University of Alabama Dean Honored With Peak Award

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Dr. E. Culpepper “Cully” Clark, dean of The University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences, received the Communications Educator of the Year award from the Birmingham Advertising Federation.

Each year, the Birmingham Advertising Federation sponsors the Peak Awards, intended to recognize advertising excellence. Communications Educator of the Year is awarded to a professional educator who has helped shape the future of individuals who are planning to enter the advertising industry.

Serving nine years as the dean of the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences, Clark has been instrumental in mentoring and being accessible to students. He understands the importance of representing the communication industry in many aspects in and outside the work environment and wants communications, advertising and public relations to remain one of the highest regarded fields in the community. Clark takes time to offer his expertise on many boards and associations in order to ensure the best decisions are being made in the communication industry.

“No one is more deserving of the Educator of the Year Award than Dean Clark,” said Bonnie LaBresh, director of development for the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences. “He has devoted his career to higher education and in particular, his concern for the full development of students and faculty is unparalleled. Clark has few equals.”

Clark is past president of the Southern States Communication Association and has served on numerous editorial boards. He is founder and co-general editor of The University of Alabama Press Series “Studies in Rhetoric and Communication” (more than 30 books have appeared in the series, the latest, Lift Every Voice, is a much heralded anthology of African-American oratory.) Clark is widely published in both history and communications. He authored The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at the University of Alabama, published by Oxford University Press and listed among the Notable Books of 1993 by The New York Times Book Review.

Currently, Clark serves on the National Communication Association, International Communication Association, Southern States Communication Association, American Journalism Historians Association, Association for Communication Administration and Alabama Humanities Foundation.

He is also on the Board of Directors at the Intermark Group, a full-service advertising agency headquarter in Birmingham, Ala., and serves as chairman on the Board of Trustees at Digital Media Arts College, Inc in Boca Raton, Fla.