Belva Davis, recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco
Belva Davis is a widely admired, award-winning journalist and successful author, but she is more than the sum of her considerable career achievements. From growing up in the housing projects of Oakland, Calif., she has gone on to groundbreaking work as the first African-American woman hired as a television news reporter on the West Coast.
On March 20, 2014, Davis received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Art University during commencement ceremonies for MFA, MA and M.ARCH degree programs, joining more than 700 Academy graduate students. Dr. Elisa Stephens, president of the university, presented the honorary doctorate to Davis, noting that, “Belva Davis sets a tremendous example to all of us what is possible to accomplish. We appreciate how Belva has enriched the lives of many of us in the Bay Area, for decades.”
Davis’ autobiography, Never in my Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman’s Life in Journalism (2010), chronicles her long and successful career. Making her television debut in 1963 on channel KTVU, she went on to anchor news programs at KPIX-TV, KQED Public Television and KRON-TV, in addition to 19 years as host of This Week in Northern California, before retiring in 2012. Throughout her career, Davis has served as an inspiration for journalists, women and African-Americans, and she continues to be active in the greater Bay Area as a labor activist, board member for community nonprofits, and supporter of cultural institutions.
Says Davis, “Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so. These are words that guided and comforted me on my long road to a broadcast career, and I still find them valuable.”
Davis was born in Louisiana and moved with her family to Oakland at the age of 8. She graduated from Berkeley High School in 1951, becoming the first member of her family to do so. Launching her journalism career in 1951 as a freelance reporter for Jet magazine, she became a radio interviewer and later a television reporter.
Davis has received eight San Francisco/Northern California Emmy Awards, and was named one of the 20th century’s top 100 journalists by Unity, a national organization representing minority journalists, along with many other awards.
