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THE LIONEL C. BARROW JR. AWARD FOR Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education

Nominations are now being sought for The Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education. This award, jointly supported by the Minorities and Communication (MAC) Division and the Commission on the Status of Minorities (CSM) recognizes outstanding individual accomplishment and leadership in diversity efforts for underrepresented groups by race and ethnicity, in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The late Dr. Lionel (Lee) C. Barrow, Jr., was a long-time AEJMC member who provided key leadership and guidance to the association during his many years of service.  As a member of AEJMC, Lee pioneered and founded in 1968 the Ad Hoc Committee on Minority Education, in an effort to recruit, train and place minorities in communications. In 1970, he founded and became the acting head of the Minorities and Communication Division.  The Communication Theory and Methodology Division renamed its diversity scholarship after Lee in 1997, the same year he received the AEJMC Presidential Award for his contributions. In 2005, he was recognized with one of AEJMC’s highest honors, the Distinguished Service Award, for his outstanding service in promoting diversity within the association and the discipline.

Nominees should be senior scholars but do not have to be AEJMC members at the time of their application, and self nominations are welcome.  A monetary award accompanies this prize, and the winner will receive a complimentary, one-year basic membership to AEJMC.  The Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award will be presented during the AEJMC Business Meeting by the chairs of the two sponsoring groups.

CRITERIA

Nominees will be judged by their outstanding contributions in one of the three following areas:

(1) a sustained record over time of publication on racial and ethnic minorities in journalism and mass communication; and/or

(2) a sustained record over time of contribution to teaching and service of racial and ethnic minorities in journalism and mass communication; and/or

(3) the publication of a impactful book on racial and ethnic minorities in journalism and mass communication.

HOW TO APPLY

Nomination packets should contain:

• a letter from an AEJMC member on letterhead describing in detail the candidate’s contributions to diversity, and one additional letter of support from a colleague (on or off campus) who is also an AEJMC member.  All nominees, including those who are self-nominated, will provide a total of two (2) letters.
• The nominee’s personal statement (250 words).
• Additional materials might include (but are not limited to) abstracts of research findings, professional papers and published articles (no more than five total), text of a speech delivered or prepared for delivery, course outlines, innovative teaching tools, teaching evaluations and citations or other recognition pertaining to the nominee.
• The nomination packet should be no longer than 10 pages.  Applications that exceed this length will be disqualified.

DEADLINES:
Entries should be received by February 1, 2010, in hard copy and mailed to: AEJMC, 234 Outlet Pointe Boulevard, Suite A, Columbia, SC 29210-5667.  The awardee will be announced on April 1 and will be recognized in the 2010 AEJMC Convention Program.

Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award Advisory Committee

Linda Callahan, North Carolina A&T State University (Chair CSM); Jennifer Woodard,  Middle Tennessee State University (Chair MAC); Paula Poindexter, University of Texas – Austin; George Daniels, University of Alabama; Ilia Rodriguez, University of New Mexico; Meta Carstarphen, University of Oklahoma; Carolyn Stroman, Howard University; and Curtis Lawrence, Columbia College – Chicago

MAC members, hello and welcome to the start of another new year.  AEJMC 2009 was a successful year for MAC.  We were on chip reduction, which meant that we were not able to program as many sessions as normal, but we were able to help bring together one very important extra panel –sponsored by Howard University that our members were primarily responsible for and that was of utmost importance.

This session honored the memory of our beloved Lionel Barrow, Jr.   We thank Howard University and Jannette Dates for sponsoring and presiding over this wonderful tribute to an outstanding advocate for diversity.

This year also brought the awarding of the first Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education.  Our first recipient was none other than Paula Poindexter, of the University of Texas – Austin.  Congratulations to Professor Poindexter.  She received her plaque from the heads of MAC and CSM during the AEJMC business meeting.

The nominations for this year’s award should be sent out by February 1, 2010, in hard copy and mailed to: AEJMC, 234 Outlet Pointe Boulevard, Suite A, Columbia, SC 29210-5667.  The awardee will be announced on April 1 and will be recognized in the 2010 AEJMC Convention Program.   A full description of the guidelines will follow in this newsletter.

Even though we were on chip reduction, the 8 sessions we co-sponsored each had 30 or more people in attendance!  We are in the process or planning our panels for AEJMC 2010 in Denver, and from what I’ve seen so far – it’s going to be another strong year with varied and interesting panels.

