By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
Fort Hays State University’s Dr. Ginger Loggins, assistant professor of informatics, recently received a $4,250 Scripps Howard Foundation Visiting Professors in Social Media grant.
Only six Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) members were selected to receive the grant, which has been funded for nine years this year.
Loggins will work with Scripps Washington Bureau in Washington, D.C. In addition to teaching traditional introductory classes, she helps students produce weekly news and entertainment shows for Tiger Media Network. Her primary research interests include the history of local television news and how racial depictions on television can impact viewer prejudice.
Loggins is spending two weeks working in the news industry and learning first-hand how technology is shifting and changing the way news is delivered. After completing the two-week externship, each visiting professor shares the newfound knowledge and skills to his or her classroom, sharing with students what was learned.
“I am really supportive of these experiences, because they are a win-win for everyone,” said Angela Walters, interim chair of the Department of Informatics. “Dr. Loggins will share what she has learned with her students, and they are the key players in future of news reporting and delivery.”
The second phase of the program funds the travel of a news media outlet representative to the faculty’s campus for a three- to five-day visit.
Each grant provides $3,000 for the visiting professor’s travel, housing and other expenses for the two-week media outlet visit and $1,250 for expenses related to the outlet representative’s campus visit.
The Scripps Howard Foundation is the corporate philanthropy of the E.W. Scripps Company, a news and information company with 52 television stations in 36 markets.
“This will be an outstanding experience for Dr. Loggins,” said Walters. “Her expertise in journalism, storytelling forms and convergent media will serve her well as she takes part in important conversations regarding how technology is changing the news delivery model,” she said.
AEJMC is a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals, founded 106 years ago in Chicago by a group of 23 journalism educators and practioners. For more information about AEJMC, email Lillian Coleman, AEJMC project manager at aejmcnews@aol.com.