Abstract
AEJMC 2017 Town Hall & General Business Meeting, Friday, August 11, 2017 • Chicago, Illinois
The meeting was called to order by AEJMC (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication) President Paul Voakes of Colorado at 10:05 a.m. He welcomed everyone to Chicago. He outlined the new format for the business meeting, which will also feature a town hall so that members can discuss ideas for new AEJMC programs or projects.
The membership then considered the minutes from the 2016 AEJMC Business Meeting.
Voakes reported on his key presidential initiative this year, which is developing ways to apply academic research to the needs of the industry. He has created a Task Force that is developing ideas for working with journalism and mass communication industries. Voakes also thanked the headquarters’ staff for their work this year.
Jisu Huh of Minnesota presented the association’s research awards. She announced the book “Democracy’s Detectives” by James Hamilton as the winner of the 2016 Tankard Book Award, which was presented earlier this week.
The Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in JMC Research was presented to Stephen Reese, Texas at Austin. The Eleanor Blum Award for Distinguished Service to JMC Research was presented to Esther Thorson, Michigan State. The Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award was presented to Jieun Shin, Southern California.
Voakes and Jennifer Greer gave away door prizes that featured companies in the Chicago area.
For the next 30 min, attendees broke into small groups to discuss two questions:
What is the greatest need of AEJMC members for professional success?
What AEJMC initiatives would help meet that need for its members?
Each table group elected a scribe to capture the ideas on a large sheet of paper. These notes from each group were collected by six AEJMC members. That group worked to develop the ideas from the table discussions while the business meeting continued.
President-Elect Jennifer Greer of Alabama reported for the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee recommended approval of a balanced operating budget for the coming fiscal year with US$792,200 in both income and expense. It is a US$12,000 increase (1.2%) from the current year’s budget.
Greer also outlined her plans for the coming year as incoming AEJMC president. Her major focus will be on developing ways to promote the value of membership in AEJMC divisions and interest groups. She will also be working to better promote the association’s regional meetings.
There was no old Business to consider.
There was no new Business to consider.
Greer read a list of members who have died in the past year. The membership shared a moment of silence.
Several other AEJMC Awards were presented:
The Hillier Krieghbaum Under-40 Award was presented to Jakob Jensen, Utah
The Dorothy Bowles Public Service Award was presented to Sandra Utt, Memphis
The AEJMC-Knudson Latin America Prize was presented to the book Media Movements: Civil Society and Media Policy Reform in Latin America, which is co-authored by Maria Soledad Segura of Universidad Nacional de Cordoba and Silvio Waisbord of George Washington
The membership also recognized and thanked Maria Marron, Nebraska Lincoln, for her service as editor of JMC Educator.
Other awards presented were the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education, which recognized Loren Ghiglione of Northwestern. Voakes also recognized Jeff McCarter of Free Spirit Media who received the Gene Burd Urban Journalism Award earlier this week.
Paula Poindexter of Texas at Austin and AEJMC past president presented the 2017 News Audience Engagement Research Award. She also announced the fourth News Engagement Day on Tuesday, October 3. She encouraged everyone to participate and share activities from their campuses that day.
Jane Singer of City University in London shared information about the AEJMC Scholarsourcing program in conjunction with Peter Lang Publishing Group. The program just completed its third year. The program will soon be seeking proposals from AEJMC members for any type of book that relates to the association’s mission. The new call will be released shortly. AEJMC members will then evaluate the proposals and the top eight will move forward to a second stage of review.
Chris Roberts of Alabama, and chair of the AEJMC Council of Divisions, reported on the focus group work earlier in the meeting. The greatest needs included career development, support for mid-career faculty, how to better bridge to the future by remaking our curriculum, and how to better aid graduate students transitioning to faculty. Ideas to address these needs included creation of mentoring programs, provide more financial support, and provide more faculty development resources on the website. The association will be looking at ways to implement some of these suggestions in the coming year.
Hong Cheng of Virginia Commonwealth and Professional Freedom & Responsibility (PF&R) Committee chair presented two resolutions for the members to consider. Resolutions are under the preview of the PF&R Committee.
