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Dr. Mariana S. De Maio, UF CJC Class of 2015

Dr. Mariana S. De Maio had about two decades of writing, editing and teaching experience under her belt by the time she came to Gainesville, where she earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communications/Media Studies at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

She had worked at newspapers and radio stations both in the U.S. and in her native Argentina. She founded a publication for Gannett in New Jersey. She covered many beats — among them crime, courts, entertainment and the healthcare industry — for publications in California, Missouri and New Jersey. She had been a web editor for a humanitarian-aid organization based in Baltimore right before moving to Florida.

At UF, De Maio enjoyed supervising aspiring journalists who were producing Spanish-language newscasts for Noticias WUFT.

She recalled learning one thing in particular while at UF from professor Julie Dodd that she said really helped her in her career.

“Dodd’s class taught me to organize my teaching in a way that made me unique,” De Maio said. “These organizational skills put me at a competitive advantage compared to people that went to other universities and had other professors.”

Today, De Maio is an assistant professor at the Department of Journalism and Communication at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After graduating from UF in 2015, she became an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University. Previously, she had taught at several universities in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Columbia, Missouri; and Riverside, California.

She says she still misses Gainesville and the experiences she had at UF. This university has brought her many blessings and valuable skills. She is proud to be a UF alumna.