The SPJ San Diego Pro Chapter was awarded a 4-star rating for 2009 from the national SPJ board.

The 4-star rating, SPJ’s top chapter ranking, is given to chapters that hold at least six programs each year on journalism-related topics such as diversity, freedom of information, ethics or any other topic relevant to SPJ’s missions; that support student journalists by offering scholarship awards, mentoring programs or other assistance; that have regular communication among board members, national headquarters and the regional director; that communicate regularly with chapter members through newsletters, e-mail or a Web site; that file their annual reports on time; that are represented at their regional conference and the national convention; and that are successful in recruiting new members

Former SPJ San Diego Pro Chapter president Jodi Cleesattle, who served from 2007-09, was elected to the SPJ national board representing Region 11 at the SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Indianapolis over the weekend.

Jodi Cleesattle

Cleesattle, a former reporter and editor turned lawyer, will represent SPJ chapters in California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Guam and the Mariana Islands as Region 11 director. She currently serves on the San Diego Pro Chapter board as well as on the national Freedom of Information committee.

SPJ-San Diego kicks off the 2009-10 year with a new slate of officers, ready to plan a year of fantastic programs for the local journalism community.

Joe Guerin

San Diego Daily Transcript editor Joe Guerin, a board member since 2007, has been elected president. Joe joined The Daily Transcript as managing editor in 2000 and was appointed editor in 2006. Before that, he served as the editor of the weekly Chula Vista Star-News and as the editor of Neighbors, a weekly supplement to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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The Society of Professional Journalists has awarded San Diego Pro Chapter member Max Branscomb, a professor at Southwestern College, the 2009 Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award.

Branscomb, who was nominated for the award by the San Diego Pro Chapter and his students, began as an adjunct journalism instructor at Southwestern College, a community college in Chula Vista, Calif., in 1996. He moved to full-time instruction three years later and now serves as faculty advisor for The Southwestern College Sun, the school’s student newspaper.

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