The Student Press Law Center is pleased to announce that educator Kelly Furnas has been elected as chair of the SPLC Board of Directors, and educator Adriana Chavira has joined the board.
Both appointments will help the organization continue to strengthen its mission to promote, support and defend the First Amendment and free press rights of student journalists and their advisers in high schools and colleges.
“Adriana is the quintessential high school journalism adviser and brings first-hand experience in standing up for student press freedom. SPLC is lucky to add her perspective and contributions at a time when student journalists and advisers face increased threats and challenges across the country,” Furnas said. “And I am proud to serve as SPLC’s chair as this essential organization heads into its 50th year in supporting journalism education and advancing the First Amendment.”
“My students and I know first hand the great work SPLC does in defending student press freedom,” Chavira said. “I am happy to be a part of this board of directors and ensure this nonprofit continues to support student journalists and their advisers.”
SPLC’s Board of Directors consists of up to 15 volunteers from across the fields of journalism, education, law, philanthropy and nonprofit management. Board members serve for three-year terms, which are renewable for one additional term.
Adriana Chavira
Adriana is a high school journalism teacher and advises The Pearl Post website and newsmagazine as well as Prestige Yearbook at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Los Angeles.
Before becoming a teacher 21 years ago, Adriana spent a decade as a newspaper reporter in Southern California. She is vice president of the Southern California Journalism Education Association, the academic officer for the National Association Hispanic Journalists and a mentor for the Journalism Education Association.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in English Education from Cal State Northridge. She is also a National Board Certified Teacher.
Adriana was named a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Distinguished Adviser in March 2023 and received the Jack Bates Award in December 2022 from the California Press Foundation for distinguished service to the student press.
This past fall, Adriana and four former students were recognized with SPLC’s Courage in Student Journalism Award. They successfully stood up to administrators’ efforts for almost a year to discipline Adriana for refusing to censor her students and to violate California’s student press freedom law.
Kelly Furnas
Kelly, who joined the SPLC Board in 2020, teaches multimedia journalism in the School of Communications at Elon University in North Carolina, where he also advises the converged student news media, Elon News Network.
He was executive director of the Journalism Education Association from 2010 to 2016, and he currently serves as the association’s global engagement director. From 2005 to 2010, Furnas served as editorial adviser to student media at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. He has worked as an editor for newspapers in Las Vegas and Tallahassee, Florida.
Furnas earned the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, as well as the Medal of Merit and Master Journalism Educator status from JEA. He has a degree in journalism from Kansas State University and a master’s in business administration from Florida State University.
The Student Press Law Center is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit working at the intersection of education, journalism and law to promote, support and defend the rights of student journalists and their advisers at the high school and college levels. Based in Washington, D.C., the Student Press Law Center provides information, training and legal assistance at no charge to student journalists and the educators who work with them.