2009 Gold Nugget Recipient: Alfredo Corchado Jimenez
Alfredo Corchado and Dean Howard C. Daudistel
Alfredo Corchado Jimenez attended the University of Texas at El Paso to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an investigative journalist and a foreign correspondent. Alfredo graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and quickly dedicated his life to bridging the gap that Americans and Mexicans perceive deeply divide our countries "and keep us from recognizing our similarities."
For more than 15 years, Mr. Corchado has served as the Mexico Bureau Chief for The Dallas Morning News and was the lead reporter during Mexico's 2000 presidential election. He was the first to interview President Vicente Fox following Fox's historic win, and was among a select group of experts who briefed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prior to her first trip to Mexico.
Mr. Corchado Jimenez' work covering United States-Mexico relations, border violence, immigration and other border issues has earned him numerous accolades and awards including the prestigious 2007 Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University for outstanding reporting in Latin America. In 2009, he was named a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
IMAGE CREDIT: UTEP University Communications