Name: Josie Vine, Ph.D.

University Affiliation: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Position: Senior Lecturer, School of Media & Communication, Journalism Program

1. In her book, Thinking About History, historian Sarah Maza describes history as a multifaceted concept, and one of the definitions she provides is that history is “what the present needs to know about the past.” How do you define history? 

I think I would define history as the stories we remember and tell each other, which, in an allegorical sense, guide our collective values and beliefs, norms and practices. But we can also question and interrogate these stories—look for other interpretations of the same event—so we can question and interrogate the appropriateness of our own ways of seeing and ways-of-doing. 

This then means that we each have a duty to record and reflect upon current events, so they evolve into the history of the future. 

The AEJMC History Division is pleased to once again offer its mentorship program this year and we’re seeking participants. Prior mentors and mentees have found the program highly beneficial, with many choosing to continue their relationships informally after their year has ended. The program is very loosely structured. It’s up to the mentee and mentor to determine what works best for them.

If you’re looking for help with your teaching (ex: assignment ideas, classroom management tips, prepping a new class), research (ex: what journals/conferences to target, feedback on a potential journal/conference submission), or career (ex: tenure & promotion, searching for jobs, work/life balance), sign up as a mentee. Whether you’re a grad student, assistant professor, associate professor, or other, our division’s mentorship program is open to you.

Kim Voss (Professor, University of Central Florida) and Josie Vine (Senior Lecturer, RMIT University, Australia) are current participants in the History Division’s mentorship program, which pairs junior scholars with a senior scholar mentor who can offer advice and support on all aspects of academic life, from teaching to research to work/life balance. Voss and Vine discuss the benefits of the program in this Q+A.

Why did you decide to apply to participate in the mentorship program?

Voss: I decided to participate because I have had such good mentors. I now appreciate helping others. This is my third year in the program and I have enjoyed each experience. It’s been a great reminder of the joys and challenges from previous years. I look forward to the emails and phone calls.

Names: Lisa Burns and Teri Finneman

University Affiliations: Quinnipiac University, University of Kansas

Research Focus: U.S. First Ladies

1. What is the primary focus or central question (s) of your history research? Explain.

Lisa: My motivation is recovering the stories of women whose contributions have been either minimized in our collective memory or forgotten entirely. This often happens with presidential spouses. I was excited to work with Teri on The Cambridge Companion To U.S. First Ladies because we’re taking a different approach to telling these women’s stories. Instead of the typical biographical approach focusing on individual women, this book is a collection of thematic essays examining the first lady institution and the political, social, and cultural influence of the women who’ve served in this role. The result is a more nuanced understanding of how these women have built upon each other’s work to shape the first lady institution and the expectations associated with the position.  

Teri: Lisa and I are very focused on public education with our work. We created this book knowing we would do a fair share of speaking about it to the general public. Also, I created a podcast called The First Ladies to tie into the book for that reason. There is a strong niche audience for first ladies and presidential studies, so a key focus was creating content that they would find new and interesting to learn.

What is your current position?

Assistant Professor of Journalism, Auburn University

What is your favorite class to teach?

Journalism history! I’m even more thrilled than usual, because next fall I have been approved to teach a Women in Journalism History course to be cross listed with the Women and Gender Studies department!

What is your current research project?

I am currently finishing up a book about newsgirls and papergirls. The book, Extra! A History of America’s Girl Newsies, is in peer review now and should (hopefully!) be out sometime in 2025.

Fun fact about yourself?

I don’t really believe in soulmates, but if I did, mine would be my extraordinarily large dog named SunSpot. He’s a Briard (a French sheepdog), he has fluffy long blond hair, and it’s like he was built in every way to be mine. I bring him with me everywhere I am legally allowed.

Lisa D. Lenoir (Indiana) received Indiana University’s Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows Program award to advance her research on the life and career of The Chicago Defender’s Mattie Smith Colin. The fellows program supports IU faculty with promise to be national and international leaders in their discipline. Lenoir’s research focuses on media discourses surrounding journalism, activism, and identity, and consumer culture.

The 2024-2025 fellowship features a $50,000 grant, which allows her to host scholars and to conduct archival and oral history work to bring Colin’s work to the forefront, focusing on the journalist’s career from 1950-2002. Colin is known for covering the return of Emmett Till’s body from Money, Mississippi to Chicago, a critical moment in the long Black civil rights struggle. In addition, the journalist worked as a food and fashion editor. Lenoir knew Colin during her tenure in Chicago, while working as a fashion editor for the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Mattie Smith Colin Project has been generously supported by grants from AEJMC’s Commission on the Status of Women and the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA).

Tom Mascaro (Bowling Green) has co-authored a revised edition of William Porter’s 1976 classic, Assault on the Media: The Nixon Years, Updated with Analysis of 21^st Century Threats to Democracy (University of Michigan Press). The expanded version includes several new chapters, additional Documents of Significance, several key analyses of First Amendment issues, and a critique of the role of academe in the pursuit of rampant authoritarianism.

Do you have member news to share? Send your updates for the next Clio to Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen at caitlinc@uidaho.edu.