SoJ Web Report | Oct. 27, 2008
Assistant professor Lesa Hatley Major is the 2007-2008 winner of the Gretchen A. Kemp Teaching Fellow award.Hatley Major joined the faculty in fall 2006 and has taught a wide range of courses, from J200 Reporting, Writing and Editing 1 to J660 Public Opinion. She regularly teaches in the broadcast curriculum, has developed an undergraduate and graduate course called "Sex in the Media," and this fall has taken on the role of mentor for the 2008 class of Ernie Pyle Scholars.
The outside reviewers were unanimous and enthusiastic in their naming her for the award. Said one: "Lesa Hatley Major demonstrates a genuine desire to know her students as individuals as well as learners and it is clear that the value she places on this is understood and appreciated by her students.
One of her students wrote, “As the last months of my college career come to an end, it will be Major who I will go to for questions and concerns for my future. She is dedicated to her students and their learning. The importance she places on keeping current with what students are reading, listening to, and watching is in part evidence of her commitment."
The Kemp fellowship is named in honor of Gretchen A. Kemp, a longtime faculty member in journalism and the director of the High School Journalism Institute. Kemp established the fellowship shortly before her death in 1987 to recognize and promote outstanding teaching in the school. A recipient is named each year based on nominations by colleagues, students and alumni and a selection process that includes judges from outside journalism who are recognized teachers in their own right.
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