Alumnus begins a new chapter

By Jeff Au Spafford
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

Journalism alumnus, Paul Griffo, the former 49er city editor and news editor, will begin his position as Public Affairs Specialist for the Federal Transit Agency on Monday.

Griffo, who graduated in 1982 with a degree in print journalism, began his career as an intern for the Online Pilot in Costa Mesa and the Orange County edition of the Los Angeles Times.

Afterwards, he became the assistant city editor for the Community Advocate for the cities of Cypress, La Palma, Los Alamitos and Hawaiian Gardens.

In 1987, Griffo served as a communications specialist for the U.S. Postal Service in the Santa Ana district. During his time with the Postal Service, Griffo dealt with the media during the Anthrax situation in November 2001 and the Unabomber case in the 1990s. After fifteen years of media relations, Griffo seized the opportunity for a position with the FTA, an agency within the Department of Transportation. The FTA awards grants for building and public transit projects and supervises subways, ferries, light rails, commuter rails and buses.

Griffo offered his words of advice for aspiring journalists at Cal State Long Beach.

"[You have to] take effort to learn news writing [and] be a wordsmith," he said. "You have to effectively construct a good story. If you can't do that, you can't submit into the field. Just be a good storyteller."

When asked if he enjoyed being a journalist, Griffo said, "It is the most fascinating field you can be involved with. [You get] the opportunity to meet so people."

Griffo's success story is one of many at CSULB. Many alumni keep the campus up-to-date and in touch about their careers and lives through an old program on campus, the Alumni Association. The Alumni Association was formed during the fall of 1951 with Eugene Amsberry as the first presiding associated president. With a slow start, the alumni office consisted of a single desk in the Associated Student office. To reach out, the association contributed by selling tickets to sporting events and drama productions.

Fifty-three years later, the alumni office progressed from a small cubicle into their individual office on the first level of the Student Union. Currently, the association holds over 200,000 names in the database, making CSULB's Alumni Association the largest of all 23 campuses in the CSU system. The association financially contributes to various academic programs and projects, including several lecture series, the completion of the new Pyramid, academic and athletic scholarships and the President's Scholars program.

"Students and staff come and go," said executive director, Gay Arakawa. "But an alum will always be an alum. We want to maintain bonds and create affiliations to current students and support their education."

In addition to Homecoming, the Alumni Association helped at Kaleidoscope in April and the commencement ceremony in May. They also host a series of five summer concerts, Concert in the Grove and a fresh season of bands and artists at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.