Marlene Fitzwater

Communication Studies

Began in 1985
Retired in 2005

I arrived on the Sacramento State College campus in early September of 1956 I accepted a faculty position in 1985 in Communication Studies, went on to found the Sacramento State chapter of the national communication studies honors society and the Student Public Relations Club; developed and launched the Public Relations major; developed and taught the Health Communication course; piloted the first Web-based major on campus; and served as department chair from 1996-1999. It was particularly rewarding to expand and direct the Internship Program, placing our students into intern positions that often led to full time employment.

When I retired from Sacramento State in 2005, I was immediately recruited as a faculty member in the UC Davis School of Medicine, where I had taught as a volunteer clinical faculty for 18 years. I accepted and shortly after starting, was also asked to develop and direct an Outreach Research & Education Program for the NCI-designated UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. Since 2005, I have been conducting community-based research to increase mammography screening rates among American Indian women; conducting research with the regional LGBT community to improve the quality of care LGBT individuals receive when they are diagnosed with cancer; and seeking ways to assist adolescents and young adults with cancer in improving their quality of cancer care and survivorship. I teach a "Cancer Health Disparities" course for 4th year medical students, serve on the School of Medicine Admissions Committee and Interviewing Subcommittee, and serve as an adjunct professor in the Masters in Public Health (MPH) Program and on the Graduate Faculty in the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

One of the most satisfying accomplishments since leaving Sacramento State was the formation of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center/Sacramento State University Partnership to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. The Partnership Board of faculty from both institutions and community members meet monthly and this keeps me closely linked to Sacramento State University!

I often visit the campus and walk among the beautiful trees and remember my first visit when I was brought to campus for interviews. After a full, rich career as a journalist, public relations professional and newspaper/magazine publisher, I had gone back to school to complete masters and doctoral degrees in my late 30s to prepare for my second career as a professor. Sacramento State University was the perfect place to launch my new career! I thoroughly enjoyed the Sacramento State students and continue to hear from many of them. Many of my colleagues also continue to be close friends.