Dorothy Bland Named 2024 Lionel C. Barrow Award Recipient

By Mia Moody, Ph.D.

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) announced Thursday that Dorothy Bland, Ph.D., has been named the 2024 Lionel C. Barrow Award recipient.

Bland, a professor at the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism, has devoted more than 15 years to helping students in higher education. Bland joined the UNT faculty in 2013 and brings over 25 years of media experience to the school, including being a reporter, editor, media/marketing consultant, and publisher.

“Dr. Bland’s commitment to promoting inclusion, diversity, equity, and access is evident in her teaching, research, and service,” said Maria De Montoya, Head of the AEJMC Minorities and Communication Division. “Her unique and significant contributions to AEJMC are evident in her various roles, including her recent election to the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.”

The Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education is given annually by the Minorities and Communication (MAC) Division and the Commission on the Status of Minorities (CSM).

“Dr. Bland embodies the qualities Dr. Lionel C. Barrow had in mind when he established the award in the 1970s,” said Commission on the Status of Minorities Head Kathleen McElroy. “Colleagues frequently seek her advice on how to structure their course syllabi. She incorporates creative content into her teaching, inviting multiple speakers, discussing current events, and covering crises and trauma.”

“Inclusion, diversity, equity, and access are woven into my teaching, research, and service. It is an honor to win this award,” Bland said. “I will never forget the day when Dr. Barrow walked into my office at USA Today and encouraged me to do more. As a result, I got involved in the National Association of Black Journalist’s urban journalism workshop at Howard University.”

“Her sustained body of work, dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion standards, is a testament to her outstanding scholarship, stellar teaching, and AEJMC leadership in journalism education,” said Bramlett Solomon, who nominated her along with several other AEJMC colleagues. “Her 25 years of professional practice further underscore her qualifications for this prestigious award.”

Bland has collaborated on dozens of research articles and the book Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategies: Learning from Journalism and Mass Communication Programs with Professional Impact, Strategies – co-authored with Dr. Mas Biswas, which has been selected for the NABJ Authors Showcase for 2024.

“As a researcher, Dr. Bland has a high expectation for data integrity, quality of writing, and depth of research,” Biswas said. “Dr. Bland’s research goes beyond the issues of race, ethnicity, and media. She writes and does research on cutting-edge practices and technologies, such as AI in journalism and AI in journalism and communication education. Dr. Bland has been a prolific researcher with multiple peer-reviewed publications and conference papers each year.”

In a recommendation letter for Bland, George Daniels said that outside of her research, Dr. Bland emulates Dr. Barrow’s approach to his teaching in developing courses that showcase the contributions of African Americans to the media.

“Dr. Bland has taken a global approach to much of her teaching. As part of her service, she has been among the founding members of the National Association of Black Journalists Academic Task Force in its second year. In her work, she reflects the legacy of Dr. Lionel C. Barrow in a big way,” Daniels said.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a nonprofit educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students, and media professionals. The Association’s mission is to promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, cultivate the broadest possible range of communication research, encourage the implementation of a multicultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and defend and maintain freedom of communication to achieve better professional practice and a better-informed public.