and #diverSCity bring conversation about diversity to forefront,” USC Annenberg News, 2016
• “USC Annenberg hosts NPR Next Generation Radio and teaches students about radio reporting,” USC Annenberg News, 2016
• “The JEDI Desk at USC Annenberg's Media Center,” USC Annenberg News, 2016
• “A new class at USC is teaching students how to produce stories specifically for social media,” Nieman Lab, 2015
Professional Association Memberships
• Online News Association
• AEJMC
• Society Professional Journalists
• NAHJ academic member and NAHJ Academic Committee
• Society for News Design
• Religion News Association
Selected Professional Service
• NAHJ Academic Committee Member, 2021
• SPJ Conference Planning Committee Member, 2021
• Lions Award Judge, 2020
• Next Generation Radio Selection Committee, various projects for the last decade
• Cerritos College Advisory Board member, 2014-present
• Southern California Journalism Education Association Scholarship Committee, 2014-present
Selected University Service
• Community and Culture Committee member
• Center for Excellence in Teaching, Faculty Fellow, 2020-2023
• Annenberg Cross Cultural Student Association Faculty Adviser
• USC Annenberg Latino Caucus Coordinator
• Undergraduate and graduate curriculum committee member
• Arts search committee member, 2021
• Merit review committee member
• Promotions committee chair, 2020
• USC University-wide Campus Climate Committee, 2018
• Annenberg Media digital director search committee member, 2017
Community Involvement
• Volunteer speaker, Las Fotos Project
• Volunteer speaker, Associated Collegiate Press
• Volunteer speaker, Journalism Association of Community Colleges
• Volunteer speaker, Journalism Education Association
• Volunteer speaker, Southern California Journalism Education Association
• Volunteer speaker, Annenberg Youth Academy
• Mentor, California Chicano News Media Association
• Mentor, ONA Student Newsroom
Skills
Experienced educator and journalist, social video producer, audience/community engagement and content strategist, multimedia producer and print/web/graphic/ tablet designer. Proficient in iPad/iPhone application development and other mobile platforms. Proficient writing, editing, reporting, storytelling and interviewing skills, familiar with AP Style, 360 journalism, augmented reality, virtual reality, data journalism, html, SEO, web analytics, web design skills, photo and digital imaging skills, copy editing skills, online reporting skills, podcasting skills, blogging, multimedia skills, video editing, sound editing, videography, extremely computer literate on PC platforms and Macintosh (including basic networking and server management, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Final Cut Pro, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, WordPress, ProTools, After Effects, content management systems). • Grant writing: Won Online News Association Education Innovation Challenge ($20,000), USC Good Neighbors grant (awarded $20,000-$30,000 for 4 years), managed radio grant at Pierce College ($99,000), helped create $120,000-a year Rotten Tomatoes fellowship at USC Annenberg, earned and managed $30,000 grant at Saddleback College for streaming project.