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