2025 Awards Program

AEJMC

KEYNOTE SESSION

AWARDS PROGRAM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

SAN FRANCISCO MARRIOTT MARQUIS

This program is generously sponsored by the

College of Media & Communication, Texas Tech University

Keynote

ORDER OF PROGRAM

5:15 to 6:45 p.m. Salon 7 [LB2L]

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Keynote Session

Moderating/Presiding

Teresa L. Mastin, Michigan State, president, AEJMC 2024-25

Welcome

2024-25 In Memoriam: A Tribute to Those We’ve Lost

State of AEJMC

Award Recognitions

Installation of 2025-26 AEJMC President

Bey-Ling Sha, Texas Tech

Keynote Speaker

REAP: Resiliency. Equanimity. Anchors. Perseverance

Clyde W. Yancy, MD, MSc, MACC, FAHA, MACP, FHFSA, FRCP, FASPC (Hon.),

FPCNA (Hon), Vice Dean, Diversity & Inclusion, Magerstadt Professor of

Medicine, Professor of Medical Social Sciences, Chief, Division of

Cardiology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine

7 to 8:30 p.m. Yerba Buena Lobby [LB2L]

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Opening Reception immediately following program

AEJMC Keynote Awards Program

Thursday, August 7, 2025 | San Francisco, CA

3

Mark

HORVIT

MISSOURI

2024 Scripps Howard Fund Journalism & Mass

Communication Teacher of the Year Award

Recipient

A Scripps Howard Fund and AEJMC

Award

Awarded to full-time faculty members

teaching journalism who, over a

period of years, has consistently

demonstrated an environment of

excellence by ongoing contributions

to the improvement of student

learning. Open to nominees who

teach students how to gather, assess,

create, and present news, information

and commentary via print and

electronic media. Nominees may be

from accredited or non-accredited

schools, but must consistently teach

primarily journalism courses.

Mark Horvit, professor and chair of

the journalism professions faculty

group at the Missouri School of

Journalism, has been named Teacher

of the Year in the prestigious Scripps

Howard Journalism Awards.

The award comes during Horvit’s

17th year at the School of Journalism,

where he has developed a reputation

for excellence in teaching

investigative and statehouse

reporting while also thriving in a

variety of administrative leadership

roles throughout that time.



4

Marie

HARDIN

PENNSYLVANIA STATE

2024 Scripps Howard Fund Journalism & Mass

Communication Administrator of the Year Award

Recipient

A Scripps Howard Fund and

AEJMC Award

Awarded to full-time

administrators of a journalism,

mass communication or

communication program who, over

a period of years, has consistently

demonstrated an environment of

leadership excellence by ongoing

contributions to the improvement

of learning and teaching. Open to

accredited and non-accredited

schools.



Hardin, who has led the Donald P.

Bellisario College of Communications

since 2014 and has been a member of

the Penn State faculty since 2003, and

became president of Quinnipiac

University on July 1, 2025. Her efforts

at Penn State were clearly awardworthy,

according to AEJMC, and the

Scripps Howard Fund. During the past

year, journalism students have covered

stories internationally and earned

numerous awards themselves. In

addition, Penn State faculty members

consistently lead efforts to bolster

journalism in the classroom and

beyond through educational efforts

and partnerships with professional

news organizations in Pennsylvania

and beyond.

5

COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

Equity & Diversity Award Recipient

Selected by AEJMC’s Standing

Committee on Professional Freedom

& Responsibility, the award

recognizes journalism and mass

communication academic units that

are working toward, and have

attained measurable success, in

increasing equity and diversity

among their faculty. When applying

for the award, the unit must

document its progress and

innovation in racial, gender, and

ethnic equality and diversity during

the previous three years.



This honor speaks to the unwavering

efforts of our faculty, staff and

students who have made inclusive

excellence a priority,”

Shari Veil, Jane T. Olson Endowed

Dean of the College of Journalism

and Mass Communications, said. “I’m

proud of our community’s dedication

to creating a welcoming environment

where all have the opportunity to

succeed.”

