First Amendment Symposium: Speaker's Panel and Discussion

Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Times in 1989, she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. She also covered Asia, national affairs and state government for the San Jose Mercury News and wrote editorials for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. A Seattle native, she graduated from USC in journalism and in East Asian languages and culture. She is a past president and current vice president of special projects for the Asian American Journalists Association – Los Angeles chapter and is proud of our AAJA-LA student chapter at California State University Northridge.

Dr. Carol A. Sumner is the Vice President for the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Texas Tech University and Chief Diversity Officer. Dr. Sumner reports directly to the president and is a member of the President’s Cabinet and Executive Council. She leads the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, which includes a number of units that impact students across the educational continuum. As CDO, Dr. Sumner works across the university with stakeholders that include but are not limited to students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members and others to support, engage, and facilitate the university-wide goals to increase diversity and engage in practices that foster inclusion and equity. Previously, Dr. Sumner served as the Sr. Associate Dean of Students at Arizona State University, Tempe. Dr. Sumner earned her B.A. in Public Relations (with a minor in Spanish) and her M.A. in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Illinois State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from Arizona State University.

Shannon Carter is the Editor in Chief of the Daily Sundial, the student newspaper of California State University Northridge. She is majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in photojournalism and will graduate in Spring 2022.

Dr. Blakey holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from Loyola Law School Los Angeles. She is an active member of the California Bar and practiced copyright and media law in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles for ten years, before turning to a career in journalism and then going to graduate school. She is a First Amendment scholar working in the law and society tradition. Blakey came to CSUN in 2012 and teaches media law and media studies in the Dept. of Journalism.