We have a lot of important work to accomplish this year, and I am looking forward to it!  First of all at our meeting, we decided to have a sub-committee do some thorough research into MAC sponsoring an online research journal.  If you have any information, thoughts or comments on this please contact one of the committee members:

Frances Ward-Johnson         fward2@elon.edu

Jerry Domatob                    jdomatob@yahoo.com

Anita Fleming-Rife                       anita.flemingrife@unco.edu

Kenneth Campbell                       kcampbell@sc.edu

Karen M. Turner                  kturner@temple.edu

Sharon Stringer                   sstringe@lhup.edu

The first report of this committee is due in December after the Mid-winter meeting in Florida.  I’ll keep you updated on our progress.

We are also trying to organize a MAC social, so be on the lookout for information on what our division will be doing for fun in Denver!

I would also like for our members to give me some feedback on how to increase MAC membership.  It seems that we have been at the same level for several years now, and the question of whether or not we were growing was raised during our last business meeting.

In August, discussed how our monetary awards had remained at the same level for several years.  I see possibilities in the idea of sponsorship.  So I’m asking for your help.  Please send me the names of possible sponsors for the awards that we contribute funding to – Lional Barrow Award to young scholars and the new Lionel Barrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education for seasoned scholars.  With the addition of sponsorship, we would be able to increase the amount of the awards.  Please send me your ideas for sponsorship and for fundraising in general:  Jennifer Woodard – jwoodard@mtsu.edu.

Let’s have a great year together!

Jennifer Bailey Woodard

MAC Division Head 2009-2010

Middle Tennessee State University

Dear MAC members:

It is time to submit your panel proposals for the 2010 AEJMC convention in Denver.  Please send your proposals via e-mail (as a Word document attachment) by October 17 to MAC Vice-Head/Programming Chair Ilia Rodriguez at ilia@unm.edu.  We are seeking proposals for panels on research, teaching, and professional freedom and responsibility (PF&R).

All proposals should be one page in length and include the following:

(1)    Panel Title

(2)    Panel Type:  Indicate whether the proposal is for a TEACHING, PF&R, or RESEARCH panel.

(3)    Panel Sponsorship:  Indicate whether you are proposing a MAC-only panel or a co-sponsored panel.  For co-sponsored panels, list other AEJMC divisions or interest groups for which this proposal might prove relevant.  Please note: MAC sole-sponsored panel proposals will be considered.  However, the majority of AEJMC panels tend to be co-sponsored across divisions and interest groups.

(4)    Description of Panel:  Provide a succinct description in paragraph form of the key issues or subject matter to be addressed by the panelists.

(5)    Possible Panelists:  Indicate individuals who would be appropriate participants for this panel (may include academics, professionals, advocacy organizations). For those you list, indicate whether they have been contacted and have committed to participate.  If you plan to recruit a Denver-area professional for the panel, indicate this as well.  Please note: It is not necessary to have a full slate of four participants at the proposal stage.

Best to commit no more than 3 participant speakers at this point since other divisions may want to contribute one or more speakers once they agree to co-sponsor a panel.

(6)    Moderator:  This can be you or someone you nominate to moderate the panel.

(7)    Contact Person:  Include your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number as the contact person for this panel proposal.

I look forward to reading your proposals and ideas,

Ilia Rodriguez

MAC Programming Chair

Head

Sharon B. Stringer

Lock Haven University

E-mail: sstringe@lhup.edu

Telephone: (570) 484-2092

FAX: (570) 484-2436

Vice-Head, Programming Chair

Jennifer Woodard

Middle Tennessee State University

E-mail: jwoodard@mtsu.edu

Telephone: (615) 898-2766

Second Vice Head/Secretary

Ilia Rodriguez

The University of New Mexico

E-mail: ilia@unm.edu

Telephone: (505) 771-8094

Second Vice-Head Elect

Petra Guerra

University of Texas-Pan American

E-mail: cielito@utpa.edu

Telephone: (956) 318-5330

Faculty Research Chair

Brenda Edgerton-Webster

Mississippi State University

E-mail: bew95@msstate.edu

Telephone: (662) 325-5808 (office)

(662) 617-4375 (mobile)*

Student Research Chair

Yuki Fujioka

Georgia State University

E-mail: jouykf@langate.gsu.edu

Telephone: 

PF&R Chair

Alex Ortiz

Texas Tech University

E-mail: alex.ortiz@ttu.edu

Telephone: (806) 742-6500 Ext. 252

Teaching Standards Chair

Jerry Domatob

Alcorn State University

E-mail: jdomatob@yahoo.com

Telephone: ?????

