What is Zumba?

Melita Garza, PhD, serves as assistant professor at Texas Christian University, where she focuses on the history of journalism. Outside of work, Dr. Melita Garza enjoys staying active through golf, yoga and walking. For the last decade, Zumba has also become a very popular method of exercise across America, and Melita Garza enjoys taking these group classes that don't feel like traditional workouts. Zumba is designed to feel more like a dance party than a traditional workout, which can make it easier to lose weight, stay active, and make friends.

Born in Columbia over 20 years ago, Zumba began when a fitness instructor forgot the CD for his aerobic class and popped in a personal mix of Latin music instead. Today, it has spread worldwide, with over six million people taking classes every week. Set to various styles of music, from salsa and cha-cha to soca and samba, the classes help to burn calories through a multitude of dance moves. It also supports muscle conditioning, flexibility and helps maintain energy.

While many people are familiar with traditional Zumba, there are also many varieties of the class, including some that incorporate weights, some for children, and even some that take place in the water. Classes are made for everyone, from beginners to experts, and even those who feel they don't have rhythm.

Essential Skills for Journalism at Texas Christian University

A journalist and educator with more than three decades of experience, Melita Garza has worked for several publications, including the Chicago Tribune and the Milwaukee Journal, and also has served as associate editor of The McKinsey Quarterly in London. In addition to her continuing academic work, Melita Garza currently serves as an associate professor in the journalism department at the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University.

The department faculty is dedicated to ensuring students receive high-quality guidance in seven essential areas, called “The Schieffer Seven”:

1. Writing and editing: clear and concise use of language
2. Statistics, research and technology: effective communication using these essential concepts
3. Free media: values, principles and the history of a free media system
4. Diversity: the impact of a global society on the assembly and reporting of information 
5. Critical and creative thinking: independent approaches to professional projects 
6. Theory: a firm grasp of concepts and how these can be used in the dissemination of information
7. Ethical standards: an understanding of professionalism, and making ethical choices

Ms. Garza teaches two undergraduate-level courses that directly address all of these aptitudes: Diversity and the Media, and the Historical Development of the Mass Media. Underpinning both courses is the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which in part urges journalists "to boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience."