Category: TCF Faculty

Chair of JCM Department Named: Cory Armstrong

Cory Armstrong, professor and director of the Mayborn School of Journalism, at the University of North Texas, has accepted the position of chair of UA’s newly merged Department of Journalism and Creative Media.

She will begin her appointment July 15, 2016.

According to her UNT faculty information page:

“Armstrong is the editor of the book Media Disparity: A Gender Battleground, and her research has focused on race, gender, class and media. Armstrong participated in the Scripps Howard Academic Leadership Academy and is active in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, where she serves on the Standing Committee on Research.

She is associate editor for Mass Communication & Society, is on the Newspaper Research Journal editorial board and is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

She earned her Ph.D. in mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.”

http://journalism.unt.edu/people/cory-armstrong-phd

Job Opening: Chair of Merged TCF and Journalism Departments

Position Summary:

Oversee the administration of a merged Telecommunication/Film and Journalism department. Teach undergraduate and graduate students and conduct a scholarly research program. Expected starting date: 16 August 2016.

Details

The College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama seeks a chair to oversee the administration of a merged Journalism and Telecommunication/Film department. The new chair will have the opportunity to help shape this newly created unit, which includes 32 full-time faculty members teaching some 900 undergraduate and graduate students in a media and mass communication curriculum. The department has a faculty of eminent teachers, scholars and artists with national and international reputations.

The department, one of four academic units in the College, includes degree programs in the journalism and telecommunication/film areas. Courses are offered in broadcast, print and digital news, sports media, television and cinema, documentary film, media production and media management. Media criticism, history, law and ethics also are integral parts of the curriculum.

The department offers a Master of Arts in telecommunication and film and a Master of Arts in journalism. Both provide scholarly and professional training to full- and part-time students. Departmental faculty holding the Ph.D. also have the opportunity to teach in the College of Communication and Information Sciences doctoral program, with specialty areas in mass communication; library and information sciences; and critical, cultural and rhetorical studies.

The Department works closely with other units in the College, including media facilities in the College’s new 50,000 square foot Digital Media Center, home to the Center for Public Television, Alabama Public Radio, and WVUA 23, a full-power commercial television station serving a top-50 television market.

Requirements

A Ph.D. in communication or a closely related field is required. Candidates should be at the professor or senior associate professor rank, and should have the academic credentials and professional reputation that warrant a senior-level appointment at a major research institution. Candidates should have a distinguished record of research, college-level administrative experience, evidence of teaching excellence, and professional experience. The search is open with respect to subfield specialization. The successful candidate would be appointed to the permanent faculty and would serve as chair for an initial term of three years.

The chair directs the teaching, research, creative activity and service efforts for a department with scholars in media effects, media arts, critical-cultural studies, identity studies, history, law and ethics, media sociology, media management and audience analysis. For fall 2016, we seek a leader who understands and shares our department’s mission to develop critically thoughtful media practitioners and citizens who can communicate credibly and creatively in an ever-changing media environment. The successful candidate will be a scholar who values innovation, creativity, rigorous inquiry, collegiality, and diversity, and who will contribute to the department’s research/creative activity profile beyond her or his term as chair. The successful candidate will have a strong commitment to collaborative decision-making and faculty governance.

Salary

Salary will be competitive and commensurate with credentials and experience.

The University of Alabama

The University of Alabama is the state’s flagship public university and offers the full course of academic programs and social life to its approximately 37,000 students. It is located in Tuscaloosa, which has a metropolitan population of more than 115,000 and offers excellent quality of life with many cultural and outdoor activities, as well as a very reasonable cost of living. Tuscaloosa is a morning’s drive from the Smoky Mountains, Gulf Coast beaches, New Orleans, Nashville, and Atlanta.

Candidates must apply online at https://facultyjobs.ua.edu and must attach a cover letter and CV that includes a list of three references with phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Please refer to the online instructions for applicants. Candidates selected for interview will be required to submit a disclosure and consent form authorizing a background investigation. Review of applications will begin in November 2015 and will continue until the position is filled. Questions may be directed to the co-chairs of the search committee: Dr. William Evans at wevans@ua.edu or Dr. Wilson Lowrey at wlowrey@ua.edu.

The University of Alabama is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

UA EEO Statement

The University of Alabama is an Equal Employment/Equal Educational Opportunity Institution. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status, and will not be discriminated against because of their protected status. Applicants to and employees of this institution are protected under Federal law from discrimination on several bases. Follow the link below to find out more.

“EEO is the Law” http://www1.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/eeoc_self_print_poster.pdf

Application Process

Applications must be submitted online:

https://facultyjobs.ua.edu/postings/37843

New Publications by Kim

TCF faculty member Yonghwan Kim is author or co-author of three new publications in peer-reviewed journals:

Kim, Y. (2015). Does disagreement mitigate polarization? How selective exposure and disagreement affect political polarization. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Advance OnlineFirst Publication. doi:10.1177/1077699015596328

http://jmq.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/07/28/1077699015596328.abstract

Lee, N. Y., Kim, Y., & Kim, J. (2015). Tweeting public affairs or personal affairs? Journalists’ tweets, interactivity, and ideology. Journalism: Theory, Practice, and Criticism. Advance OnlineFirst Publication. doi:10.1177/1464884915585954

http://jou.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/06/08/1464884915585954.abstract

Kim, Y. & Chen, H. (2015). Discussion network heterogeneity matters: Examining a moderated mediation model of social media use and civic engagement. International Journal of Communication, 9, 2344-2365.

http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3254

Andy Billings’ research on media and global sports events

Another week, another batch of publications co-authored by TCF faculty member Andrew Billings, continuing Dr. Billing’s research program related to media and global sports events. Both articles had been published online in advance of print, but are now issued in print.

Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., & Devlin, N. B. (2015). Sports draped in the American flag: Impact of the 2014 Winter Olympic telecast on nationalized attitudes. Mass Communication & Society, 18(4), 377-398.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15205436.2014.995767#abstract

Billings, A. C., Burch, L. M, & Zimmerman, M. H. (2015). Fragments of us, fragments of them: Social media, nationality, and U.S. perceptions of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Soccer & Society, 16(5-6), 726-744.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14660970.2014.963307#abstract

Kristen Warner’s book, on the politics of TV casting, is released

TCF faculty member Kristen Warner is the author of The Cultural Politics of Colorblind TV Casting, now available from Routledge. As the Routledge promotional material notes: “This book fills a significant gap in the critical conversation on race in media by extending interrogations of racial colorblindness in American television to the industrial practices that shape what we see on screen.”

Warner, K. J. (2015). The cultural politics of colorblind TV casting. New York: Routledge.

http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9781138018303