Coordinators of Mid-Winter Conference

Bradley W. Gorham

Syracuse University

E-mail: bwgorham@syr.edu

Telephone: (315) 443-1950

&

Frances Ward-Johnson

Elon University

E-mail: fward2@elon.edu

Telephone: (336) 278-5738 (office)

(336) 580-1521 (mobile)

Webmaster/Newsletter Editor

James Kiwanuka-Tondo

North Carolina State University

E-mail: jktondo@social.chass.ncsu.edu

Telephone: (919) 515-9736

By Calvin, L. Hall

Department of Communication

Appalachian State University

The staff of the Philadelphia Daily News, along with its editor Michael Days, is the recipient of the 2009 Robert P. Knight Multicultural Recruitment Award because of its significant contribution to promoting diversity through its scholastic media program.

The award is given by the Scholastic Journalism Division and will be presented at the luncheon co-sponsored with the Minorities and Communication Division at the AEJMC Convention in Boston.

Since 1986, the Philadelphia Daily News has co-sponsored the Urban Journalism Workshop, a two-week journalism program for high school students in which the participants work with Daily News reporters, editors, photographers, graphic artists and Temple University professors to produce a newspaper and, more recently, an online publication.

Up to 20 students per year participate in the program in which they receive hands-on experience in interviewing, reporting, and writing. The issues students have reported on include fighting drug dealing, Philadelphia’s mayoral campaigns, police brutality, racial discrimination, as well as the city’s literary, arts, fashion, and music scenes.

“The students learn to look, listen, ask, ask again, write and re-write and re-write again,” Linda Shockley wrote in her letter nominating the staff for the Knight Award.

Shockley, Deputy Director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, singles out Days for special praise. She states that as he rose through the editorial ranks at the Daily News, “Days kept his commitment to keeping the workshop alive”. She adds that during the times when Days could not work with the program himself, he enlisted staffers to help it continue.

The workshop leaders are not simply contented with sponsoring the workshop but are also committed to rewarding student achievement in the program. Shockley states that each summer workshop leaders collect funds in the newsroom so that they can give scholarships to the best writers and photographers among each year’s participants, with their donations often being matched by the publisher. During the workshop’s history, the paper has given about $3,000 per year for student scholarships.

But the scholarship is not given to students unconditionally. In order to collect the award money, the student must first be accepted to college.

For former Urban Journalism Workshop participants like Breea Willingham, who teaches journalism at St. Bonaventure University, the experience was invaluable. “They treated us like real reporters and photographers, and really didn’t cut us any slack just because we were high school students,” she said in Shockley’s nomination letter. “I didn’t appreciate it at the time – I was 17 and full of attitude then – but I learned more about journalism during my two weeks in UJW than I ever learned in college.”

More than 300 high school students have participated in the program since it began. The diversity of students includes African American, Hispanic, Asian students, as well as students from other immigrant groups. “The American polyglot has been taught and mentored,” Shockley states.

In addition to the Philadelphia Daily News, other co-sponsors of the Urban Journalism Workshop include The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, Temple University, and the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

The Robert P. Knight Multicultural Recruitment Award is presented to any individual or media organization making significant contributions to promoting diversity in high school journalism programs. It is named after for Robert P. Knight, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, who served as director of the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association from 1965 to 1992. He received the award in 1990. June O. Nicholson, an associate professor in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University, was the recipient of the 2008 award.

By Jennifer Woodard, MAC Programming Chair

I teach a course on Race, Class and Gender in the Media at my university. It is a junior/senior level seminar class. It is not required. I often have only one or two males in a class of 25 to 30 people. My university is predominantly white, but the one or two males in this particular class are usually black. I asked some of my students why men don’t take this class and they said that white males, in particular, are turned off by the name of the class. They told me that white males think that I’m going to bash them and make them feel guilty and they don’t want any part of this.

