Freedom Forum names three Journalism Teachers of the Year

Professors from Montana, New York and South Carolina win award

07.17.00

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ARLINGTON, Va. ― The Freedom Forum today announced its Journalism Teacher of the Year awards, honoring three professors for outstanding teaching and leadership in the core areas of print and broadcast journalism instruction (reporting, editing, journalism history, media law and ethics). Each honoree will receive a medal and $10,000 at an awards luncheon on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at the convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC) in Phoenix.

"We are proud to honor these three gifted teachers, who are using their talents to develop our next generation of journalists," said Charles L. Overby, chairman and chief executive officer of The Freedom Forum.

All three winners are former or current journalists and veteran teachers. They are:

Carol Van Valkenburg, professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Montana in Missoula. A former reporter and editor at The Missoulian, she helped establish the Native News Honors Project at the university to encourage young journalists to broaden coverage of Native Americans, Montana's largest minority population. She teaches honors classes in journalism and coordinates student entries to the Hearst Foundation competition, which have brought numerous awards to her students and the university. Van Valkenburg also serves as faculty advisor to the 101-year-old student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin, published four days a week, and works as a copy editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer during summers. She is the author of a 1995 book "An Alien Place: The Fort Missoula Detention Camp, 1941-1945."

George Thottam, professor in the Department of Mass Communication at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. A native of India, Thottam helped create Iona's largest undergraduate program, as well as several journalism graduate programs. He is chairman of his department and founder of the college's Mass Communication Honor Society. He developed the Journalism Institute for Minority High School Students to attract minority students to careers in journalism. Thottam was a correspondent for The Deepika, a major daily newspaper in Bombay, before coming to the United States.

Henry T. Price, Mundy Professor of Journalism at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. A former reporter and editor for The State in Columbia, Price has won numerous awards for his teaching, including three university Excellence in Teaching awards. He has served in numerous leadership positions, including associate dean for undergraduate studies and chair of the faculty senate. In addition to his academic duties, Price regularly teaches copy-editing to journalists, government agency staff, and business groups.

"Journalism is fortunate to have such devoted and energetic teachers who set high standards for their students," said Félix Gutiérrez, senior vice president and executive director of The Freedom Forum Pacific Coast Center in San Francisco.

The awards recognize excellence in teaching and leadership in the core areas of print and broadcast journalism: reporting, editing, journalism history, media law and ethics. The awardees are selected by a committee of former editors and educators from nominations submitted to The Freedom Forum by journalism school administrators, alumni and students across the country. This is the fourth year the awards have been presented.

For more information about The Freedom Forum, contact: Donna Fowler, 703/284-2887 or dfowler@freedomforum.org

For more information about the Journalism Teacher of the Year awards, contact: Félix Gutiérrez, 415/547-4104 or felixg@pcc.freedomforum.org.