FIU journalism dean receives outstanding educator award

MIAMI – FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) Dean Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver has been named the 2009 recipient of the Outstanding Woman in Journalism and Mass Communication Education Award. She received the award at the business meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Aug. 7 in Boston.

Given by the Commission on the Status of Women in AEJMC, the award recognizes a woman who has represented fellow women in the academy through personal excellence and high standards in journalism education.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by my peers who are journalism and mass communications educators from across the country,” Kopenhaver said.

Kopenhaver served as SJMC interim dean from 2003-2004 and became dean of the college in 2004. She is known nationally as an expert in ethics and law as they relate to the scholastic and collegiate press.  

She has held a variety of leadership positions with AEJMC, including her tenure as president from 1998-1999. For a decade, Kopenhaver was chair of the national Professional Development Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists. She served in a number of key roles with College Media Advisers, including a stint as president from 1975-1979 and as vice president from 1970-1975.

As past president of the national Community College Journalism Association, she was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1994.

Kopenhaver wrote the critically-acclaimed book, College Media Advising: Ethics and Responsibilities, with J.W. Click. She has also published nearly 100 journal articles, approximately 40 percent of which are in referred journals; presented nearly 100 invited and refereed papers and addresses; edited five books; and written two monographs.

 Media contact: Jean Paul Renaud, 305-348-2716

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About FIU SJMC:
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Florida International University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificate programs in advertising, journalism, public relations and television.  With approximately 2,000 students, 81 percent minority, it is home to the nation’s first journalism master’s program taught entirely in Spanish, an internationally recognized advertising program in partnership with the Miami Ad School, and one of the top-ranked public relations programs in the nation. Editor and Publisher magazine says the SJMC “now takes the lead in training Hispanic journalists.”  The school has become the go-to place for hosting top industry events, and alumni and faculty have won a number of prestigious awards, including a total of eight Pulitzer Prizes and several Silver Anvils, regional Emmys, Clarions, Clios, Addys, Tellys and Silver Microphones. Visit the SJMC at http://jmc.fiu.edu.

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University” and now qualifies as a “Very High Research University”.  In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will welcome its first class in August 2009. FIU’s College of Law received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.