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| The Missouri Honor Medal |
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| Recent Missouri Medalists |
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The wall-mounted exhibit in the student lounge in Neff Hall highlights winners of the Missouri Honor Medal. The touch-screen monitor is searchable by individual, year or organization.
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"Never lose the scent of the newsroom."
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Profile in Leadership: Karen Brown Dunlap
2006 Missouri Honor Medal Recipient |
By Janelle Walker
Karen Brown Dunlap shares her acceptance remarks after receiving her 2006 Missouri Honor Medal.
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Front: Karen Brown Dunlap, president of The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Bill Kovach, founding director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists; Zubeida Jaffer, an acclaimed South African journalist; and Dean Mills, dean of the School. Back: Elson Floyd, president of the University of Missouri; Clifford Christians, an award-winning media ethics scholar; John Seigenthaler, founder of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center; Reza, photojournalist; Tom Rosenstiel, vice chairman of CCJ; Chuck Curtis, chairman of Valentine Radford/Square One Advertising, Kansas City; and Brady Deaton, chancellor of MU Columbia campus.
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"Never lose the scent of the newsroom" is an adage that Karen Brown Dunlap lives by and shares with journalism educators. As president of The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., Dunlap oversees a multi-faceted training program for newsroom leaders and news organization owners.
She said that those who educate journalists at any level must stay connected with the news-gathering process and be what she calls a "practical scholar."
"If we're going to try to steadily improve the craft of journalism, we've got to stay on top of what is changing in the newsrooms," said Dunlap. "It's my job at Poynter to meet the needs of the industry as it changes."
When Dunlap earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University, she intended on working as a journalist for life. Specifically she planned to get married, live on a farm, have seven children and work as a foreign correspondent. A reporting job at the Macon (Ga.) News started Dunlap on her career path.
But it was when Dunlap decided to move back to her hometown of Nashville, Tenn., that her career focus shifted. The local newspaper wasn't hiring. Dunlap was offered a teaching job at Tennessee State University, on the condition that she would pursue her master's degree at the same time.
"For a long time after that I was still considering my job to be as an active journalist," said Dunlap. "It took me awhile to realize that I was actually an educator now."
Dunlap continued her education and earned her master's at Tennessee State University and doctorate in mass communication from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Dunlap's nine-month teaching contract allowed her to sharpen her working-journalist skills during the summers. Her jobs included serving as an associate editor for a minority youth program at the Nashville Banner and as a staff writer at the St. Petersburg Times.
While teaching at Tennessee State University, she learned about The Poynter Institute and its programs for university educators. She participated in one of the week-long programs just before moving to the University of South Florida. Later she was hired as Poynter's director of the High School Writers Camp.
"Then things just continued to progress for me at Poynter," said Dunlap. "And I'm so glad they did."
Dunlap served as a member of Poynter's writing faculty for four years before being named interim dean and ultimately, the dean. She worked to expand the program offerings and hired top-notch practicing journalists as Poynter faculty.
In 2003 Dunlap was appointed as Poynter's fourth president and managing director of the school for journalists. One of her first actions was to seek outside funding that would be used to help keep costs down for journalists who want to participate in its programs. She also instituted community forums that allow St. Petersburg residents to exchange ideas with visiting journalists.
Dunlap continues to make frequent visits to working newsrooms to keep the scent of the newsroom fresh, and she encourages her faculty to do the same.
Dunlap is optimistic about journalism's future even though she has seen significant changes in her 35 years in the business. The most momentous change is how the journalism business has moved from a place of dominance and great security to one of uncertainty.
"Newspapers will get smaller in size and be produced by smaller staffs," said Dunlap. "But they won't disappear. There will always be someone who wants to read the newspaper, and journalism in many forms will maintain its importance."
Dunlap is the co-author of two books, The Effective Editor and The Editorial Eye, and she edited Poynter's Best Newspaper Writing series. She is the winner of the 2005 Gerald M. Sass Distinguished Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Eckerd College in St. Petersburg awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2006.
Dunlap reflects that she couldn't be happier with the way things worked out. Her position at Poynter allows her to work with journalists from all over the world. And she and her husband find plenty of time to enjoy their eight grandchildren.
Related
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Sept. 27, 2006: Eight Journalism Leaders to Receive Preeminent Journalism Award Eight outstanding journalists and a leading journalism organization will receive one of the industry's highest awards: the prestigious Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism. The School has awarded the medal annually since 1930. Tom Brokaw, Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Sir Winston Churchill, Carol Loomis of Fortune magazine and Gordon Parks are among the distinguished journalists, advertising and public relations practitioners, business people, institutions and media organizations who have been recipients of this influential award. [More]
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Janelle Walker came from Fowler, Ill., to study broadcast journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. She interned in summer 2006 with the Minocqua-Arbor Vitae-Woodruff Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau in Minocqua, Wisconsin. Janelle plans to graduate in December 2006 and pursue a career in tourism marketing.
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