The Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication (SWECJMC) is pleased to announce the 2024 winners of our prestigious Pioneer and Educator Awards.
Dr. Mia Moody, professor and Chair of the Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media at Baylor University, earned this year’s Educator Award. Dr. Amal Bakry, assistant professor of advertising and the Advertising Sequence Coordinator at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, is this year’s recipient of the Pioneer Award.
The Educator Award
The Educator Award, which was created in 2021, honors a faculty member at a SWECJMC member institution who has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to journalism and mass communication education, and an exceptional commitment to undergraduate and/or graduate education through innovative practices, excellent student outcomes, and/or classroom-focused research. These attributes essentially describe Dr. Moody’s career.
Dr. Moody – who has four college degrees – has served on the faculty at Baylor University since 2001, where she teaches a variety of classes, including Reporting and Writing for Media, Public Relations Media Planning, Gender, Race and Media, and Theory of Mass Communication. In addition to chairing the department, she previously served as director of the graduate program. She has authored four books, and four dozen articles in top journals, including Journalism Mass Communication Quarterly, Howard Journal of Communication, Journalism Educator, Journal of Black Studies, and Public Relations Review. Many of her studies examine media portrayals of race and how that intersects with society, especially through stereotypes in social media.
As examples of her outstanding contribution to JMC education, she led her department to a successful reaccreditation, just oversaw the launch of a broadcast sequence, and her department enjoys first-year student retention of over 90%. She has long been recognized as an important role model and mentor for women and people of color. She has served, for 20 years, as faculty advisor of Baylor’s chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and her name is on a scholarship awarded to an NABJ member each year. She has served on committees for two doctoral dissertations and 17 master’s theses.
She was head of the Minorities and Communication Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), was an officer for three years on the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women, and is the current vice-president elect of AEJMC and will become president in 2026. She has previously been honored as Professor of the Year at Baylor (2021) and won the 2018 Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education.
Dr. Moody won two top paper honors at one conference just last year – only the latest in many awards for her research. She is equally deserving of this honor for her exemplary teaching and mentorship.
The Pioneer Award
The Pioneer Award was created in 1993, and honors an individual who has made a significant contribution to journalism and mass communication education in one of the 11 states represented in the SWECJMC. The Pioneer Award is not awarded each year but rather is bestowed on an academic who is recognized for unique and important contributions to JMC education. Dr. Bakry certainly fits this description.
Her research has focused on public diplomacy and often captures resonant social topics which are “ripped from the headlines,” including numerous studies on diplomatic branding of Egypt and a recent study on the Hijab-wearing Barbie doll and social identity, published in the Journal of Consumer Behavior.
Dr. Bakry has worked as a communication professional for more than twenty years in Egypt, with the prominent DDB Agency and with the British Council. She returned to school for doctoral studies at the University of Florida. She has been at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for seven years, where she teaches public relations, advertising and media planning. In fact, she was just awarded a $3,000 ADVANCE Course Development Grant, a competitive internal initiative from the University.
She teaches fundamental courses (Principles of Advertising, Communication Research) but, more importantly, courses on emerging and creative media, including Advertising Creative Strategy and Trends in 21st Century Communication. Dr. Bakry also serves in important service roles, including as current Research Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and as a longtime officer in the International Communication Division. And she has authored two dozen scholarly articles.
About SWECJMC
SWECJMC is a nonprofit, official affiliate of AEJMC. Each year, the executive committee of SWECJMC intends to honor faculty members at SWECJMC member institutions who demonstrate outstanding contributions to journalism and mass communication education. This year, the committee members are privileged to recognize these two outstanding educators for their impact on students’ success and celebrate their accomplishment in journalism and mass communication education in the Southwest. Both awards will be presented at the 2024 Southwest Mass Communication Symposium held at Texas State University in Round Rock on October 25-26.