Category: Faculty

News of or pertaining to faculty.

Ed Kelley named interim dean of Gaylord College

Ed Kelley, Interim DeanAward-winning newspaper editor and reporter Ed Kelley, who has been serving as Director of Experiential Learning for the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Oklahoma, has been named interim Dean, pending approval of the OU Board of Regents.

An OU journalism alumnus, Kelley will address – on an interim basis – the responsibilities of the position previously held by Joe Foote, who resigned his administrative post to rejoin the college’s faculty after a decade as the college’s leader. The permanent successor to Foote will be named after an appropriate selection process.

“The University is extremely fortunate that Ed Kelley is willing to return to his alma mater to serve as Dean of Journalism and Mass Communications,” said OU President David L. Boren. “An outstanding journalist, Kelley has for years demonstrated his care and concern for the College and its students. Like Joe Foote, he will be a student-oriented Dean.”
As Director of Experiential Learning, Kelley has been working with students, faculty and employers to increase internship opportunities for students. It was a summer internship with The Oklahoman that launched Kelley’s 36-year career with the paper. Over the years, he held a variety of positions, including state roving reporter, city editor and business editor. For four years in the mid-1980s, he served as the paper’s Washington bureau chief. He returned to Oklahoma City in 1990 to be managing editor. In 2002, he became editorial page editor. In 2003, Kelley succeeded Edward L. Gaylord as editor of The Oklahoman and served in that role until 2011.

“I’m honored to have been asked to serve in this position at my alma mater,” Kelley said. “It’s an exciting time in journalism, and the faculty and staff at Gaylord College are working hard to ensure students have the skills needed to succeed as professionals upon graduation,” he said.

Kelley returned to OU from Salt Lake City, where he was senior contributing editor at The Deseret News. He also has served as editor of The Washington Times.

A recipient of numerous journalism awards, Kelley was named national Editor of the Year in 1996 by the Washington-based National Press Foundation for directing The Oklahoman’s coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing. He served as a juror to the Pulitzer Prizes in 1998 and is a member of the National Press Club and the American Society of News Editors. Kelley was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003.

Kelley earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from OU, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.

Services set for Owen Kulemeka

Funeral Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 10, 2015, at St. Camillus Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland with burial to follow. A visitation will be held at the Francis J. Collins Funeral Home in Silver Spring on Thursday, July 9 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Gaylord College will hold a memorial service on the OU campus early in the fall semester.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Owen Kulemeka Memorial Scholarship fund in Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma.  Checks should be made payable to the University of Oklahoma Foundation, P.O. Box 258856, Oklahoma City, OK 73125-8856.

A special Facebook page, Remembering Owen, has been created to collect memories and photos of Owen. Please post your thoughts here: https://www.facebook.com/rememberingowen

Dr. Owen Kulemeka has died

Owen KulemekaUPDATE: Funeral Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 10, 2015, at St. Camillus Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland with burial to follow. A visitation will be held at the Francis J. Collins Funeral Home in Silver Spring on Thursday, July 9 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Gaylord College will hold a memorial service on the OU campus early in the fall semester.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Owen Kulemeka Memorial Scholarship fund in Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma.  Checks should be made payable to the University of Oklahoma Foundation, P.O. Box 258856, Oklahoma City, OK 73125-8856.

A special Facebook page, Remembering Owen, has been created to collect memories and photos of Owen. Please post your thoughts here: https://www.facebook.com/rememberingowen

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It is with deep sadness that we must share with you the news that we have lost one of our Gaylord family. Dr. Owen Kulemeka, public relations assistant professor, passed away unexpectedly over the weekend, believed to have been from complications from heat stroke.

Friends and colleagues began to worry about him when he had not been seen for several days and had not posted or commented on Facebook as was his custom. When multiple calls went unanswered, Professor Jaime Loke and Gaylord Director of Finance Heather Todd went to check on him at his apartment where he was found the morning of June 30.

Owen was originally from Malawi, Africa, but received his bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Maryland at College Park and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His father, mother and two sisters live in the Washington, D.C. area.

Owen was such a wonderful friend, colleague and mentor. His infectious smile and wonderful heart will be sorely missed in Gaylord. We know this news is difficult for everyone but want you to know that there are counselors available through Goddard Health Services at 405-325-2911. We will update here and on social media when plans are in place for services.

A special Facebook page, Remembering Owen, has been created to collect memories and photos of Owen. Please post your thoughts here: https://www.facebook.com/rememberingowen

OU Professor and U.S. State Department Exchange Program participants meet with President Obama

YSEALI OU Group
Professor Elanie Steyn (middle) with the five Burmese delegates at the White House event with YSEALI.