Wow. They don’t even know anything about my class or me (other than the fact that I am an African American female) and they are making so many assumptions. Is this happening to you at your university? It probably is if you teach diversity classes – required or otherwise. There is so much work to be done in our field in teaching students to avoid bias, yet how can we reach them when their biases keep them out of the very classes that will help them? Part of the answer is to get the diversity message out of the special topics courses and spread it across the curriculum. We must teach that diversity goes beyond black and white. It is so much more than that and so necessary for our students to understand if they are going to improve the state of journalism in all of its forms.

I wanted to know what more I could do in all of my classes so when I found a Poynter Institute seminar on “Teaching Diversity Across the Curriculum,” I signed up. I had no idea what I was getting myself into this May – but let me tell you – it was wonderful. This seminar led by Lillian Dunlap was an intensive week with like-minded individuals who were as devoted to the idea of diversity as an inclusive message of good journalism as I was. It was refreshing. We were in our sessions some days from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and it was all good. I am re-energized and recommitted to diversity. The instructors at Poynter showed the twelve of us accepted into the program how to re-imagine and re-tool our curriculum. They gave us instructional modules that we could take home and immediately implement into our classes. They gave us strategies on how to reach biased students and engage them in all of our classes not just the special topics. I was tired of teaching Race, class and gender in media and getting depressed because of the students that I didn’t seem to be reaching. Now I have a briefcase full of new assignments and a new way to think about diversity. It has always been that diversity is journalistic excellence, but now I know how to get this across to my students in a more inclusive and less frightening way.

So here’s the good news for our AEJMC divisions – the Poynter Institute is bringing a condensed version of their weeklong seminar to Boston. I encourage everyone to sign up and attend because it will change how you think about diversity, and it will give you new energy in the classroom. They are offering “Teaching Diversity for the Classroom & Accreditation” on Tuesday, August 4 beginning at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 9:15 p.m. My university is in the self-study year of accreditation. I will be encouraging my deans and any colleagues who are attending AEJMC to come a day early and gain some knowledge that will help us with the diversity standard and with our curriculum as a whole. Please take advantage of this opportunity – it will empower you and then you’ll empower your students. The diversity message hasn’t changed, but how we teach it needs to.

Here is the workshop description:

Workshop Title:  “Teaching Diversity for the Classroom & Accreditation”
Cost:  $35.00 per person

5:30-6:45 Session:  “Grounding Diversity in Excellent Journalism”

6:45-7:30 Session:  “Tough Talk: Expertly Leading Diversity Discussions”

7:30-7:45 Break

7:45-8:30 Session:  “Points of Entry: Big and Small Ways to Put Diversity in the Syllabus”

8:30-9:15 Session:  “Teachable Moments: How Professors Have Put Ideas Into Action”

Keith Woods, dean of Poynter faculty, and Lillian Dunlap are leading the workshop.  They will also have some alums from previous seminars to assist them with the ending session.

By Ilia Rodriguez

MAC Secretary/Second Vice Head

Mark your calendars for the 2009 MAC/Scholastic Luncheon

Friday, Aug. 7, 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. at the AEJMC Convention

With guest speaker Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News

columnist and co-host of Democracy Now with Amy Goodman

"Race and News In America: What Can We Learn from the Past

in this Age of Media Upheaval?"

Juan Gonzalez has been a staff columnist at the New York

Daily News for more than 20 years and co-hosts with Amy

Goodman the nationally syndicated news show Democracy Now.

He is former president of the National Association of

Hispanic Journalists, for which he created the Parity

Project, a program designed to help news organizations

recruit and retain Hispanic reporters and managers and

improve coverage of the Latino community. He was the Belle

Zeller Visiting Professor in Public Policy at Brooklyn

College from 2000 to 2002, where he taught courses in both

media studies and Puerto Rican and Latino history.  He

received the George Polk Award in 1998 for commentary.

 Gonzalez was the first reporter in New York City to write

on the health effects arising from the September 11, 2001,

attacks.  He has published three books: Fallout: The

Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center

Collapse; Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in

America; and Roll Down Your Window: Stories of a Forgotten

America.  Gonzalez’s forthcoming book, co-authored with

Joe Torres, offers a survey of the many battles that

erupted throughout U.S. history between the African

American, Latino, Asian American and Native American press

and the dominant white press, with discussion of how

federal communications policy has affected the news and

information needs of people of color.  In the book, the

authors uncover a wealth of information about the role of

minorities in the media that has never been collected in

any single volume before.

