The DVC Foundation will be renaming two $1,000 scholarships to students in English and Journalism at Diablo Valley College.
Peter Zaballos, the founder of Diamante Scholars, a program that aids high school students with their transition to DVC, made the announcement on Oct. 25 following a Q&A event on campus where Frank Mallicoat, KTVU Fox 2 news anchor, interviewed award-winning author and DVC alum Daniel James Brown.
This event was hosted by the DVC Alumni Association in honor of the college’s 75th anniversary.
The scholarships are named in honor of the two men. The Daniel James Brown Scholarship will be awarded to an English student who “demonstrates both a passion for literature and a commitment to excellence,” said Thomas Martin, who works in the development office at the foundation.
“This scholarship is a tribute to Mr. Brown’s outstanding contributions as an author, alumnus, and inspiration to the DVC community,” he said.
During the Q&A, which took place before a packed audience at the school’s Forum, Brown discussed his life journey from overcoming his crippling anxiety as a teenager to moving forward and becoming a DVC student.
Brown later earned English degrees, finishing his undergraduate work at UC Berkeley and his graduate studies at UCLA. From there, he embarked on a decade-long teaching career, splitting his ten years evenly between San Jose State University and Stanford University. He then spent 15 years as an editor at technology companies like Computer Curriculum Corporation and Microsoft.
Brown ultimately returned to his love of literature, and in 2006 he published his first book, Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894. From there, he would write three critically acclaimed novels.
His most popular book, The Boys in the Boat, centers around nine young men who won the men’s eight rowing event for the United States in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a film directed by George Clooney and released last Christmas.
During the event’s discussion Brown said, “None of what made my professional life so rewarding would have happened without DVC.”
The second scholarship announced at the event is the Frank Mallicoat Journalism Scholarship, which will be awarded to “support a deserving journalism student” who pursues a career in the field.
Mallicoat, a UC Berkeley alumni whose two sisters attended DVC in the 1970s, refers to himself as the “Swiss Army knife” at KTVU Fox 2 News, where he has worked in a variety of broadcast roles and platforms for the past 40 years.
Predominantly, Mallicoat specializes in covering the sports beat, and is the station’s on-air news anchor on weekend mornings.
In an interview prior to the event, Mallicoat told The Inquirer about how his journalism journey began while working towards his Bachelor’s degree in communications at UC Berkeley in the late 70s.
After he graduated in 1981, he moved to Tahoe and managed a few bars in the area. A couple of years into this profession, Mallicoat recalled his dad telling him, “Son, you’re a really good bartender, but in 10 years, when you’re 36, there’s something I don’t want to say to you: you’re a really good bartender.”
So Mallicoat decided to pursue his passion and dedicate himself to journalism. In 1984, the Eureka news station KIEM gave him his first broadcast job. Mallicoat has been in the field ever since.
Over the next forty years, Mallicoat would travel coast to coast gaining sports director experience at different news stations. This eventually led him to KTVU back in the Bay Area, where he has remained for nearly 9 years.
“I think college is what you make out of it,” Mallicoat said. “You can still have fun, but if you have great teachers that motivate you, it’s great. And I think DVC has just been fabulous for people here in the East Bay for 75 years now.”
More information about the scholarships and their application requirements will be available at dvc.academicworks.com/opportunities in January 2025.