After 21 years of teaching broadcast journalism in the Communications Department at Cal State Fullerton, Beth Georges will be retiring.
by Annisa Charles
After 21 years of teaching broadcast journalism in the Communications Department at Cal State Fullerton, Beth Georges will be retiring.
After receiving her master’s degree in communications from CSUF, making her an alumnus, she spent 23 years in the television news industry. Georges has been an anchor and reporter for Fox 11, the Orange County Newschannel and KDOC.
Georges has transformed CSUF’s broadcast journalism curriculum, improving the experience for students. Upon teaching full-time in 2003, Georges noticed the only journalism capstone was COMM 471–– Capstone Daily Titan; there was no option for students who wanted to pursue broadcast journalism.
Students seeking a career in broadcast journalism need a competitive resume reel along with gaining the knowledge necessary to land a job in the television news field. Georges’s introduction of the class, COMM 472–– Capstone OC News, has helped students build these necessary skills. She also introduced Al Día, the student-run Spanish-language broadcast journalism organization that became COMM 304.
Another accomplishment of Georges’ is introducing the Titan Sports broadcasting class, COMM 336. The course is aimed at students pursuing a career in broadcast sports reporting or anchoring.
With creating these broadcast classes, she worked with the Dean’s office to build a broadcast journalism studio, control room and classroom next to the studio. She is the faculty advisor for several of CSUF’s television news programs, including OC News, Titan Sports Recap and Al Día.
Georges has been rightfully distinguished through many awards. She received the Distinguished Service to Journalism Education Award from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) in 2009, the Rick D. Pullen Academic Excellence Award in 2019, the Outstanding Teaching Award for the Communications Department in 2014, and the Outstanding Service Award for the Communications Department in 2006 and again in 2009.
She helped locate the OC Bureau for Univision in the basement of Pollak Library, earning her the University Teamwork and Collaboration Award for Univision News Bureau Project in 2017.
Georges has served as a faculty advisor during summer and intercession for the department for the past 13 years. She has also worked with students at our partner university in South Korea, Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts, since 2012, traveling to South Korea six times during her career here.
She chaired the Scholarship and Awards event for the Communications Department for eight years. The event would take place in-person and then was produced online live during the pandemic, all set up by Georges.
With this long list of accomplishments and background in teaching, she has also submitted a dozen papers to conferences, spoken at more than 30 panel discussions and written three textbooks.
Beth Georges has left a legacy within the broadcast journalism sector of the Communications Department at CSUF and will be greatly missed. The Communications Department wishes Georges all the best in this next chapter of her life.