When applying for the award, the unit

must document its progress and

innovation in racial, gender, and

ethnic equality and diversity during

the past three years. CoJMC’s

application was compiled by a faculty

committee, chaired by Cory

Armstrong, associate dean for

research and faculty affairs.

6

Shelly

RODGERS

MISSOURI

Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to

Research Award Recipient

The Eleanor Blum Distinguished

Service to Research Award was

created to recognize people who

have devoted substantial parts of

their careers to promoting research

in mass communication. It is

named in honor of its first recipient,

the late Eleanor Blum, a long time

communications librarian at the

University of Illinois at Urbana

Champaign.



Shelly Rodgers is the Maxine Wilson

Gregory Chair at the Missouri

School of Journalism, Rodgers’

career has fulfilled the criteria in

several ways, from her own prolific

research output to her support of

student research at all levels. She is

also the co-editor of two

forthcoming books: the third edition

of Advertising Theory and the fourth

edition of Digital Advertising Theory.

Rodgers, a fixture at the School for

22 years, centers her research

around how audiences can be

better served by advertising that

represents them faithfully and

communicates clearly.

7

Geah

PRESSGROVE

WEST VIRGINIA

Dorothy Bowles Award for Outstanding Public

Service Recipient

The Dorothy Bowles Award for

Outstanding Public Service

recognizes an AEJMC member who

has a sustained and significant

public-service record that has helped

build bridges between academics

and professionals in mass

communications, either nationally or

locally, and been actively engaged

within the association.

Geah Pressgrove is an assistant

professor at the Reed School of

Media and Communications where

she teaches introductory, skills and

advanced courses in the advertising/

public relations program. Pressgrove

is also the faculty advisor for the

award-winning WVU PRSSA chapter.

Her published and in-progress

research examines the ways in which

key communications variables

influence relationship quality,

behavioral outcomes and loyalty. She

explores the organization-public

relationship paradigm primarily in the

nonprofit, corporate social

responsibility, community and political

contexts.



8

Meera

K

OORVANI FOUNDATION

Gene Burd Urban Journalism Award Recipient

An AEJMC & Urban Communication

Foundation Co-sponsored

Award.

This award recognizes high-quality

urban reporting or critical analysis

relevant to city problems,

programs, policies, and public

priorities in urban life and culture.

The award, for a journalist with a

distinguished record of work in

urban journalism. This award is

named after Gene Burd, retired

professor of Journalism at the

University of Texas, who endowed

the Urban Communication

Foundation.

Meera K is the Managing Trustee of

Oorvani Foundation. She is

passionate about cities, community

media, urban issues, local

governance, and civic tech. Meera

is an Ashoka Fellow and was earlier

a Knight Fellow at the International

Centre for Journalists. In an earlier

life, she was yet another manager

at an IT firm, holding varied

responsibilities in the product

development space. She is active in

community improvement initiatives

and volunteers with projects related

to transport, lake rejuvenation,

organic kitchen gardening and solid

waste management.



9

NORTH TEXAS Newly Paul Mezabahnur “Meza” Masum

Gene Burd Award for Research in Urban Journalism

Studies Recipient

“How Commercial and Nonprofit News Cover Extreme Heat

in Urban Cities”

AEJMC and the Urban

Communication Foundation are

co-sponsors of the Gene Burd

Award for Research in Urban

Journalism Studies. The purpose of

this annual grant is to stimulate

research that explains, enlightens,

inspires, and improves the practice

of journalism and communication

in order to advance our

understanding of journalism in

urban environments.



Newly Paul and Mezabahnur

(“Meza”) Masum, both from the

University of North Texas, are the

recipients of the Gene Burd Award

for Research in Urban Jour nalism

Studies for their research project,

“How Commercial and Nonprofit

News Cover Extreme Heat in Urban

Cities.” They are ex ploring how

news outlets in five U.S. cities with

the highest number of people living

in urban heat islands cover the

issue of extreme heat. Journalists

are being interviewed to determine

the factors that shape their

coverage of extreme heat events

and the barriers they face in

covering the issue.

