Ex-Daily Bruin writer is honored

A UCLA graduate is being honored with a Sunshine Award by the Society of Professional Journalists for a series of investigative stories that uncovered a scandal at the campus School of Dentistry.

In the Daily Bruin, Robert Faturechi wrote that the orthodontics residency program’s high admission standards were relaxed for children or relatives of donors who pledged hefty financial gifts, one as high as $1 million. The article said it was based on hundreds of pages of e-mails and internal documents.

Faturechi, now a reporter at the Seattle Times, will be honored Sept. 6 at the society’s convention in Atlanta.

-- Rong-Gong Lin II