Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Christian Brown, Full-time Faculty Adviser and Department Chair

Christian Brown, Adviser Talon Marks

Christian Brown is faculty adviser of Talon Marks newspaper and the head of the journalism program at Cerritos College. He currently serves as department chair for the Journalism & Media Studies Department.

In addition to teaching, Brown is an award-winning multimedia journalist, specializing in print and broadcast reporting on topics of politics and public affairs.

In 2009, Brown joined The Downey Patriot newspaper as an intern and was hired as a staff writer the following year. Since then, he's worked at NPR-station KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) as a fill-in reporter and traveled to Indonesia as a foreign correspondent for GlobalPost and PRI's The World. In 2016, he was named managing editor of The Norwalk Patriot newspaper, where he oversaw all news content in both print and digital platforms.

Since 2014, Brown has won three L.A. Press Club awards. One prize in 2015 for a lifestyle feature on L.A.'s mass grave in Boyle Heights and a pair of awards in 2014 for a news feature on regional homelessness and an investigative report on the quid pro quo acquisition of a bankrupt community hospital.

Brown graduated cum laude from Cal State Fullerton in 2010, earning his B.A. in Communications. In 2015, he graduated at the top of his cohort from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with an M.S. in Journalism.

Office number: (562) 860-2451 ext. 2619

Email:cbrown@cerritos.edu

 

 

Staff

Alicia Edquist, Instructional Lab Technician I

Alicia Edquist, Instructional Lab Technician I

Alicia Edquist has been a part of the Cerritos College journalism program since Fall 2001. She is a classified employee and has worked as the Instructional Lab Technician I for the journalism program since January 2006. She oversees the journalism lab, assists faculty during courses and assists with the student media outlet Talon Marks.

While attending Cerritos College after high school, she joined the Talon Marks newspaper in Fall 2001 and her first memory of being a journalist involved her working on the Talon Marks during 9/11. During her time on Talon Marks, she served in several editor capacities including editor in chief in spring 2003. 

She is an alumna of Cerritos College graduating in Spring 2005 with her AA degree in journalism and she received her BS in Christian Ministry in Fall 2011 from Hope International University.

Alicia graduated with her M.A. in New Media Journalism at Full Sail University in 2013. Alicia has taught Multimedia Reporting, Beginning Newswriting, Mass Media & Society and Intro to Broadcasting.

On campus she has served as a member of the shared governance Committee on Safety and Committee on Student Life as well as Student Events Collaborative and Civic Engagement workgroups. She also is a graduate of the Falcon Leadership Academy.

Office number: (562) 860-2451 ext. 2617

Email:aedquist@cerritos.edu

 

part-time faculty

Casey Piotrowski, adjunct

Casey Piotrowski 

In his 17+ years at Cerritos College, Casey Piotrowski has taught a variety of theatre and media courses that match his broad experience in the industry.

Casey has both for network TV (“WKRP in Cincinnati”) and appeared on it (“Firefly”, “Into the Night” among others).  He spent 12 years as part of “Mysteries En Brochette”, a mystery dinner theatre company in West Los Angeles.  He hosts the nationally syndicated radio series, “The Beatles Show” and has written five books on the band, with a sixth (“The Beatles Top 100 Solo Songs”) due out soon.

He’s also done award winning voice over work (“Fujitsu”) and has had a long, successful career in commercial radio, twice being nominated by Billboard Magazine in two categories for “Air Personality of the year."

Casey is pleased to use his experience and (hopefully) his talents and passion to (ideally) teach and inspire the students of Cerritos College.

Email:cpiotrowski@cerritos.edu