10

Mary Beth

OLIVER

PENNSYLVANIA STATE

Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in

Journalism & Mass Communication Research

Recipient

The Paul J. Deutschmann Award for

Excellence in Research recognizes a

body of significant research over the

course of an individual’s career. The

award is named in honor of Paul J.

Deutschmann, who developed the

College of Communication Arts at

Michigan State University. It serves

as the AEJMC Research Award,

recognizing the top scholars in the

association who have made a major

impact on the research of the field

during their career. The

Deutschmann Award is based on

demonstrable influence on the field

and is therefore not necessarily

awarded every year.



Oliver has been a Penn State

faculty member since 1998. She is a

fellow and a past president of the

International Communication

Association. She has published

studies about stereotyping in the

media, positive media psychology

and other topics in such journals as

the "Journal of Communication,"

"Human Communication Research"

and "Communication Research,"

among others. She is a supporter of

the positive psychology movement.

11

Jessica

WILLOUGHBY

WASHINGTON STATE

Hillier Krieghbaum Mid-Career Award Recipient

Krieghbaum Mid-Career Award

honors AEJMC members who have

shown outstanding achievement and

effort in all three AEJMC areas:

teaching, research and public

service. The late Hillier Krieghbaum,

former New York University professor

emeritus and 1972 AEJMC president,

created and funded the award in

1980. Nominees must also be AEJMC

members in good standing at the

time of the nomination and during the

preceding two years.



Willoughby conducts rigorous,

theoretically-grounded health

communication research that

contributes to health communication

practice. Her research has resulted in

more than 75 peer reviewed journal

articles and multiple grants and

contracts. She is an expert in the

development of theoretically grounded

risk reduction health communication

interventions for adolescents and

young adults, having developed and

assessed more than a dozen health

communication interventions on topics

including sexual health, substance

misuse prevention, physical activity,

mental health and COVID-19. Her

research in this area focuses on how

media, including digital media, can

have a positive impact on health.

12

SangJung

KIM

IOWA

Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development

Recipient

The Baskett Mosse Award for

Faculty Development was created

by AEJMC and the Accrediting

Council on Education in Journalism

and Mass Communications in

honor of the late Baskett Mosse,

executive secretary of the

Accrediting Committee for 26

years. The award recognizes an

outstanding young or mid-career

faculty member and helps fund a

proposed enrichment activity.



Sang studies the interaction

between technology, politics, and

social identity, with particular

attention to the mediating role of

social media platforms and the

spread of information to the public.

Sang specializes in examining

messages in a multi-modal form,

and utilize both experimental

methods and computational

approaches to understand how

consumers and creators of such

content introduce and are

impacted by biases.

Sang teaches courses that focus

on analytics for both

undergraduate and graduate

students.

13

Gwyneth

MELLINGER

JAMES MADISON

James A. Tankard Jr. Book Award Recipient

“Racializing Objectivity: How The White Southern Press

Used Journalism Standards to Defend Jim Crow”

[University of Massachusetts Press]

This award recognizes the most

outstanding book in the field of

journalism and communication. It

also honors authors whose work

embodies excellence in research,

writing and creativity. First

presented in 2007, the award is

named in honor of Dr. James

Tankard, Jr., posthumous recipient of

AEJMC’s 2006 Eleanor Blum

Distinguished Service to Research

Award, former editor of Journalism

Monographs and a longtime

University of Texas at Austin

journalism professor.



Elegant and incisive, Racializing

Objectivity unequivocally

demonstrates that a full telling of

twentieth-century press history

must reckon with the white

southern press’s cooptation of

objectivity and other professional

standards to skew racial narratives

about Black Americans, the

freedom struggle, and democracy

itself.

