The History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication will honor Dr. Carolyn Kitch as the Donald L. Shaw Senior Scholar during the Division’s Awards Gala on Aug. 2. Dr. Kitch is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Journalism in the Department of Journalism and the Media and Communication Doctoral Program of Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication.

Established in 2020, the award honors a scholar who has a record of excellence in media history that has spanned a minimum of 15 years, including division membership. It is 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. 

“We were gratified by the quality of the nominees for this prestigious award, which is only in its third year,” the judges said. “Dr. Carolyn Kitch’s work is astounding in its depth, breadth, quantity, and quality. Where most scholars might aspire to produce field-defining work in one area, Dr. Kitch has done so in two: memory studies and the history of magazines. In addition to her remarkable publication record, she has made an immeasurable contribution to the field of journalism history by mentoring numerous younger scholars. Although there were other worthy nominees for this award, Dr. Kitch’s career accomplishments in research and mentorship are unparalleled.”

Dr. Kitch has authored, co-authored, or co-edited five books: Front Pages, Front Lines: Media and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage (University of Illinois Press, 2020), co-edited with Linda Steiner and Brooke Kroeger; Pennsylvania in Public Memory: Reclaiming the Industrial Past (Penn State University Press, 2012); Journalism in a Culture of Grief (Routledge, 2008), co-authored with Janice Hume; Pages from the Past: History and Memory in American Magazines (University of North Carolina Press, 2005); and The Girl on the Magazine Cover: The Origins of Visual Stereotypes in American Mass Media (University of North Carolina Press, 2001). Additionally, she has published more than 70 journal articles, book chapters, and reviews and is a member of the editorial boards of 11 scholarly journals.

Based in her record of research, Dr. Kitch was presented the prestigious Guido H. Stempel III Award for Journalism and Mass Communication Research in 2018 from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, given for a body of work that has made an impact in our discipline. In 2006, she won the James W. Carey Media Research Award from the Carl Couch Center for her second book, Pages from the Past (University of North Carolina Press). Moreover, she is a prior winner of AEJMC’s Under-40 Award for excellence in research, teaching and service.

Despite her record of tremendous accomplishments and honors, news of the award surprised the always humble and ever gracious Dr. Kitch.

“This is a humbling honor, and a somewhat bittersweet one in light of Dr. Shaw’s passing last fall,” she noted. “The wide range of his scholarship was an inspiration to me, and he himself was very kind and encouraging when I first attended AEJMC as a graduate student. Similarly, it was the History Division in which I found my first research community, with so many wonderful academic role models. My own scholarly confidence grew within and because of that culture, which has inspired my work for 25 years. Especially for these reasons, I am deeply grateful for this recognition, and for the support of my colleagues, nationally and at Temple, who made it possible.” 

During her 21 years at Temple, Dr. Kitch has taught undergraduate and graduate classes on media history, media and social memory, gender and media, visual communication, journalism theory, magazine journalism, and cultural studies. She also has been a Faculty Fellow in the Center for the Humanities at Temple. Previously, she taught at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and worked as a magazine editor and writer for McCall’s, Good Housekeeping, and Reader’s Digest.

Within those classrooms, Dr. Kitch mentored countless undergraduate and graduate students, who have gone on to illustrious careers of their own, including Sue Robinson, Rick Popp, and Carrie Teresa, just to name a few at the graduate level only, and they regularly cite the influence of her contributions on their lives.

“Carolyn Kitch is most deserving of the Shaw Senior Scholar award not only because of her exceptional record of research, but also because of her reputation as a productive, caring, and supportive mentor,” Teresa said. “I have had the pleasure of knowing Carolyn for over ten years; during that time, she not only selflessly shared her expertise and experience with me, but she also gave me the confidence to pursue my research. She was the first scholar to introduce me to the study of journalism history, and her enthusiasm for the subject was infectious. She is not only brilliant, but she is passionate about her work. I am lucky to call Carolyn my mentor and friend. Composer Duke Ellington used the phrase ‘beyond category’ to describe people in whom he held the highest esteem; Carolyn is, without a doubt, ‘beyond category.’”

Division members Janice Hume and Brian Creech were among the scholars who nominated Dr. Kitch, noting that she shared many traits of Donald Shaw and highlighting her priceless contributions as a scholar, mentor, collaborator, and friend.  

“Carolyn [Kitch] is one of those scholars who changes the way we think about journalism/mass communication history,” said Dr. Hume, who co-authored Journalism in a Culture of Grief with Dr. Kitch in 2008. “She is more than just highly productive, she is influential. She is also a generous mentor who brings along other scholars in our field.”

Added Dr. Creech, “Carolyn Kitch’s scholarship is foundational in the field. She has helped cement memory studies as a central means for understanding journalism and has written some of the most rigorous, lucid, and engaging scholarly prose in the field. Her insights remain urgent, and can be traced in the strains of research her works continue to inspire.

But her impact has also been uniquely personal. So many junior and mid-career scholars have moments of inspiration we can draw back to Professor Kitch. Whether it’s a reading that caused a change in perspective, a presentation that stimulated a new line of inquiry, a motivating comment or incisive review, or—for the luckiest among us—regular guidance and mentorship, Carolyn embodies the discipline at its most generative and generous.” 

Dr. Kitch will receive a plaque and check for $200 during the division’s Awards Gala in conjunction with the AEJMC annual meeting.