Elanie Steyn, associate professor in the Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma, and a delegation of five business leaders from Myanmar in the U.S. under a State Department grant administered by the University of Oklahoma, joined 70 other emerging leaders from Southeast Asia to meet today with President Barack Obama during the President’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative event at the White House.

YSEALI is the President’s signature initiative to strengthen leadership development across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), deepen engagement with young leaders on key regional and global challenges, and strengthen people-to-people ties between the United States and Southeast Asia, said the White House press release. ASEAN is comprised of Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

“One of the most powerful statements that President Obama made during the event was that the success of a country can be “measured by how it empowers its women and girls,”” said Steyn. “This is why the grant programs we do at Gaylord College are so important. The majority of our participants are women and through our programs we have seen them grow as leaders, which in turn promotes democracy in their countries.”

The White House event corresponded with the end of the delegation’s month-long visit to Oklahoma where they had professional placements with Oklahoma business leaders and entrepreneurs from technology and marketing companies, as well as the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

Steyn along with Gaylord College Dean Joe Foote and Jeff Moore, director of OU’s Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth, are co-investigators for an U.S. State Department exchange program between the University of Oklahoma and Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. She serves as the area head for journalism in the Gaylord College and is an experienced international trainer/educator with a specialization in media leadership and management with a particular emphasis on women’s leadership.

OU’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication has become a major contributor to the University of Oklahoma’s international emphasis. It has developed an impressive international focus, becoming one of the State Department’s International Press Centers; serving as one of the founding hosts for the Edward R. Murrow Fellows program; providing training and study programs on four continents; administering eight State Department grants in South Asia (Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

Judy Gibbs Robinson inducted into Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame

Judy Gibbs Robinson (center) with four of her editors (from left to right) Page Jones (summer 15 editor), Blayklee Buchanan (fall/spring 14-15 editor), Paighten Harkins (fall/spring 14-15 managing editor) and Dana Branham (fall/spring 14-15 online editor).
Judy Gibbs Robinson (center) with four of her editors (from left to right) Page Jones (summer 15 editor), Blayklee Buchanan (fall/spring 14-15 editor), Paighten Harkins (fall/spring 14-15 managing editor) and Dana Branham (fall/spring 14-15 online editor).

Judy Gibbs Robinson, assistant director of Student Media and editorial adviser for The Oklahoma Daily, was inducted into the 2015 Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame this past April.

In addition to serving as faculty adviser to The Daily, Robinson also teaches JMC 2033 – Writing for the Mass Media, the college’s large, gateway journalism class. Like Louise Beard Moore and Jack Willis before her, she is known as being tough as nails on the rules of AP Style, but is equally known to be a student-centered mentor.

“Judy is part of the reason I was able to be editor of The Daily,” said Blayklee Buchanan, 2014-2015 editor in chief of The Daily. “She helped me see that I could be a leader, that I could be a good journalist, and I know she will continue to do that for other students.”

Robinson graduated from the University of Missouri’s journalism school in 1977 and received her master of art in journalism from OU in 2001. She was a broadcast editor for the Associated Press for 10 years and a senior reporter for The Oklahoman for four years following completion of her graduate work.

Other 2015 honorees were Julie DelCour of the Tulsa World, James O. Goodwin and the late E.L. “Ed” Goodwin of the historic Oklahoma Eagle in Tulsa, Ron Hagler of CBS, the late John and Tinker Hruby of the Marlow Review and Comanche County Chronicle, Rose Lane of OKC Friday, Patrick B. McGuigan of The City Sentinel and CapitolBeatOK.com, Gary Reid of the Kingfisher Times & Free Press, Jenifer Reynolds of Discover Oklahoma and Robby Trammell of The Oklahoman.

 

Gaylord College ranked top in the nation by the Broadcast Education Awards

NORMAN, OK – Students and faculty in the Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma have won 19 awards in the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts, more than any university in the nation. The awards were presented in Las festivallogo-2ja09chVegas on April 13. The Festival of Media Arts is the largest awards competition in the video and broadcast education fields, more than 150 colleges and universities submitted 1,300 entries. Gaylord College won more than 15 percent of all awards given.

OU students also won both of the Best of Festival awards in the video category, denoting the top productions of all of the video entries. Two broadcast programs, “OU Nightly,” a daily newscast, and “Sooner Sports Pad,” a weekly sports program broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest, finished among the top three in the nation.

In the faculty category, Professor Scott Hodgson won the Best of Competition Award for his video, “It’s the Music,” and Professor Kyle Bergersen received two Awards of Excellence for his projects, “Red State Blues” and “Welcome to My World of Compromise.”

