We’re delighted to introduce Michelle Baruchman, who will serve as ONA’s first Student Representative to the Board of Directors. In this appointed role, Michelle will be a voice for our student members, advising the Board and staff on how to better serve student journalists. Her two-year, nonvoting appointment will begin Jan. 1, 2016.
Michelle is a junior at the University of Georgia, double majoring in Digital Broadcast Journalism and International Affairs. She is also pursuing a certificate in New Media. She currently reports, produces and anchors for her class broadcast program, Grady FiveSeventy, and will continue refining her video production and editing skills for Grady Newsource, WUGA-TV, a live news show broadcast on local television.
Since her freshman year, she has worked at her independent campus newspaper, The Red & Black, serving in numerous roles, including campus and crime beat reporter, news editor, copy editor and, most recently, audience development consultant. This past summer, she interned in the digital audience department at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Michelle was chosen from a range of exceptional candidates by an Ad-Hoc Committee made up of Board members who are also select members of ONA’s Diversity, Education and Membership committees: Benet Wilson, Chair; Robert Hernandez, Jody Brannon and Greg Linch.
The committee was impressed by Michelle’s thoughtful plan outlining what she’d like to accomplish in her two years in the role, which included helping to build ONA’s local networks, increasing access to resources for students and working to “promote inclusion of diverse students, educators and professors across the nation.”