Washington Post editor, journalist kicks off second season of alumni speakers series

Sept. 10, 2009 -- Chanda J. Washington, a veteran journalist and editor at the Washington Post, will open the second annual Journalism Alumni Speakers series at Arkansas State University, Monday, Sept. 21. She will spend Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 22, speaking to several classes in the College of Communications.


Washington is the first of several scheduled speakers for the 2009-10 series sponsored by the Department of Journalism. The series features outstanding alumni who will return to campus to speak and interact with students and faculty in classes and other settings.

While on campus, Washington will visit with students in News Writing and Mass Communications classes (COM 233), as well as News Editing classes at 10 and 11 a.m. in COM 218 on Monday.  A meeting with Chancellor Robert L. Potts and lunch with College of Communications faculty follows. During the afternoon, she will speak to the Advanced Photojournalism class at 1 p.m. in COM 217 and Feature Writing at 2 p.m. in COM 217. A meeting with the Herald staff follows at 5 p.m. in COM 225.

On Tuesday, Washington will speak to the 9:30 a.m. News Reporting, New Writing, First Year Experience (FYE) class in COM 233 before closing out her visit with the News Writing class at noon in COM 229.

Washington is a 1995 journalism graduate of Arkansas State. Her career in journalism began in 1996 with a copy editing job at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. From there, she went to The Washington Post to work in the sports department as a copy editor and page designer.  During her 12 years at the Post, Washington has worked as a copy editor, page designer, photo editor, and a manager on the news desk. She currently is the community news editor for the newspaper’s new section, Local Living.

Before graduating from ASU, she participated in the Sports Journalism Institute which included an internship at The Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald. The following year, she was a Chips Quinn Scholar with an internship at the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn.

Other internships she completed after graduating were at The Courier-Journal and The Washington Post.

While a student, Washington, a graduate of Lakeside High School in Lake Village, was editor and sports editor of The Herald as well as design editor for the Pocahontas Star-Herald.  She was named Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Women in Communications, Inc.

She was also the recipient of William Randolph Hearst, Arkansas Press Association and Chips Quinn scholarships.  While in school, she wrote an in-depth article about Arthur Agee, former ASU basketball player who was a subject of a documentary film “Hoop Dreams" which chronicles the player’s turbulent high school days in Chicago.

Washington resides in a Washington, D.C., suburb with her husband, Laurence, and two children, Laurence Jr. and Jaylyn. 

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