Inspiring, creative difference-makers in journalism and mass communication for more than 100 years, the Gaylord College is the college that connects creative minds to meaningful careers.

 

Student Video

Best of Festival, (Animation/Experimental), Katie Wingfield & Lindsay Webster, Why I Love Teenage Girls

Best of Festival, (Spots Category), Jason Gwynn, Unilever

1st Place, Instructional/Educational, Sara Groover & Nick Szabo, Sooner Flight Academy

1st Place, Promotional, Spencer Wehde, Garrett Fox, Brooke Adcock & Pablo Fernandez, Rowing

2nd Place, Promotional, Gaylord Hall Productions Team, More Than Just a Student

2nd Place, Music Video, Paige Powell, With You Now

3rd Place, Promotional, Janelle Barrick, Max Bevan, Lindsay Webster & Miguel McCallum, OU Men’s Golf

3rd Place, Spots, Gaylord Hall Broadcast Advertising Team, Mary Kay

Honorable Mention, Spots, Janelle Barrick & Tripp Lopez, No More Excuses

 

Sports

2nd place, TV Sports Talent , Taylor Newcomb, Taylor Newcomb Sports Talent

3rd Place (tie), TV Sports News Program, Heather Healy, Olivia McKennon & Taylor Newcomb, Sooner Sports Pad

Honorable Mention, TV Sports Story / Feature, Nick Jules, Racing for the Cure

Honorable Mention, TV Sports Talent, Mason Prince, Mason Prince Sports Talent

 

News

3rd Place, TV Newscast (4 or 5 days), Lauren King, Madeline Stebbins & Olivia McKennon, OU Nightly

Honorable Mention, Radio Hard News Reporting, Molly Evans, A New Kind of Classroom

 

Documentary

4th Place, Short Form, Hunter Brothers & Kristin Kohlmeyer, Thirty

 

Faculty

Best of Competition, Mixed Video, Scott Hodgson & Janelle Barrick, It’s the Music

Award of Excellence, Short Subject/TV Half Hour, Kyle W. Bergersen, Red State Blues

Award of Excellence, Narrative Video, Kyle W Bergersen, Welcome to My World of Compromise

Gaylord College no. 1 in the state for OBEA broadcast and video awards

2015 OBEA GroupStudents from the Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma received 27 awards, in the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association competition. The awards were given at a ceremony on March 26 during the annual Oklahoma Association Broadcasters convention.

Students received a dozen first place awards, five second place awards and 10 third place awards representing 28 percent of all awards given. The Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association Student Media Competition is the most active state competition in the country with 260 entries from 13 Oklahoma schools. This marks nearly 10 years where Gaylord College students have received the most awards of any college or university in the state.

Sooner Sports Pad, a sports magazine show broadcast live each week on FOX Sports Oklahoma, was named the best sports show in the state, and another student sports production, GamedayU Bedlam edition, received third place. Individual students competing in other sports categories also received first place for individual talent reel, and first and third place for individual sports stories.

Of the 18 television categories, Gaylord College students received first or second place in 10 categories and brought home all three awards given in the informational video category. Broadcast radio students also received all three awards given in the long-form journalism radio category, both the first and second place awards in the long narrative category, and third place in the short narrative category. Additionally, a Gaylord College student received first place for scriptwriting.

Professor Ken Fischer was also recognized for his year of leadership as president of the OBEA.

Below is a complete list of all of Gaylord College winners.

Radio

Long-Form Journalism, 1st, Sarah Hurd, Young Oklahomans Return To Their Farming Roots

Long-Form Journalism, 2nd, Molly Evans, Painting To Your Own Beat

Long-Form Journalism, 3rd, Hayley Thornton, Germany’s Fascination With Native American Culture

Narrative – Short, 3rd, Nikki Willis, The Cell Phone

Narrative – Long, 1st, Tripp Lopez, Mom It’s Annie

Narrative – Long, 2nd, Grant Johnson, Respect

 

Television

Commercial, 1st, Max Bevan, Norman Stamp & Seal

Commercial, 3rd, Jason Gwynn, Unilever

Commercial, 3rd, Hayley Struck, Hayley Jamil, Katie Barry, Coke Commercial

PSA, 1st, Elysabeth Casiano, Ashley Morgan, Macy Muirhead, Human Trafficking

Newscast, 2nd, Lauren King & Olivia McKennon, OU Nightly

Sports Story, 1st, Matthew McCullock, Buddy Hield Summer of Love

Sports Story, 3rd, Mason Prince, Samaje Perine Runs Hard

Documentary/Series, 3rd, Erik Macias & Karl Macias, Routes TV-Hell in the Heartland