14

Stephen

BLOOM

IOWA

Knudson Latin America Prize Recipient

“ The Brazil Chronicles”

[University of Missouri Press]

This is an annual award given to a

book or project concerning Latin

America or coverage of issues in

Latin America. Submitted works

must make an original contribution

to improve knowledge about Latin

America to U.S. students, journalists

or the public. This award was

endowed by the late Jerry Knudson,

an emeritus professor at Temple

University. Knudson was a long-time

AEJMC member whose research

and publications focused on Latin

America.



As a young journalist at the Brazil

Herald from 1979-81, Stephen G.

Bloom spent his early professional

years working in Rio’s seedy Lapa

district, surrounded by fugitives,

drug runners, pornographers, and

stealth CIA agents. Bloom shares

the wild story of this Englishlanguage

newspaper in The Brazil

Chronicles. The expat newspaper

was a breeding ground for a

different kind of storyteller —

audacious risk-takers who told

madcap tales of Amazon

plantations, Confederate emigres,

and lost Indian tribes.

15

Martín Echeverría

Ruben Arnoldo González

Knudson Latin America Prize Recipient

“Media and Politics in Post-Authoritarian Mexico: The

Continuing Struggle for Democracy”

[Palgrave Macmillan]

This is an annual award given to a

book or project concerning Latin

America or coverage of issues in

Latin America. Submitted works

must make an original contribution

to improve knowledge about Latin

America to U.S. students, journalists

or the public. This award was

endowed by the late Jerry Knudson,

an emeritus professor at Temple

University. Knudson was a long-time

AEJMC member whose research

and publications focused on Latin

America.



This volume presents an analytical

and empirical overview of the array

of issues that the Mexican media

faces in the post-authoritarian age,

which jointly explains how a

partially accomplished democracy,

its authoritarian inertias, and its

unintended consequences hinder

the democratic performance of the

media. This is analyzed from three

points of view: the stalemate

Mexican media system and

ineffective regulations, the

conditions of risk and insecurity of

the journalists on the field, and the

limits of freedom of expression,

political substance, and

inclusiveness of media content.

16

Rana

ARAFAT

CITY ST. GEORGE’S, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Outstanding Early-

Career Woman Scholar Award Recipient

Sponsored by The Lillian Lodge

Kopenhaver Center for the

Advancement of Women in

Communication at Florida

International University, and the

AEJMC Commission on the Status

of Women, this recognition is

designed to honor early-career

women faculty researchers and

encourage them as they pursue

their research agendas in the

academy.

Rana Arafat is a Lecturer/Assistant

Professor in Digital Journalism in

the department of journalism at

City, University of London. She is the

current Head of Year 2 in the BA

Journalism Program. She holds a

PhD degree in journalism and

political communication from the

Institute of Media and Journalism

(IMeG) at Universita della Svizzera

italiana in Switzerland (Summa cum

laude, highest distinction). She is

the recipient of the 2022 AEJMC

Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation

Award.



17

Jessica

RETIS

ARIZONA

Lionel C. Barrow, Jr. Award for Distinguished

Achievement in Diversity Research and

Education Recipient

The Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for

Distinguished Achievement in

Diversity Research and Education

recognizes outstanding individual

accomplishment and leadership in

diversity efforts for underrepresented

groups by race and

ethnicity in Journalism and Mass

Communication. One of the

prestigious honors within AEJMC,

the Barrow Award for Distinguished

Achievement is jointly supported by

the Commission on the Status of

Minorities (CSMN) and the

Minorities and Communication

(MAC) Division.



Jessica Retis served as the director

of the School of Journalism from

July 2022 to July 2025. She also is

director of the school's Master's in

Bilingual Journalism program. She

holds a Major in Communications

(University of Lima, Peru), a Master's

in Latin American Studies (National

Autonomous University of Mexico)

and a Ph.D. in Contemporary Latin

America (Complutense University of

Madrid, Spain). Prior to entering

academia, Retis worked for more

than two decades as a journalist in

Peru, Mexico and Spain in various

print and broadcast media outlets.

18

Ayala

PANIEVSKY

CITY ST GEORGE’S, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award

Recipient

The award recognizes excellence

in Ph.D. dissertation research that

demonstrates potentially

significant impact and importance

in the field of journalism and

communication research and

includes a monetary prize. The

award is named for Ralph O.

