I participated in Butler University's Study-Abroad Fair yesterday to promote my College of Communication study-abroad course, "Media and Culture in the United Kingdom," in May 2025. The group will primarily be based at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, with visits to Edinburgh and London. Highlights include a visit to the BBC, a lecture and site visit related to Doctor Who, a Harry Potter tour, and an Outlander tour.
In my Gender and News class, we are today talking about the history of women in journalism. I found an amazing lecture by Dr. Tracy Lucht: https://www.c-span.org/video/?416372-2/women-journalists-turn-20th-century
Students are participating in a class activity to discuss concepts from Dr. Lucht's lecture:
What were newspapers like in the United States by the 1800s?
American Newspapers, 1800-1860
History of Newspapers in America
A History Timeline About Newspaper Industry
History of American newspapers
What was the penny press?
Penny Press: Cutting the price of newspapers to a penny was a startling innovation
How the penny press brought great journalism to populist America
Understanding private and public spheres
The Cult of Domesticity: Definition and History
Sarah Josepha Hale: American author
Margaret Fuller: American author and educator
The lost legacy of the girl stunt reporter
The pioneering narrative work of "girl stunt reporters"
Nellie Bly's "Ten Days in a Mad-House" and the Rise of Girl Stunt Reporting
The "Sob Sisters" who dared to cover the trial of the century
The Women's Pages: A hard look at "soft news"
On this first day of classes, I am celebrating the beginning of my 20th year at Butler University. I have so much to be thankful for: teaching interesting classes, writing a book, and leading the development of a new graduate program.
The AEJMC conference remains an annual highlight in my calendar. This year, I attended sessions, networked with new and old colleagues, and participated in a meeting with the Journalism and Mass Communication Educator editorial board in Philadelphia.
I just returned from the IAMCR conference in Christchurch, New Zealand. This year's conference theme was "Weaving People Together: Communicative Projects of Decolonizing, Engaging, and Listening." I presented my research on the global history of women as journalists and attended several thought-provoking panels. Next year's conference will take place in Singapore.
I am happy to announce that I will start a 3-year term as the College of Communication's Director of Graduate Studies on June 1. In addition to the current online master's degree in Strategic Communication, we may launch additional programs soon. I am thankful for this opportunity to grow and contribute to our college.
Super excited to see that my abstract, titled "Toward a Global History of Women in Journalism," was accepted for presentation at this year's International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) conference in Christchurch, New Zealand. This conference will take place from June 30 to July 4. See here for more information. I always find this conference invigorating and look forward to seeing colleagues there.
At the end of the semester, I ask students in my class, titled "Resistance and Rights: Global Women," to reflect on their experiences. We cover a wide variety of challenging topics in this class, and it is very satisfying to see how students evaluate their own learning.
One student wrote, for example, "This course has been unlike any other that I have taken before and it has been one of the most eye-opening of my academic career thus far." Another wrote: "This semester has been a transformative journey for me in gaining a deeper understanding of women's struggles, achievements, and the complexities of gender-based issues through the lens of women's rights as human rights."
In addition to Shawn Meghan Burn's textbook, "Women Across Cultures: A Global Perspective," we studied Joni Seager's Atlas and Sisonke Msimang's autobiography, "Always Another Country." I am looking forward to teaching two sections of Global Women in Spring 2024.
And just like that, it is almost the end of this semester. After almost 20 years of college teaching, I can say it does not get easier. It gets super busy and we struggle to stay on top of work. But I always get to the end of the semester somehow!
