Jake Geller, NCDJ Coordinator

Jake Geller

Jake Geller is working towards his Masters of Mass Communication with an emphasis in print journalism and public relations at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

Geller received his undergraduate degree from the Cronkite School in broadcasting in 2002 and worked professionally in television news writing and production before going back to school for his graduate degree. Among his positions were those of freelance assistant producer at KTVK-TV and video editor with the city of Phoenix.

Geller’s own disability has motivated his academic research, which focuses on how the media cover people with disabilities and disability issues. He has been active in the disability community and adaptive sports for people with disabilities. Geller is president of the ASU Sailing Club and has led the club for the past four years. One of the club’s missions is to bring together people with and without disabilities to sail together on an even playing field.

Geller has worked part-time for more than a year to help launch the National Center on Disability and Journalism at the Cronkite School. He can be reached at jake@ncdj.org.

Cronkite student Annie Woods has a profile of Geller and his experience with muscular dystrophy.

Jenny Matthews, Research Assistant

Jenny Matthews

Jenny Matthews is a Cronkite graduate student focusing on broadcast and digital media.

She received her undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University in history before coming to the Cronkite School in the fall of 2009 to pursue a master’s degree in journalism. She became interested in disability history after taking a course in America Sign Language in her freshman year and went on to focus her studies on the history of the deaf in America, specifically the struggle of deaf men to reconcile their perceived disability with their own masculinity.

Her involvement with the NCDJ as a research assistant allows her to combine her interests in disability culture and journalism and in bridging the lack of understanding between the two. She can be reached at jennifer.c.matthews@asu.edu.