Whereas, the Association for Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC), founded in 1917, is a nonprofit educational association composed of 19 collegiate journalism and mass communication programs;
Whereas, ASJMC has participated with other journalism and mass communication organizations in raising professional standards and in promoting a public understanding of the role of journalism and mass communication in a democratic society;
Whereas, ASJMC has provided leadership in the promotion of research in journalism and mass communication, including financial support when Journalism Quarterly was launched in 1924;
Whereas, ASJMC played a key role in developing a set of standards for schools, which later led to the creation of a free-standing Accreditation Council (currently, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications [ACEJMC]);
Whereas, ASJMC created an award to recognize a publication that provided distinctive service to journalism (the first award was presented in 1946 to Editor & Publisher), as well as established Journalism Educator in 1944 as a publication for its members before the journal joined the AEJMC family of publications;
Whereas, ASJMC encourages high standards and effective practices in the process and administration of journalism and mass communication education;
Whereas, ASJMC plays a pivotal role in leading journalism and mass communication education to continued success in the fast- and ever-changing media landscape and world today; and
Whereas, in recognition of all of the valuable contributions ASJMC has made to journalism and mass communication education and to AEJMC members both formally and informally throughout the years;
Therefore, be it resolved:
That the members of the AEJMC recognize and commend ASJMC on its 100th birthday for extraordinary and dedicated service to leadership in journalism and mass communication education.
Whereas, the First Amendment requires government officials to respect freedom of expression and to “make no law” that abridges a free press;
Whereas, journalism professional associations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists are documenting increasing threats from elected and appointed government officials to reporters and news outlets, as well as to the role and function of journalism in our society;
Whereas, repeated allegations of “fake news” underscores a pressing need for a more media-literate electorate;
Whereas, the economic models that sustain the news media continue to shift and have led to a loss of jobs in journalism at a time when journalists are needed more than ever;
Whereas, college campuses are central to discussions about the importance of a free press and of the open exchange of ideas;
Whereas, we journalism and mass communication educators share in the responsibility to help people understand the critical role of the press in a free and democratic society;
Whereas, we journalism and mass communication educators are qualified to teach our students and our communities how to verify information and confirm legitimate sources of news and information;
Whereas, AEJMC is an inclusive and culturally diverse organization that values accountability, fidelity and truth-telling, and justice;
Therefore, be it resolved:
We, the members of the AEJMC, reject governmental threats to the First Amendment and governmental attacks on the professions and academic disciplines AEJMC represents. We affirm our commitment to fostering an informed and civil society through our teaching, research, and service.
We will promote civil and open dialogue in our classrooms; will champion First Amendment values; will play an active role in teaching media literacy; and will continue to produce ground-breaking research that enhances our understanding of journalism and mass communication and their broader significance to all fields of study. In particular, we will identify and address contemporary social, political, economic, and cultural barriers to First Amendment freedoms and to the role and function of the press in a free and democratic society.
There were no resolutions from the floor.
Several of AEJMC’s elected standing committees or commissions filed written reports prior to the conference, which are included at the end of these minutes. Voakes commended the committees and commissions for their dedicated work during the year and thanked them for their service.
Voakes then installed Jennifer Greer of Alabama as the 2017-2018 AEJMC president and presented her with the gavel of office and other tools of the office, including the presidential “seal,” a crystal ball, and an “Easy” button.
Greer thanked Voakes for his year of service and presented him with a special glass leadership award to commemorate his year as AEJMC president.
There being no additional business, Greer adjourned the meeting at 11:58 a.m.
Research awards
a. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research: Three outstanding nominations were submitted and Stephen Reese (University of Texas-Austin) was selected as the 2017 Deutschmann Award winner.
b. Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award: No nomination was submitted this year. Among the three nominees for the Deutschmann Award, the SCR members felt that Esther Thorson’s nomination would be a good fit for the Blum Award and selected her as the recipient of the 2017 Blum Award. Both the nominator and the nominee were notified of this change and agreed.
c. Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award: Nine nominations were submitted and Dr. Jieun Shin (PhD, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at USC) was identified as this year’s NWS Dissertation Award winner. Dr. Shin’s dissertation was titled, “Social Diffusion and Hostility: How Social Media Users React to Political Fact-Checking Messages.”
d. Tankard Book Award: We received 23 (two withdrawn) entries and selected three finalists. The award winner will be announced at the Tankard Award Session on Wednesday, August 9th.
e. Student Travel Award: We did not have funding for this award this year.
Research ethics & research paper competition evaluation and improvement
a. Paper disqualification issues linked to different self-citation styles across different subfields.
b. Another related issue is “tips” posted on the AEJMC website (e.g., “Top 10 Ways to Get Your Paper Disqualified”) and confusion among paper submitters and division research chairs between the tips/suggestions and AEJMC-SCR policy.
c. SCR will prepare Research Session Guidelines/Training materials and present them to the board of directors for its approval before posting.
In 2016-2017, the AEJMC PF&R Committee has accomplished the following tasks. We have a stellar committee and are proud of what we have accomplished.