Luncheon tickets can be purchased when registering for the

AEJMC Convention.  

Mark your calendars for the 2009 MAC/Scholastic Luncheon
Friday, Aug. 7, 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. at the AEJMC Convention

With guest speaker Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News
columnist and co-host of Democracy Now with Amy Goodman

“Race and News In America: What Can We Learn from the Past
in this Age of Media Upheaval?”

Juan Gonzalez has been a staff columnist at the New York
Daily News for more than 20 years and co-hosts with Amy
Goodman the nationally syndicated news show Democracy Now.
He is former president of the National Association of
Hispanic Journalists, for which he created the Parity
Project, a program designed to help news organizations
recruit and retain Hispanic reporters and managers and
improve coverage of the Latino community. He was the Belle
Zeller Visiting Professor in Public Policy at Brooklyn
College from 2000 to 2002, where he taught courses in both
media studies and Puerto Rican and Latino history. He
received the George Polk Award in 1998 for commentary.
Gonzalez was the first reporter in New York City to write
on the health effects arising from the September 11, 2001,
attacks. He has published three books: Fallout: The
Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center
Collapse; Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in
America; and Roll Down Your Window: Stories of a Forgotten
America. Gonzalez’s forthcoming book, co-authored with
Joe Torres, offers a survey of the many battles that
erupted throughout U.S. history between the African
American, Latino, Asian American and Native American press
and the dominant white press, with discussion of how
federal communications policy has affected the news and
information needs of people of color. In the book, the
authors uncover a wealth of information about the role of
minorities in the media that has never been collected in
any single volume before.

Luncheon tickets can be purchased when registering for the
AEJMC Convention.

AEJMC Boston Conference Program

*panels or meetings of interest to MAC members

Wednesday – August 5

*10-11:30 a.m. — A Diversity Legend: Honoring and Remembering Dr. Lionel Barrow

11:45-1:15 p.m. – MAC, CSW 143 Research Panel: The Status of Women and the Media Beauty Myth

1:30-3 p.m. – MAC refereed research panel

*3:15-4:45 p.m. – Mini Plen CSM: Latino Press 100^th Anniversary

5-6:30 p.m. – CCS,MAC 54/142 Teaching Panel: Teaching Class in the Journalism and Mass Communication Curriculum

Thursday – August 6

11:45-1:15 p.m. – MAC, MCS 144 Research Panel: Advancing Inter-ethnic, Interracial and Gender Communication Research among Latinos, Asians and African Americans

1:30-3 p.m. – Scholar-to-Scholar

3:15-4:45 p.m. MAC, RMIG 145 PF&R Panel: We See Through a Glass Darkly: Frames of Race, Religion, Class, Gender and More in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

5-6:30 p.m. – MME, MAC 87 Research Panel: Minority Media Ownership: Gains, Losses and Keeping the Sails on the Ship

6:45-8:15 p.m. – MAC members’ meeting

*8:30-10 p.m. – CSM members’ meeting

Friday – August 7

7-8 a.m. MAC Executive Meeting

8:15-9:45 a.m. – MAC Refereed Research panel

12:15-1:30 p.m. – MAC, SCHJ Luncheon featuring: Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now, New York

Mr. Gonzalez co-hosts with Amy Goodman the nationally syndicated news show Democracy Now. He is also a columnist for the New York Daily News. In 2007, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his reportage in the New York Daily News about the air at the World Trade Center. He was the first reporter in New York City to write on the health effects arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks. He is former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, for which he created the Parity Project, an innovative program designed to help news organizations recruit and retain Hispanic reporters and managers

1:45-3:15 p.m. – COMJIG (Community Journalism Interest Group), MAC 101/149 PF&R : Ethnic news organizations as community media, their health and future role in an evolving media world

3:30-5 p.m. – MCS, MAC 29 PF&R:

How Effective Classroom ‘Difference Training’ Once Communications Students Enter the Workplace

5:15-6:45 – RTVJ, MAC 207 PF&R: Reporting on Race – the 2008 Election and the Future

Saturday – August 8

8:15-9:45 – Training sessions for incoming leadership (chairs, vice-chairs, research, teaching, PF&R, )

10-11:30 a.m. – MAC refereed research panel

11:45-1:15 p.m. – MAC refereed research panel