The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is pleased to announce the creation of the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar Award, named in honor of the pioneering journalism theoretician, distinguished journalism historian, and former head of the History Division, who taught for almost half of a century at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
The History Division officers unanimously voted to name the award after Shaw with the support of the full leadership team.
“I am deeply honored by the recognition of my historical work, and for recognition of historical work in general,” Shaw said. “We cannot understand ourselves without knowledge of our roots, individually or collectively. I am delighted with any acknowledgement of the many fine scholars we have in our historical discipline. Thank you for this honor.”
The History Division will recognize Shaw with this honor during its Awards Gala at the 2020 AEJMC conference in August, when the inaugural winner of the award will also be recognized. The division will soon send out additional information to open nominations for the annual award, which will recognize an individual for excellence in journalism history research after a minimum 15-year academic career and a record of division membership.
“We’re thrilled to recognize Dr. Shaw with this honor and to create a senior scholar award,” Division Chair Teri Finneman said. “It is important for us as a division to recognize our members who have dedicated their careers to making significant contributions to journalism history research, advancing our field, and serving as role models for young scholars.”
Shaw is renowned, along with Dr. Maxwell McCombs of the University of Texas, Austin, for the development of the agenda setting theory of the press. Shaw is also known for his studies of 19th and 20th century American and Southern press history. He is author, co-author, or co-editor of 13 books and about 75 scholarly articles or book chapters. His media history work includes examining news about American slavery, campaign news, and sensationalism.
Moreover, his use of content analysis in archival newspaper work has helped highlight and legitimize the use of newspapers as primary sources for scholars in the wider historical field.
Shaw has an extensive record of service, including serving on the History Division’s leadership team from 1972 to 1975 and other division committees. He is a past editor of Clio and has made numerous presentations and served as a moderator and speaker on many division panels.
Shaw continues to make important contributions to historical research. Shortly after his 83rd birthday in 2019, he presented a co-authored paper on newspaper content from 1820 to 1860 at the Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression with one of his former graduate students, Dr. David H. Weaver, who is now distinguished professor emeritus of journalism, Indiana University.
Shaw has received extensive accolades for his scholarship and teaching, including AEJMC’s 2006 Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research Award, and AEJMC’s 2007 Presidential Citation Award for career achievement. In 2010, he was presented with the Hazel Dicken-Garcia Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Journalism History by the Symposium on the 19th Century Press.