Top journalism educators: Put focus on future

By Christy Mumford Jerding
freedomforum.org

08.06.01

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Jean Folkerts

WASHINGTON — "What carries journalism into the future is young faces … who want to go out and chase ambulances the way we did," Jean Folkerts of George Washington University told an audience of journalism educators yesterday.

Folkerts, Frederick R. Blevens of Southwest Texas State University and Jack Langguth of the University of Southern California were honored yesterday by The Freedom Forum as Journalism Teachers of the Year. Each of the instructors received $10,000 and a medal for teaching excellence.

The awards presentation was held in conjunction with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention at the Grand Hyatt.

The three educators thanked their families, colleagues, mentors and students for helping them excel at their work.

Jack Langguth

One of her greatest teachers was her father, Folkerts said, "who always had a shelf of books in his study and a great cozy chair in the corner … where I could curl up and read a book whenever I wanted."

Growing up in rural Nebraska and Kansas, good books were difficult to come by, but "there were teachers who paid a lot of attention to me as an individual. Those teachers brought me books from town," she said.

In college, Folkerts encountered a professor who sent her, along with the man who would later become her husband, to Vietnam as the first female student correspondent there.

Blevens of Southwest Texas State in San Marcos said that receiving the award had "made me think deeply about how I became a teacher and why I became a teacher. … It's all about the students."

Frederick R. Blevens

He said the award "really belongs to a lot of people," including a junior high school teacher "who gave me my first taste of H.L. Mencken," and a college professor who "reminded me constantly to reach out and touch at least one student a day."

Blevens also thanked his students for writing in support of his nomination, words that "made me blush, … made me laugh and … actually made me cry at points. They showed why it's worth it to do so much for so little."

Langguth, who said that he plans to use the award money to film interviews with the people of Vietnam, added that today's students seem to have more difficulty with history and spelling than students in years past.

But he also said "the best advice to give to new faculty is never underestimate the students — 40 years from now they'll be 60 and you and I will be dead."

Previous

Freedom Forum names 3 Journalism Teachers of the Year
News release Professors from California, Texas and Washington, D.C., win awards.  07.13.01

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