California State University San Jose
Valerie Coleman Morris is a former CNN domestic and international business anchor. She is a Peabody Award and three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who continues to write and narrate the nationally syndicated radio show “With the Family in Mind” on CBS Network Radio. These segments focus on family and sandwich generation issues and their money implications. Ms. Morris is a professor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and an author. Her first book, “It’s Your Money So Take It Personally”, provides practical, incremental ways for individuals and families to start building wealth and pass it on to the next generation.
During her many years at CNN, Ms. Morris’ daily reports were seen by more than 290 million households, businesses and airport networks. She discovered that the business news of the day did not always speak to everyone or to all levels of need and understanding. Ms. Morris believes that financial intelligence should be taught to those less likely to have access to financial information and should continue throughout one’s life. A popular lecturer on financial literacy, she also works as a facilitator, keynote speaker and mistress of ceremonies for senior executive conferences and corporate staff and employee special events.
Ms. Morris’ broadcast career spans more than four decades and includes both coasts. She came to CNN from WPIX-TV in New York where she was both a general assignment reporter and weekend anchor. She began her career as a broadcast journalist in San Francisco where she worked for KRON-TV and KGO-TV as a researcher, general assignment reporter, and ultimately, as an anchor. Ms. Morris was also the morning drive anchor at KCBS Radio in San Francisco and midday anchor at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.
Her numerous awards including three Emmy awards for both breaking news and special reports. She was a major contributor and co-anchor for the Peabody Award-winning team at KCBS Radio in the days immediately following the 1989 California Loma Prieta earthquake which resulted in the collapse of a portion of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
She earned a master’s degree in broadcast communications from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and attended San José State University for her undergraduate degree.
In recognition of her numerous accomplishments and their impact on financial literacy, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and San José State University are proud to confer upon Ms. Valerie Coleman Morris the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.