Entertainment/Talk Program, 1st, Erik Macias & Karl Macias, Routes TV – Art Wars

Sports Magazine/Talk, 1st, Heather Healy & Olivia McKennon, Sooner Sports Pad

Sports Magazine/Talk, 3rd, Malik Carter & Drew Farley, GamedayU Bedlam

Narrative – Short, 1st, Tripp Lopez, Ringbearer

Narrative – Short, 1st, Jeff Black, Ralph Craig & Matt Percival, Last Midnight

Narrative – Short, 3rd, Jason Gwynn, Gopher

Music Video, 2nd, Paige Powell, With You Now

Informational Video, 1st, Lindsay Webster & Kathryn Wingfield, Why I Love Teenage Girls

Informational Video, 2nd, Sara Groover & Nick Szabo, Sooner Flight Academy

Informational Video, 3rd, Brooke Adcock, Pablo Fernandez, Garrett Fox, Spencer Wehde, Jon Hoover, Rowing

Personality Aircheck, 1st, Mason Prince, Mason Prince Sports Talent

Personality Aircheck, 3rd, Vanessa Prado, Vanessa Prado News Talent

 

Scriptwriting

Scriptwriting, 1st, Ashley Leisten, Just Being Honest

 

 

Mobile-video project, “Talk With Us: Poverty in Oklahoma City Neighborhoods,” launched

Talk With UsGaylord College students and staff at nonprofit news organization Oklahoma Watch have launched a mobile-video project entitled, “Talk With Us: Poverty in Oklahoma City Neighborhoods,” at www.TalkWithUs.net.

This collaboration creates a virtual conversation between low-income residents and public leaders about a wide range of issues facing some of the city’s struggling areas. About 30 virtual conversations are posted online, along with data and multimedia elements. Additional videos are being recorded.

Gaylord College students and Oklahoma Watch reporters recorded short videos using mobile devices in northeast, south and west Oklahoma City, asking low-income residents to describe pressing concerns in their neighborhoods and lives. The videos are then shown to government officials or community leaders and their responses are videotaped.

The project is made possible by a grant from the Online News Association Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education. The grant is one of 12 awarded nationwide.

“We are excited about the opportunity for Gaylord College students to participate in a project that engages them with real-world issues that matter to Oklahoma City residents,” said David Craig, the college’s associate dean. “Doing these videos is exposing them to a broader, more diverse community than they find on campus.”

David Fritze, executive editor of Oklahoma Watch, said, “The project is intended to provide a deeper understanding of the day-to-day challenges that people face in low-income communities and to amplify their voices among public officials and leaders who make the decisions that affect the residents’ lives.”

In conjunction with the mobile-video project, the organizations are presenting a public Q&A forum on April 16 to discuss challenges in low-income neighborhoods in south Oklahoma City. The “Talk With Us” forum will be held from 6-7 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, at the Capitol Hill United Methodist Church gymnasium, 123 S.W. 25th St., Oklahoma City.

Fritze will moderate a discussion with Oklahoma City Councilwoman Meg Salyer, Oklahoma City Public Schools Board Member Gloria Torres, and Attorney Michael Brooks-Jimenez about issues they see and deal with in south Oklahoma City. Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP to events@oklahomawatch.org and come with questions.

Tsetsura named director of graduate studies

Katerina TsetsuraThe Gaylord College is pleased to announce that Dr. Katerina Tsetsura has been named the new Director of Graduate Studies.

“Dr. Tsetsura is one of the most active members of our graduate faculty in the Gaylord College,” said David Craig, Gaylord College’s associate dean. “She brings creative ideas and a strong commitment to making our graduate programs better for our current and future students.”

There may never have been a period where our graduate program was more important to the future of our college. A special faculty task force, led by Dr. Meta Carstarphen and Professor Kathy Johnson, has been exploring options over the past year. The group has produced several alternatives which the graduate committee will be able to refine in ways that are attractive to students and enhance the quality of the graduate program. Under the leadership of Katerina Tsetsura the college is poised to move forward in innovative ways.

 

Joe Foote named 2015 Otis Sullivant award winner

Joe FooteA national leader in journalism and education, Joe Foote – dean and Edward L. Gaylord Chair in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication – has been named the 2015 recipient of the $20,000 Otis Sullivant Award for Perceptivity at the University of Oklahoma.

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the selection committee, which is composed of faculty and staff members, students and alumni, makes the selection.

“Joe Foote is exactly the right person to receive this award,” said OU First Lady Molly Shi Boren, who chairs the selection committee. “He represents the best values of our university, and – as a leader in our community with great perception – has put those values into action.”

