Alexander named Freedom Forum
Teacher of the Year
 |
Laurence Alexander |
ARLINGTON, Va. (July 23, 2002) — The Freedom Forum today announced its Journalism Teachers of the Year awards, honoring three professors for outstanding teaching and leadership in journalism instruction. Each honoree will receive a medal and $10,000 at an awards luncheon on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at the convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Miami.
"We are recognizing these professors because they do an outstanding job of teaching journalism basics," said Charles L. Overby, chairman and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. "That is harder than it seems, when it is done right."
All three winners are current teachers and veteran journalists. They are:
- Laurence B.
Alexander, associate professor of journalism at the University
of Florida. Alexander’s journalism career began when he worked
his way up to editor in chief of his college newspaper. He was a staff
writer for The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune and later became a copy
editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer. After receiving a master’s
degree in journalism and mass communication at the University of Florida
and a juris doctor at Tulane University, Alexander taught journalism
at the University of New Orleans and Temple University before joining
the faculty of the University of Florida. Alexander has received awards
for outstanding teaching, research and service.
- Charlyne Berens, associate professor at the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Before beginning her teaching career, Berens spent 14 years as a co-publisher and editor of the Seward County Independent, a weekly newspaper in a town near Lincoln, Neb. During that tenure she became a leader in the Nebraska Press Association and in 1989 became the second woman in Nebraska history to be elected president of the association. An advocate of newsroom diversity, Berens has greatly contributed to the college’s commitment to increasing diversity through her active involvement in the multicultural exchange program and by recruiting journalists of color as guest speakers for her classes.
- Conrad C. Fink, journalism professor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. With a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin behind him, Fink has 30 years of journalism experience. He began his career at the Bloomington (Ill.) Daily Pantograph as a reporter and photographer. During his 20-year career at the Associated Press, he went from being a reporter in Chicago to an international correspondent in Japan, India and England, and later was a vice president of newspaper membership in New York. In 1983, Fink joined the faculty of the University of Georgia, where he created an annual week-long intensive management training program for college newspaper editors and advisers nationwide. This seminar exposes students to newspaper professionals and journalism opportunities and is highly praised by newspaper advisers.
The Journalism Teachers of the Year awards recognize excellence in teaching and leadership in the core areas of journalism instruction — reporting, editing, journalism history, media law and ethics. The awardees are selected from nominations submitted to the Freedom Forum by journalism-school administrators, alumni and students across the country. This is the sixth year the awards have been presented.
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