Honored for Service

Alexis Gelber ’74 (Columbia Journalism School ’80) and Rosa V. Alonso ’82 (Columbia Business School ’94) received medals for their alumnae service at Columbia University Commencement 2012.


Alexis Gelber, left, has been involved in alumni activities on both sides of Broadway. At Columbia Journalism School, she served as chair of the alumni board from 2008 to 2011. Under her leadership the board created and introduced the Innovator Award to recognize entrepreneurship in journalism and also produced a new alumni publication, Columbia Journalism School. At Barnard, she chaired the AABC communications committee from 2002-2004 and served on the AABC board of directors. She has moderated panels and spoken at many Barnard reunions and career-related events. A longtime top editor at Newsweek, Gelber supervised award-winning coverage of politics, social issues, and international news. In spring 2011 she was a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. She is an adjunct professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at NYU and the editorial director of The Human Face of Big Data, a book and multimedia project.


An active student leader, Rosa Alonso’s leadership has continued throughout the 30 years since she graduated from Barnard. She has served as class president and as a member of the Leadership Council, young alumnae, and student affairs committees. From 1999-2002, she served as AABC president and an alumnae trustee; she was a Barnard trustee from 2003 to 2011. During this nine-year term she impacted many essential committees such as Barnard-Columbia, student services, diversity, educational policy, and development. Alonso has also participated in the Columbia faculty athletics committee and the Columbia University intercollegiate athletics committee. A media and online entrepreneur and expert in multicultural markets, Alonso is the chief marketing officer of Ameritas College Educational Services, Ameritas College of Brandman University, a higher education project in California.