Michael A. Chihak

Mike Chihak (’71) was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Michael A. Chihak ’71

A native Tucsonan, Michael Chihak returned in 2000 to take the helm as editor and publisher of the Tucson Citizen–a paper he delivered as a boy on Tucson’s south side and where he got his first newspaper job as a senior at the UA.

Later, following a 10-year stint as AP correspondent, Chihak served as a reporter and desk editor at the Citizen before moving on to USA Today in 1984, where he served for eight years in Washington, D.C., mostly as an assistant national editor. In 1992, Chihak moved back west, this time to Salinas, Calif., where he became executive editor of The Californian. In 1994 he was promoted to president and publisher of Salinas Newspapers, Inc., remaining there until coming back to Tucson nearly four years ago.

Michael Chihak is a member of the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. He is a former member of the Pacific Advisory Committee to the Freedom Forum and a former member of the advisory committee to the Total Community Coverage program of the Maynard Institute. He is also on the advisory boards to the UA School of Social and Behavorial Sciences and the journalism department.