“When Edith Gaylord established this award, she hoped it would recognize a member of the University of Oklahoma community who shared the same forward thinking and acute attention to detail as her dear friend Otis Sullivant,” said Bob Ross, president and CEO of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. “Dean Foote exemplifies the perceptivity Edith was hoping to acknowledge.”

The late Edith Kinney Gaylord of Oklahoma City established the $500,000 Sullivant Prize endowment shortly before her death in January 2001. The award honors the late longtime Oklahoma journalist Otis Sullivant, who covered Oklahoma and national political news for several decades and was known for his ability to analyze and accurately predict political trends. Edith Kinney Gaylord was a longtime supporter of many OU programs and a pioneering journalist. She was the first woman reporter to join the New York bureau of the Associated Press, and was the second president and one of the founders of the Women’s National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The award is presented to a faculty or staff member at OU who exhibits “keen perceptivity.” The agreement establishing the prize also states that a person “who manifests intuitiveness, instant comprehension, empathy, is observant and interprets from experience” should be selected. The benefit to society and the broader community, which comes from the insight of the recipient, also is considered.

Foote has served as dean of the Gaylord College for almost a decade. His service spans two-thirds of the lifetime of the young college that was elevated from school status in 2000. His leadership recently resulted in the College being named one of the top 10 journalism programs in the nation by the Radio Television Digital News Association and TVWeek.com.

“Having been around when Otis Sullivant was known throughout Oklahoma as the most perceptive political reporter this state has ever known, I feel confident that if he were around today, Otis would be seconding this nomination himself,” said Carol Burr, immediate past Director of Foundations Publications in seconding Foote’s nomination. “It is too easy to proclaim, as many do, that newspapers are dead and with them the need for journalists,” Burr said. “Joe Foote fights for the integrity of the written and spoken word, and its ability to safeguard the information that reaches and educates a public in danger of losing the freedom of an informed press.”

Known as a student-centered dean, Foote has been passionate about increasing professional opportunities for students on and off campus. He founded the Gaylord Ambassadors program, an undergraduate leadership group that has become a model on campus. Foote led the college to create Lindsey+Asp, one of the nation’s premier student-led advertising and public relations agencies and “Sooner Sports Pad,” a live, weekly television broadcast to 10 million television households on Fox Sports Oklahoma and Fox Sports Southwest.

In his nomination letter, Tripp Hall said, Vice President for University Development, “Though Dean Foote wears many hats and the demands on his time are great, he never is too busy for students, spending hours outside the classroom visiting, mentoring and interacting with them, writing letters of recommendation, sharing stories, ideas and advice.” This letter also said, “He makes a lasting impression on these students. As one journalism staff member said: ‘If students took the time to meet and visit with Joe, they never forgot it.’”

Foote has been a key leader in the university’s “digital initiative” and was an early advocate for innovation in courseware and alternative teaching modes. Under his leadership, Gaylord College was one of the first university programs in the nation to be designated as an “Apple Distinguished Program” for its innovation in the use of technology in education. Gaylord College has now received the Apple distinction in three consecutive competitions and is still the only major mass communication program in the nation to achieve that feat.

Foote led Gaylord College on an ambitious program to provide students with the best facilities and technologies in the nation. Within three months of becoming dean and less than a year after the dedication of Phase I of Gaylord Hall in 2004, Foote initiated an effort to build Phase II. Within six months, President Boren raised $19 million for the new project. When Phase II opened in 2009, Gaylord Hall with its innovative “live, work, play” computer labs and its state-of-the-art broadcast technology was unsurpassed in higher education. The university complemented its investment in 2014 with a complete high-definition upgrade of broadcasting facilities.

As an OU graduate, Foote is passionate about creating stronger ties with alumni. He worked closely with key alumni to reconstitute, expand and diversify the college’s advisory board, now the Gaylord Board of Visitors, which is widely recognized as a campus leader for alumni engagement. Foote expanded alumni publications, both digital and print, and began a series of successful alumni gatherings around the nation.

In a supporting letter, Catherine Bishop, OU Vice President for Public Affairs, said, “While the Otis Sullivant Award was named for a respected Oklahoma journalist, it is not designated specifically for a journalist, however, I’m struck by the uncanny resemblance between Otis Sullivant and another noted journalist, Joe Foote, and the goal of each to better our world through increased intellectual discussion and civil dialogue.”

Foote received his bachelor’s degree in broadcasting in 1971 from OU. He went on to earn a master’s degree from OU and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He also was a post-graduate Rotary Fellow at Bristol University in England.