The History Division is accepting nominations for the 2020 outstanding master’s thesis in journalism and mass communications history.
Any master’s thesis on a topic in mass communication history will be considered, regardless of research method. Submissions must be in English. The thesis must have been submitted, defended, and filed in final form to the author’s degree-granting university between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. Membership in the AEJMC History Division is not required to submit.
The 36th annual Covert Award in Mass Communication History is awarded to Katie Day Good, assistant professor of strategic communication, Department of Media, Journalism and Film, and affiliate faculty, American Studies, at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Good won for her article “Sight-Seeing in School: Visual Technology, Virtual Experience, and World Citizenship in American Education, 1900–1930.” Technology and Culture, 60, no. 1 (2019): 98-131.
Ronald Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray have won the third annual Michael S. Sweeney Award for their article, “Recovering Disabled Veterans in Civil War Newspapers: Creating Heroic Disability.”
Named for former Journalism History editor Mike Sweeney, the award recognizes the outstanding article published in the previous volume of the scholarly journal Journalism History.
By Rachel Grant, Membership Co-Chair, University of Florida, rgrant@jou.ufl.edu
Dr. Amber Roessner is an associate professor of journalism and electronic media in the College of Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee—Knoxville. She recently wrote Jimmy Carter and the Birth of the Marathon Media Campaign.
Q: Describe the focus of your book.
A: This book tells the story of a transformative moment in American politics and journalism by examining the rise of Jimmy Carter, Time’s 1976 “miracle” man, through a representational and relational analysis of archival documents, media texts, and memory texts surrounding the negotiation of political images by presidential aspirants, campaign consultants, frontline reporters, and various publics involved in the bicentennial campaign. Though many cultural observers dismissed Carter’s campaign and presidency as the final chapter of Watergate, this book reveals that his “miraculous” rise in the bicentennial campaign signaled a new chapter in American politics and journalism that still reverberates today.
Mark Mayfield has won the Hazel Dicken-Garcia Award for his thesis, “At Home: Shelter Magazines and the American Life, 1890 to 1930.” Mayfield completed his research at the University of Alabama under the direction of Chris Roberts and Dianne Bragg.
Presented by the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Dicken-Garcia Award recognizes the outstanding thesis in journalism or mass communication history completed during the previous calendar year.
The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is pleased to announce that Maurine Beasley is the first winner of the division’s Senior Scholar Award.
“Maurine Beasley has created not only a strong record of historical scholarship, but a legacy. Selected from a competitive field of nominations, she stands out as the clear choice to be the inaugural recipient of the Donald Shaw Senior Scholar Award,” the judges’ comments said. “She is a tireless scholar in pursuit of historical truth. More than that, she has helped produce multiple generations of scholars, both by inspiring them with her published work and by providing personal mentorship.”
Pam Parry of Southeast Missouri State is the 2020 winner of the Best Podcast Guest Award from Journalism History.
Parry’s “Episode 25: Eisenhower: The Public Relations President” is the top-rated episode of the podcast with over 400 downloads. Her frequent promotion of the podcast and use of the show with students also contributed to her selection as the year’s top guest.
By Rachel Grant, Membership Co-Chair, University of Florida, rgrant@jou.ufl.edu
Lillie Fears (Arkansas State University) was named 2020 recipient of the Thomas E. Patterson Education at the annual King Kennedy Awards ceremony. In celebration of Black History Month, the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus honored Fears and eight other Arkansans. Since 2005, the King Kennedy Awards have recognized outstanding individuals who positively impact their communities and the state.
By Teaching Standards Chairs Kristin L. Gustafson, University of Washington Bothell, and Lori Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee
Five scholars will share their mini, hands-on teaching modules featuring original and tested transformative teaching ideas and practices that address pedagogies of diversity, collaboration, community, and/or justice in August. These ideas include carefully curated student learning experiences, an online platform that tracks research data, and a program-wide course redesign that centers on who tells our stories. Come ready to learn more about how each teaching practice might be transferred to your institution or classes and what evidence points to marked changes for students.