Participated in the Association’s Council of Divisions assessment at the beginning of the 2016 AEJMC conference in Minneapolis.
Conducted a training session for divisions and interest groups’ incoming PF&R officers at the end of the 2016 AEJMC conference in Minneapolis.
Selected the Pulitzer Prizes, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, the 2017 AEJMC First Amendment Award recipient. Eugene Robinson, the Pulitzer board chair, a previous Pulitzer Prize winner, and an opinion writer for The Washington Post, will accept the award on behalf of the Pulitzer Prizes at a special session on Wednesday, August 9, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. during the 2017 AEJMC conference in Chicago.
Selected the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University the 2017 AEJMC Equity & Diversity Award recipient and prepared a special session in honor of the recipient, scheduled from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., Thursday, August 10, during the 2017 AEJMC conference in Chicago.
Solicited nominations Association-wide for the 2017 Dorothy Bowles Award for Outstanding Public Service and submitted four that the PF&R Committee voted as top nominees to the AEJMC Central Office. Sandy Utt (Memphis), a top nominee of the Committee, was selected by the Association as the 2017 recipient of the award.
Prepared a PF&R panel titled “Social, Political, Economic and Cultural Threats to the U.S. Press and What Must Be Done to Address Them” for the 2017 AEJMC conference in Chicago. Moderated by Dean Kruckeberg (North Carolina at Charlotte) and featuring Debashis Aikat (North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Dean Kruckeberg, Amy Reynolds (Kent State), and Wendy Wyatt (St. Thomas), the panel is scheduled for Friday, August 11, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.
Participated in the Association’s selection of the recipient for the 2017 Dorothy Bowles Award for Outstanding Public Service.
Participated in the Association’s selection of the 2017 Krieghbaum Under-40 Award recipient.
Assisted AEJMC President Paul S. Voakes with (a) “AEJMC Presidential Statement” to President Trump (January 2017); (b) “Resolution to the General AEJMC Membership: To Recognize and Honor ASJMC on Its 100th Birthday” (June 2017); and (c) another resolution (ongoing as of the time this annual report is being completed).
Elected online in June 2017 the officers for the 2017-2018 PF&R Committee.
1. The AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Teaching held its annual teaching contest for 2016-2017 on service learning:
2. First place: George Daniels, University of Alabama, for “Transforming Mass Media Students Into Problem Solvers: A Mass Communication Diversity Service Learning Course.”
3. Second place: Scott Farrand and Van Kornegay, University of South Carolina, for “When Media Matters: Service Learning in Malawi, Africa.”
4. Third place: Teri Finneman, South Dakota State University, for “Living History: Preserving Journalism’s Past While Teaching Its Future”
5. Honorable mention: Robert E. Gutsche Jr., Florida International University, for “Seeing the Unseen: Using Virtual Reality and Expression to Connect Communities”
Twenty-four entries in 2016-2017. That’s up 20% from 2015-2016.
The committee has completed the book manuscript for “Master Class: Teaching Advice for Journalism and Mass Communication Instructors.”
The book is now in production with Rowman & Littlefield. The cover will have the AEJMC logo on it and mention the teaching committee.
Past and present teaching committee members who wrote or co-wrote chapters: Catherine Cassara, William Christ, Charles Davis, Jennifer Henderson, Susan Keith, Earnest Perry, Mary Rogus, Chris Roush, Carol Schwalbe, Natalie Tindall, Leslie-Jean Thornton, and Karen Turner.
Marketing will begin in 2018.
Book includes sample exercises, breakouts called “From the Trenches,” and numerous lists on do’s and don’ts in the classroom.
African American: 23, Asian American: 4, Caucasian: 132, International: 9, Latina/Latino: 4, Native American: 2, Other: 2, Male: 9, Female: 177
Nine papers presented on two panels.
Thirteen papers were submitted, and 13 people served as judges.
Twenty-two competitive papers to be presented on a mix of one traditional research panel and multiple scholar-to-scholar presentations.
Forty papers were submitted, and 42 people served as judges.
Six top papers were selected—three student and three faculty papers.
Co-sponsoring 10 panels with a diverse array of other divisions, commissions, and interest groups, including International Communication; the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Interest Group; the Commission on the Status of Minorities; the Council of Affiliates; History; and Advertising.
Co-sponsoring the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center’s “Women Faculty Moving Forward: A Pathway to Success in the Academy” preconference programming.
Continued our mentorship program for young women faculty members.
Increased communication with members through three newsletters and using a variety of channels, including email, Facebook, and Twitter.
