The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication History Division awarded five winners for the third annual Transformative Teaching of Media and Journalism History teaching-idea competition, renamed the Jinx Coleman Broussard Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Media History in late 2019. The recipients were:
- Ira Chinoy, University of Maryland
- Teri Finneman, University of Kansas
- Kristin Gustafson, University of Washington-Bothell
- Donna L. Halper, Lesley University
- Robert Kerr, University of Oklahoma
The competition featured original and tested transformative teaching ideas and practices that address pedagogies of diversity, collaboration, community, and/or justice.
“Though we cannot connect in person this year, we do all have the opportunity to come together as students of media history pedagogy and to listen to a remarkable set of transformative teaching practices that you might adapt at your universities and in your classrooms,” said Lori Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee, the Division’s teaching chair, who will moderate the 12:30-2 p.m. CDT Saturday, August 7, panel at the virtual 2021 AEJMC Conference, where the teaching competition’s winners will present 12- to 15-minute mini, hands-on teaching modules.
The History Division and former teaching chair Kristin Gustafson created the competition in 2019 to acknowledge and share best practices publicly that journalism educators and media historians use in their classrooms. The contest was designed to serve three AEJMC History Division goals: (1) help the division grow and diversify by inviting people from other divisions; (2) encourage pedagogies of diversity, collaboration, community, and justice; and (3) support an equal balance of History Division attention to teaching standards, research, and professional freedom and responsibility.
The contest was renamed the Jinx Coleman Broussard Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Media History in late 2019. We recognize the many years and levels of Dr. Broussard’s valued contributions to our field as a scholar, mentor, and expert on the history of the black press, black foreign correspondents, black women journalists, journalism, and public relations.
“When Jinx Broussard presented her scholarship on Ida B. Wells-Barnett at the inaugural Ida B. & Beyond Conference in 2015, I had the opportunity to witness firsthand Broussard’s powerful scholarship—in this case, an intervention into the great [white] men’s history that rightfully placed Wells-Barnett among the pioneers of public relations—and her mentorship to a younger generation of scholars interested in recovering the voices of social justice crusaders,” Roessner said. Renaming the award in Broussard’s honor was “a fitting tribute to someone who has impacted the lives of so many with her profound scholarship and dedicated mentorship.”
The History Division will recognize the five winners at the teaching panel and at its Awards Gala at 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday, Aug. 3.
“Despite tremendous challenges, these media historians have demonstrated how to teach under trying circumstances in creative and empathetic ways,” AEJMC History Division Chair Will Mari said. “The division is proud of their work and I, for one, am excited to learn from them.”
Winners will each receive a $75 prize at the teaching panel. One prize was to go to a student scholar or team entry with a student; however, there were no student entries this year. In addition to the conference teaching demonstrations, winners may publish their ideas on the History Division’s website and will be featured in the Division’s Clio newsletter.