Award-Winning Journalist | Assistant Dean | Digital Innovator| Social Justice Strategist
Serbino Sandifer–Walker is a force in journalism, education, and media innovation. As a professor and assistant dean, she is redefining the future of journalism education—building programs, securing resources, and forging industry partnerships that empower students to tell stories that impact communities.
A meticulous architect of journalism pedagogy, she collaborates with the Dean of the School of Communication to design and lead faculty development initiatives that push the boundaries of research and creative scholarship. Her work ensures that journalism education remains grounded in truth seeking, responsive, and deeply connected to underserved and overlooked communities.
Her national influence extends to the Center for Journalism and Democracy, where, as a Teaching Fellow, she works alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and professors at seven HBCUs to develop cutting-edge investigative reporting programs. Those universities include Howard University, the University of the District of Columbia, Savannah State University, North Carolina A&T University, North Carolina Central University, Florida A&M, and Morehouse College.
Serbino and her students secured the Center’s Innovations Gift, a financial investment to establish a pioneering student newsroom that will produce the next generation of fearless, multimedia journalists.
At Texas Southern University, she spearheads transformative media programs. As NBCU Academy Coordinator, she navigates an elite initiative that gives students unprecedented access to industry professionals, training, and career pathways at NBCUniversal. She is also the Co-Coordinator of KTSU2, the nation’s only student-centered multimedia training laboratory of its kind, where she built a rigorous, research-driven, interactive curriculum that integrates news, sports, and public affairs.
A journalist with an unrelenting commitment to truth and justice, she has chronicled some of the most pivotal moments in civil rights history. She was a key collaborator on Comcast’s Freedom Ride to Houston, a Telly Award-winning documentary that captured the unrelenting courage of Texas Southern University and California students who desegregated public lunch counters and transportation in Houston and beyond. As Executive Producer of the KPRC2 Black History Month Partnership, she pioneered an unprecedented collaboration where TSU students produce Black history segments for all KPRC2 platforms, a program that has run since 2021. Also, she recently started working with TEGNA to develop a cutting-edge program that will prepare students as multi-skilled journalists.
Her influence extends beyond the newsroom and the classroom. She has shaped state policy, developed curricula, and championed educational justice. She was a driving force behind the Urban Research and Resource Center’s Anthony Graves Smart Justice Speaker’s Bureau and played a pivotal role in the passage of Texas House Bill 2116 and Senate Bill 1746, legislation aimed at disrupting intergenerational incarceration. She also served as a lead writer, researcher, and media strategist for the Center for the Development and Study of Effective Pedagogy for African American Learners, a think tank dedicated to transforming education for Black and underserved students.
A digital media pioneer, she founded the first social media correspondents’ team on a U.S. college campus, positioning students at the forefront of mobile and multimedia reporting. As a Social Media Doctor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, she has trained journalists and educators in harnessing digital platforms for storytelling, engagement, and social impact.
Her commitment to journalism education runs deep. She helped establish TSU’s first journalism endowment, securing a $10,000 gift from the McElroy Family in collaboration with Dr. Kathleen McElroy. A founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists Digital Journalism Task Force, she has been a national voice in advancing digital media strategies for Black journalists.
Her career began by breaking barriers. In 1983, she became the first African American news director and reporter at KILE Radio in Galveston, Texas. The following year, she was the first Black female journalist in Galveston County to cover Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, and she was on the front lines reporting on Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
Relentless in her pursuit of excellence, justice, and innovation, Serbino Sandifer–Walker is not just shaping the next generation of journalists—she is defining the future of the field itself.
Her research focuses on journalism innovation, multimedia storytelling, Houston’s pioneering students’ civil rights movement, women’s history, and the intersection of criminal and social justice. At her core, she is committed to connecting the past to the present in ways that help her community see itself more clearly and imagine what’s possible next.
You can always find Serbino Sandifer–Walker making a positive difference in everything she does. Nothing brings her greater joy than hearing from a former student who has become a successful professional. From local news to ESPN, Hollywood, and beyond, her former students have made one of her dreams come true: ensuring diverse voices are represented in America’s newsrooms, courtrooms, and boardrooms. They made it, and she always knew they could do it.
Serbino Sandifer–Walker’s undergraduate studies were completed at Texas Southern University, and her graduate studies were completed at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she was the Reader’s Digest Scholar.
