Employment positions in higher education

Assistant Professor of Journalism

Asbury University

Wilmore, Kentucky

2007-present

As I stepped into the van, a sign caught my eye: "Tips are appreciated for excellent service." It wouldn't have caught my eye, except for one thing. The word "excellent" had been scratched out.

I currently teach journalism courses and advise the Collegian student newspaper. Specific accomplishments include:

  • I led a group of eight students to the 2012 London Olympics, resulting in a Regional Student Emmy for a 60-second news package produced for NBC affiliate LEX 18 in Lexington, Kentucky.

  • Under my leadership, the Collegian student newspaper has begun to collect national awards. In May 2012, the Collegian competed against the nation’s most prestigious journalism programs, and won five national awards from the Society for News Design, including Best Overall Use of Photography.

  • Under my leadership, the Collegian was invited to host a workshop at the spring 2012 national College Media Association conference in New York City. Topic: redesigning college newspapers to reconnect with campus readership. The CMA conference, attended by thousands of student journalists, hosts panelists from top media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and ABC News.

  • I was chosen by the Asbury University Class of 2010 as an honorary class member.

  • I revamped journalism curriculum in 2012, reflecting convergent and multimedia journalism. The new major was renamed Journalism and Digital Storytelling.

  • I encouraged students to create nationally known blogs. One student’s blog on newspaper design received national attention from NewsDesigns.com and the American Copy Editors Society.  

  • I created a summer journalism travel course to France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. On the trip, I introduced students to several international journalists, including a war correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde, a freelancer for The Wall Street Journal, a photographer for the BBC, and a staff writer for an English-language newspaper in Florence, Italy.

  • I hosted several internationally renowned guest speakers at Asbury, including two Pulitzer-nominated photojournalists, a former panelist for the Pulitzer Prizes, a former producer for CNN, and the world-famous journalist Terry Anderson, who was kidnapped by Hezbollah in the 1980s while working for The Associated Press.

  • I enlarged the staff of the Collegian student newspaper, adding new multimedia and social media positions.

  • I received a rating of "excellent" (4/4) from an outside facilitator assigned by the Asbury assessment office during 2010 senior focus group meetings.

  • I incorporated a 32-page full-color magazine into Editing, Publishing, and Design class. The magazine, distributed to all students during finals week, won national award from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals.