Homecoming 2026 welcomed 138 members of the Newmark community, including 116 alumni—nearly all of those who registered. The program featured a keynote conversation with Dave Jorgenson, five alumni panelists, networking, professional headshots and a room filled with graduates from nearly every class. The gathering more than doubled the previous year’s alumni attendance and offered a powerful reminder.

Stats:

• 138 total attendees
• 116 alumni attended out of 120 registered
• Approximately 96.7% alumni show rate
• 23 professional headshot appointments
• Nearly every graduating class represented

Around Newmark

As Newmark J-School’s Bilingual Journalism Program marks its 10th anniversary, Program Director Carmen Graciela Díaz reflected on its mission and the continued importance of journalism serving our Latino communities. Her comments appeared in a recent EL PAÍS feature reported by Newmark alumna Carla Gloria Colomé ’24, who covers Cuba and Hispanic communities in the United States.

Speaking from the 2026 NAHJ Conference in New Orleans, Díaz emphasized that bilingual journalism is about more than translating information between languages—it is about understanding communities, challenging stereotypes and reporting with cultural fluency

Barbara Gray, Newmark’s longtime chief librarian and associate professor, is joining ProPublica as senior editor for research. Since first teaching at the school in 2009 and joining the full-time faculty in 2015, Gray has helped build the Research Center into a defining part of the Newmark experience, developed core research curriculum and supported reporting across the school.

She will remain connected to Newmark as a research coach and is expected to teach investigative research techniques next spring.

Read the ProPublica Announcement

Newmark J-School welcomed Sarah J. White as its new Director of Admissions on June 1. Sarah joins the school from Mercer University’s College of Education in Atlanta, where she served as Director of Graduate Admissions. Her career has centered on access and equity, creating new pathways into professional fields and using data, collaboration and innovative recruitment strategies to strengthen enrollment.

Sarah holds a Juris Master from Emory University School of Law, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Criminal Justice from the University of Mississippi. She also brings deep New York roots: her father was raised in the Bronx, her grandmother spent decades there, and close family connections continue to call the borough home. Since joining Newmark, Sarah has spent much of the summer traveling alongside the Admissions team, meeting prospective students and recruiting future members of the J-School familia.