Nicole Vargas, an award-winning former print journalist-turned-multimedia producer, has joined the Digital Journalism faculty at City College for the fall 2018 semester. She will teach DJRN classes, as well as advise the City Times online and print editions, as well as Legend magazine.

Vargas spent the majority of her journalism career at The Diego Union-Tribune, where she was among the first in the newsroom to utilize digital and social media as reporter’s tools. She enhanced a wide range of print stories with interactive projects, video packages and audio storytelling efforts. She also shot and produced videos from the field, working collaboratively with reporters on camera.

Vargas was part of the first class of reporters and editors to complete an intensive multimedia journalism training through UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and presented on campus about her experience. It proved to be a valuable foundation for not only her own multimedia projects, but major collaborations as well.

Most recently, Vargas was a full-time lecturer and internship coordinator in Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. She successfully placed 100-plus students a year in internships and guided them toward a path to post-graduation opportunities. In addition to teaching the career readiness and journalism courses, she also taught a special mobile journalism lab covering the 2013 mayoral special election with iPads and a wide range of social media and web development classes.

Vargas graduated from UC San Diego and completed her master’s degree at National University. Before the U-T, she began her career at The Riverside Press-Enterprise after interning at The Arizona Republic, the Los Angeles Times and the U-T.

She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Online News Association. She is a proud alumna and now vice president on the board of directors of the California Scholastic Press Association High School Journalism Workshop. She also returns to the U-T newsroom each summer to teach students reporting and multimedia journalism skills in its Community Journalism Scholars program.

Follow Prof. Vargas on Twitter, @nicolevargas, or Instagram, @nicolemvargas. She can also be reached by email at nvargas@sdccd.edu.