Started a Facebook writing and research support group.
Awarded four writing, research, and professional awards. Winners include: Mary Gardner Award for Graduate Student Research: Paromita Pain, University of Texas, Austin Mary Ann Yodelis Smith Award for Feminist Scholarship: Chelsea Reynolds, California State University-Fullerton Donna Allen Award for Feminist Advocacy: Carolyn Bronstein, DePaul University Outstanding Woman in Journalism and Mass Communication Education: Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State University
Supported teaching activities through a syllabus exchange on our website, numerous teaching material exchanges via social media, and articles about teaching in our newsletter.
CSM’s achievements in the past 12 months:
Funding new media to bring attention to challenges and successes in multiculturalism (see our new Twitter with 230 members, revamped Facebook with 125 likes, and new website at csmdiversity.org)
Gaining approval, funding, and conducting first-ever survey on magazine minority hiring and interns—Posting increase in commission membership second year in a row, even as AEJMC overall decreases
Expanding CSM’s new diversity-experts database for use by students, faculty, administrators and media, including links to videos, research, and emails
Successfully lobbying AEJMC for funding for diversity initiatives and to select speakers from the historically underrepresented
Getting CSM events scheduled earlier in the 2017 conference to heighten the profile for multiculturalism and the commission organization-wide
Reaching out to professional media to encourage hiring and promotion of racial minorities
Seeking out officials from historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions and more greatly including them
Holding sessions on employing diverse professional & academic workforces
Encouraging graduate students’ participation by naming the first-ever graduate student coordinator and cutting grads’ dues
Speaking into presidential and organization-wide letters on a wide variety of journalism & mass communication topics
Helping stop AEJMC initiatives curtailing diversity monitoring
Increasing commission conference presence through co-sponsoring panels
Publishing two newsletters annually for the first time in several years
ASJMC 2017 General Business Meeting, Friday, August 11, 2017 • Chicago, Illinois
ASJMC President Maryanne Reed of West Virginia called the meeting to order at 1:45 p.m.
She welcomed everyone to Chicago. She asked those present to introduce themselves.
She reported that her year had been busy and very much a team effort of the leadership ladder. She thanked Sonya Duhé and Thor Wasbotten for their help this year. Another item the leadership worked on this year was developing processes for creating our own statements and joining relevant statements about issues in the discipline. The Executive Committee was active in developing these guidelines.
The association approved a statement on creative activity. It provided specific examples as well. The statement was developed by Thor Wasbotten and was shared with the membership, as well as members of AEJMC.
Reed also reported on the association’s February workshop in Memphis. The feedback was very positive, and attendees were pleased to hear from so many outside speakers. Many handouts from the workshop are on the ASJMC website. Reed thanked the ASJMC leadership ladder for their contributions and work on the workshop.
The group considered the minutes from its last business meeting in 2016.
Sonya Duhé then presented a glass award to Reed for her service as president.
Duhé presented the incoming president’s report. She announced that the 2018 ASJMC Winter Workshop will take place February 22 through 24 at The Hyatt Hotel in Phoenix. Members will need to arrive on February 22 to make the 8:30 a.m. workshop start on the 23rd. Some sessions will take place at Arizona State University. Duhé announced that the membership will receive a brief survey this fall asking for topics of interest for the workshop. Discussion followed. There was strong support for continuing the Development Officer track of sessions at the workshop. Another suggestion was to pair new JMC administrators with experienced deans or directors to serve as a resource. One thought was to have a session for new administrators at either the AEJMC Conference or the workshop. It would allow an informal way for people to share information. The Executive Committee will continue this discussion and develop some structure for this idea.
Duhé is also planning a review of the ASJMC strategic plan. She welcomes volunteers to work on this and other projects during the year. She is also seeking members to volunteer to write columns for the newsletter and website during the year.
The membership observed a moment of silence for deceased members.
Reed presented a brief report on the JMC Surveys. One of the key association activities this year was working with Texas Tech University to create and distribute the second JMC Survey conducted under ASJMC’s watch. It was a report on salary information. The report is not yet ready to release. There was some confusion about just what was to be reported. But some initial information should be available in a couple of weeks. Much discussion followed about how to make sure that everyone is on the same page with what ASJMC expects. Through this new process, one survey is issued each year.
There was no old business to consider.
There was no new business to consider.
There were no resolutions to consider.
Reed then installed Sonya Duhé of Loyola New Orleans as 2017-2018 ASJMC president and presented her with the gavel of office.
There being no additional business, Duhé adjourned the meeting at 2:35 p.m.