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Journalism faculty celebrated promotions with chocolate cake April 15. From left, Sally Renaud, professor; Bryan Murley, associate professor; and Joe Gisondi, professor.
The Howard Z. Price Chapter of Kappa Tau Alpha inducted new members this week. They are, from left, Tim Deters, Elizabeth Edwards, and Danny Damiani. Chacour Koop, far right, was inducted last spring. The seniors represent the top 10 percent the department's graduating class.
EIU students attend ACP/CMA conference
Warbler, DEN win awards
by Ava Nozicka
Twelve members of the DEN and the Warbler got the chance to mingle with fellow students, advisors and professionals at the 91st annual American Collegiate Press/ College Media Association convention in Chicago.
The convention was Nov. 1-3, and consisted of daily sessions that took place at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers on Columbus Street in Chicago.
Students had the opportunity to attend various sessions covering a wide range of topics, including advertising, yearbook, daily paper, marketing, online journals, and design.
CMA story continued here.
High School Journalism Workshop
set for June 2013
The Illinois Press Foundation and EIU High School Journalism Workshop is scheduled for June 17-30 next summer in Charleston. Jump here for information and application forms.
James Tidwell, center, Journalism Department chair, responds to a question at the Constitution Day event "How Does the First Amendment Affect Current Events." Karen Swenson, left, and Richard Wandling, far right, of the EIU Political Science Department also spoke. The event, held in Coleman Hall Sept. 17, was sponsored by the EIU Society for Collegiate Journalists. Photo by Emily McInerney
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| Chris Horrie, left, journalism lecturer at Winchester University in Great Britain, talks to EIU journalism student Lauren Thomas about her research at the EIU Showcase event April 13. Horrie spoke to several journalism classes during his week-long visit to campus. Photo by Sally Renaud |
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Terri Lynn Johnson |
Eunseong Kim |
| Two faculty members in the Department of Journalism are authors of a new chapter about social media use in public relations. The chapter, titled "Social Media in Public Relations Practice, Early Adopters Discuss Use and Challenges of Measurement, appears in the 2012 edition of "New Media and Public Relations," edited by Sandra Duhe and published by Peter Lang. Authors Terri Lynn Johnson and Eunseong Kim say social media has become an important public relations tool, can be a critical part of a PR campaign, but it can also be difficult to determine if the efforts are time and money well spent. | ||
Chris Seper, '95 (left), and Chris Sundheim, '95, look for names they know on the scholarship wall in the journalism department office Monday, March 26, 2012. Seper was on campus to speak to classes about his company, MedCity Media, which provides a syndication service on health care to companies and hospitals, and about his experiences as a journalist. His visit is sponsored by the Fox-Thornburgh Visiting Professional program. Both men were active at the Daily Eastern News. Seper was editor and Sundheim, who works for the Associated Press in Chicago, was news editor.
Greg Lee, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, spoke to members of Eastern's NABJ chapter and the staff of Fresh!, formerly Minority Today, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, in Buzzard Hall. Lee is the senior assistant sports editor of the Boston Globe. While on campus, he also spoke to a journalism class and met informally with students and faculty. From left, Angelica Moore, Fresh! and NABJ adviser Janice Collins, Fresh! editor and NABJ treasurer Dana Jackson and NABJ vice president and Fresh! designer Megan Johnson listen to Lee talk about his path to the Globe and his advice for students who want to enter the profession. Below, Eastern students pose with Lee after his talk. Photos by Sally Renaud
Above, chilled Journalism 2950 students Stacey Catterson, Cathryn Moran and
Avery Drake, work on their portrait as well as blur, pan and freeze
photographs across the street from the Tarble Art Center Wednesday,
Jan. 25, 2012. Below, Professor Brian Poulter teaches elements of the camera
and basic photography skills in the atrium of Buzzard Hall during his
Introduction to Visual Communication. This class is part of the core
curriculum in the department. Photos by Megan Johnson
Dann Gire named 'Alumnus of the Year'
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| Dann Gire pictured on the cover of the Daily Herald's entertainment section. Photo courtesy The Daily Herald |
Dann Gire, long-time film critic for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Ill., will be
honoredFriday, Oct. 21, as the 2011 Journalism Department Alumnus of the Year.
“Dann has established himself as one of the premier journalists in the Midwest and has been a great supporter of our program over the years,” stated department chair James Tidwell. “Any time we call on him to speak at an event on campus or in other parts of the state, Dann always says ‘yes.’ He’s a heck of a speaker and a great film critic.”
Gire is a featured speaker each year at the Embarras Valley Film Festival sponsored by EIU.
Gire will be honored at a noon luncheon Oct. 21. Tidwell said Gire also will be a guest speaker in several journalism classes the day before. See the full story here.
Journalism graduate focuses online
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| David Putney gives the keynote address at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association Conference at EIU Sept. 22. |
The Journalism Department’s latest visiting professional spoke to several classes and met with staffs of the Warbler and The Daily Eastern News during his time on campus Sept. 20-22.
The visit by David Putney, senior web producer for PilotOnline, the website for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., was funded through the Fox-Thornburgh Visiting Professionals Program established in 2007 by 1971 EIU graduate Richard Fox, a retired hospital public relations and marketing director, to honor Dr. Daniel Thornburgh, the founding chairman of the department who died in 2011. Putney is the 12th journalist/public relations practitioner to visit campus since the program started in 2007.