Nafziger and David Manning White,

authors of Introduction to Mass

Communication Research, and

Michael Salwen, coauthor of An

Integrated Approach to

Communication Theory and

Research.



Ayala Panievsky is a researcher

specialising in media under attack,

right-wing populism, and

democratic backsliding. Her

research appeared in journals such

as The International Journal of

Press/Politics and Digital

Journalism, and featured in media

outlets like the BBC, The News

Agents, LBC and ABC. She is

currently a Presidential Fellow in the

Journalism Department at the City

University of London, a Research

Associate at the Sociology

Department at the University of

Cambridge, and a Research Fellow

at the Centre for the Renewal of

Israeli Democracy.

19

Jason

PORTER

SOUTH CAROLINA

Teaching Best Practices Competition Award

Recipient

“Your AI Podcast Study Buddy”

The elected Committee on

Teaching Standards presents the

“Best Practices in Teaching” series

booklets. The booklets are created

using the winning entries from the

AEJMC Best Practices in Teaching

Competition. Booklets are

distributed at the Teaching Panel

Sessions at past AEJMC

Conferences.



Jason Porter is an award-winning

animator and designer with

extensive experience working with

some of the world’s most

recognized brands, including

Marvel, Volkswagen, Target, Taco

Bell and Disney. With a career that

spans from leading creative teams

to producing high-impact visual

content, Porter brings a wealth of

industry knowledge to the Visual

Communications sequence. He is

also a voting member of the

Academy of Television Arts and

Sciences, contributing his expertise

to the broader media and

entertainment industry.

20

Keynote

SPEAKER

Clyde W. Yancy, MD, MSc is Vice

Dean for Health Equity; Magerstadt

Endowed Professor & Chief of

Cardiology; Professor, Department of

Medical Social Science, at

Northwestern University Feinberg

School of Medicine, and serves as

Associate Director, Bluhm

Cardiovascular Institute,

Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, IL.

He holds an MD degree from Tulane

University School of Medicine and a

Healthcare Management degree

(MSc) from the University of Texas.



Dr. Yancy is Deputy Editor for JAMA –

Cardiology; a former President of the

American Heart Association; and

holds extensive government service

including leadership positions in the

National Institutes of Health, National

Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the

Food and Drug Administration,

Patient Centered Outcomes

Research Institute, and the

Department of Health and Human

Services. His expertise include heart

failure, outcomes sciences,

cardiovascular disease prevention,

quality improvement, clinical practice

guideline development, health equity

and leadership.

He has published more than 750

peer-reviewed manuscripts and is

annually cited as one of the top 1%

scientific authors, worldwide. He

holds innumerable awards as a

healthcare leader, top physician,

teacher and mentor in cardiology. He

is an elected membership of the

National Academy of Medicine, the

American Association of Physicians,

and the Association of University

Cardiologists.

21

Erasmus Baxter Asia Fields Julia Furukawa

AEJMC First Amendment Award Recipients

Created in 2006, the AEJMC First

Amendment Award recognizes

individuals or organizations who

demonstrate a strong commitment

to freedom of the press and who

practice or support courageous

journalism.

This award will be presented,

Saturday, August 9 at 3 p.m.



AEJMC’s 2025 First Amendment

Award will honor former Western

Washington University student

journalists Erasmus Baxter,

Asia Fields and Julia Furukawa as

well as the many current student

journalists fearlessly covering their

campuses and their communities

during challenging times. As

students at Western Washington,

Baxter, Fields and Furukawa took

the extraordinary step of suing their

own institution for withholding

public records related to sexual

misconduct cases. Their years-long

legal battle resulted in a landmark

court ruling affirming the public’s

right to access these records and a

$111,780 settlement from the

university in 2024.

22

AEJMC

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2025 AEJMC AWARDS

PROGRAM

Congratulations to the Recipients

AEJMC

PO Box 21647 | Columbia, SC 29221

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2025 Awards Program

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