Kristin Gilger, Director
Kristin Gilger is the Reynolds Professor in Business Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Gilger helped bring the NCDJ to the Cronkite School and provides administrative oversight for the organization. She has served as interim dean, senior associate dean and associate dean at Cronkite. Previously, she was director of Student Media at ASU after a 21-year career in newspapers, including editing roles at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, La.; the Salem Statesman Journal in Oregon; and The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. She conducts training at newspapers and for newspaper associations nationally and internationally.
She can be reached at kristin.gilger@asu.edu
John Kuziej, Graduate Assistant
John Kuziej is a graduate assistant for the NCDJ, assisting with all aspects of the center’s operations. He is focusing on sports journalism as a graduate student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. As a journalist with cerebral palsy and a wheelchair user himself, he hopes to draw attention to wheelchair sports. John holds a bachelor’s degree from Winona State University in Minnesota and has worked as a play-by-play broadcaster and freelance writer for the past five years.
He can be reached at jkuziej@asu.edu
Jake Geller, Inaugural Director
Jake Geller completed 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 in May 2010.
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 co-founder and head coach 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 helped launch the National Center on Disability and Journalism at the Cronkite School and continues to serve in an advisory role. He can be reached at jgeller@asu.edu.
Cronkite student Annie Woods has a profile of Geller and his experience with muscular dystrophy.
Below is a video of Geller talking about the changes wrought by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the challenges he and others with disabilities still face.