CMA honors department chair,
DEN adviser at annual convention
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Two Eastern Illinois University journalism professors will be honored at the 90thAnnual National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., Oct. 26-30. James Tidwell, chair of the department, will be inducted into the College Media Advisers Hall of Fame, and Lola Burnham, editorial adviser to The Daily Eastern News, will receive a four-year college newspaper Honor Roll Adviser Award from the organization. The Honor Roll award is presented to a CMA member who has fewer than fives years’ experience in college media advising and has provided distinguished service to his or her students and profession. Burnham, an assistant professor of journalism, has been the editorial adviser to The Daily Eastern News since fall 2008. One nomination letter stated that Burnham deserved the award “because of her work with CMA, her strong advising and her commitment to college media development in the state.” The letter also noted, “As an adviser, Lola practices her duties using the CMA Code of Ethics. She critiques the paper after it comes out, and she works with the staff to provide training, leadership and mentorship.” |
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About the Department
Established in 1975, the Eastern Illinois University Department of Journalism offers a bachelor of arts degree, that effectively integrates professional training with a liberal arts education to provide flexibility, breadth and depth of educational experience. Eastern's Journalism Department has been nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) since 1982. Only 112 journalism programs in the nation are accredited.
Nothing beats practical experience, and Eastern's Student Publications and Radio-TV center get students started early with experience that sets them on the path toward careers in journalism and public relations.
- Careers in Journalism
- Newspapers and Magazines
- Radio and Television
- Public Relations
- Photojournalism
- Advertising
- New and Emerging Media Technologies
News and Events
Terri Lynn Johnson
PR professor
Johnson retires
The Department of Journalism would like to recognize Terri Lynn Johnson for outstanding teaching and mentoring of students at EIU for the past 10 years. Associate Professor Johnson retires this spring after a 32-year teaching career, which began at Butler University in Indiana. Here at EIU, she served as adviser to the Agency, an adviser to PRSSA, and RSO adviser to UMADD, as well as coordinating the department's public relations concentration. We shall miss her and wish her well on her new adventures. For more, see this issue of the Journalist.
Bryan Murley
Faculty news - April 2013
Murley elected
vice president
of CMA
Associate Professor Bryan Murley was recently elected vice president of the College Media Association, whose members advise college media throughout the United States.
The CMA site, http://www.cma.cloverpad.org/, hosts the weblog "Innovation in College Media," where Murley blogs daily.
Keep up-to-date
Issues of The Journalist, The Relay, The Wavelength and -30- feature stories on our Alumnus of the Year, Chuck Burke, as well as department instructor Doug Lawhead and Dr. Janice Collins.
Image courtesy of Doug Lawhead's personal Eastern website
R. Douglas Lawhead, a LAN support specialist II at EIU and an instru of photojournalism courses for the department, died Aug. 23 after a collapse at the Martin Luther King Jr. Student ctorUnion.
A memorial service was held Thursday, Sept. 6, in the MLK Jr. Union University Ballroom.
For full stories read:
Yes, we're now
on Facebook
Join us. Thanks to Professor Joe Gisondi for handling the Facebook technicals.
Department
reaccredited
through 2018
The Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication voted 22-0 April 27 to reaccredit the EIU Journalism Department through 2018.
The council approved the recommendation of a four-person on-site evaluation team that visited campus Oct. 9-12, 2011. The evaluation team inspected facilities and equipment, visited classes, met with faculty members, students, administrators and representatives from other university departments.
In preparation for the visit, journalism faculty members prepared a comprehensive self-study sent to each member of the evaluation team, according to James Tidwell, chair of the department.
The self-study and the evaluation team’s work centers around nine standards: mission, governance and administration; curriculum and instruction; diversity and inclusiveness; full-time and part-time faculty; scholarship: research, creative and professional activity; student services; resources, facilities and equipment; professional and public service; and assessment of learning outcomes. ACEJMC found the department in compliance with all nine standards.
Tidwell said the process takes place every six years. The EIU program was first accredited in 1982 and reaccredited in 1988, 1994, 2000 and 2006. ACEJMC currently accredits 111 programs in journalism and mass communications. The site team’s report praised the faculty members for significantly increasing their level of research/creative activity since the last accrediting visit in 2005, according to Tidwell.
He said the report noted several other strengths of the program:
• “Students, faculty and others on campus all praise the warm and close relationships between faculty and students and the way that relationship enhances learning.”
• Assessment practices are firmly established, and the faculty uses the assessment results to change and improve classes and the overall program.”
• “The unit does an admirable amount of service work, including its support of scholastic journalism throughout the state of Illinois and the nation.”
• “Students have many opportunities for working on award-winning campus media.”
• “Facilities are better than those at many larger schools. The campus continues to invest technology resources in the unit.”
ACEJMC is made up of academics from a number of educational organizations, along with members representing such groups as the American Society of News Editors, the Newspaper Association of America, the Radio-Television Digital News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Public Relations Society of American and the American Advertising Federation.
Ann Brill, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas, was chair of the EIU site team. Other members were Phillip Jeter, chair of the Department of Mass Communications at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, Charlyne Berens, associate dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Merrill Rose, an independent communications consultant in New York City.
Annette J. Samuels
Annette J. Samuels, the first African American woman to serve as a spokesperson in President Jimmy Carter's Administration, died on Monday, September 26, 2011, in Camas, Wash.,at age 76.
She was the spokesperson for former District of Columbia mayor, Marion Barry; the first fashion editor for Essence Magazine; associate journalism professor at Eastern Illinois University.
Annette is survived by children Linda, Michael, Melvin Samuels of New York City and Douglas Samuels of Camas, Washington, ten grand-children, five great-grand children and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the Annette J Samuels Journalism Scholarship c/o the Journalism Department at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston IL 61920. Services were held Oct. 6 at Unity Funeral Chapel, New York, N.Y.
Courtesy The Washington Post on October 4, 2011
Dr. Dan Thornburgh
Dr. Daniel Thornburgh, founder of the EIU Journalism Department and its first chair, died Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the age of 80. For more information on Dr. Thornburgh, jump to our "Remembering DT" page.
