Amy Schmitz Weiss is a hard-working, dedicated and passionate professor at San Diego State’s School of Journalism and Media Studies.

In her eight years at SDSU, she has made a positive impact on many of her students and has gone above and beyond by getting involved outside the classroom.

After taking Schmitz Weiss’  Writing for Mass Media course (JMS 220 in the SDSU catalog), I have gained new knowledge and a lasting experience that will lead me in the right direction, especially with future courses.

Writing for Mass Media covered many different aspects of journalism, such as writing ledes, press releases and advertisements.

It is a great class in that it allows students to see what aspect of journalism interests them the most before moving forward with their upper-division classes.

Under the instruction of Schmitz Weiss I believe I truly have grown as a writer.

Having a professor who genuinely cares about her students and is passionate about what she is teaching is extremely rewarding for a student.

Schmitz Weiss received her undergraduate degree for journalism and Spanish from Butler University.

After paying her dues by working at interactive media firms, she went on to receive her journalism masters degree from the University of Texas.

She was inspired to become a professor after teaching a short interactive media course in Chicago.

If she wasn’t a professor, she believes she would be in some sort of writing analyst position for the media industry because of her love for research and writing.

Another venture that she may have pursued is writing novels.

Schmitz Weiss was drawn to teach at SDSU because of its growing journalism and media studies program.

She especially loves the collaborations through the university and “the way people can work together and be collegial.”

Outside of the classroom, Schmitz Weiss is involved in Student Media Advisory Committee, Group for Center for Latin America Studies, Big Data advisory group and SDSU’s chapter of  the Society of Professional Journalists.

She attributes her love of SDSU to the students, as she loves “helping them along their journey.”

She believes the faculty also makes SDSU an inspiring environment.

If she had to pick her favorite class, she said it would be digital journalism because it has always been a subject near and dear to her heart.

Digital journalism is an upper-division course in which students learn about social storytelling, WordPress website production, social media tools and much more.

Schmitz Weiss is an expert in all of these areas and guides her students throughout the semester to help them create the best product.

In the little free time she does have, Schmitz Weiss can be found with her young son or playing tennis.

Schmitz Weiss is extremely approachable and helpful during class and office hours.

She is dedicated to her craft and helping students learn.

Any student at SDSU would be lucky to have a professor like Schmitz Weiss who is driven by so much passion and cares about seeing her students improve and succeed.