UA’s Greer Elected President of Mass Communication Association

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Jennifer Greer, associate provost for administration at The University of Alabama, has been elected president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

While faculty from the College of Communication and Information Sciences always have had an active role in AEJMC, Greer is the first UA professor to hold the AEJMC presidency. Greer, who has a faculty appointment in the department of journalism and creative media, was sworn in as president at the AEJMC Annual Conference in Chicago Aug. 11.

Greer has been a member of AEJMC since 1993 and has served in many leadership roles for the group, including chair of the group’s Standing Committee on Teaching, chair of the Finance Committee, head of the Mass Communication and Society Division, and as a member of the AEJMC Board of Directors.

“After working within AEJMC for the past 24 years, getting to be the person who represents the association at national and international events is really exciting,” Greer said. “AEJMC has been the one constant in my career and my life-long academic home. I’m excited to be able to give back to a group that has given me so much.”

In her term as president, Greer wants to focus the association’s efforts on maintaining relevance in today’s changing higher education environment and ensuring strong participation in the association’s divisions and interest groups. Leadership in those subdivisions of AEJMC is where future leaders will emerge not only for the association but for journalism and mass communication educators in the nation’s colleges and universities.

“The faculty of today is different, the field is different, and the required skill set is changing every day,” Greer said. “We want to be a central, vital support system for our members in an evolving world of higher education.”

Greer earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Missouri, a master’s degree in political science from the University of Kansas and a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Florida. Before moving into teaching, she worked as a newspaper reporter and editor. In her time at The University of Alabama, she has served as interim dean for the College of Communication and Information Sciences and chair of the department of journalism.

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is a nonprofit, educational association of 3,700 journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals whose mission is to promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, to cultivate the widest possible range of communication research, to encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of communication in an effort to achieve better professional practice and a better informed public. To learn more about AEJMC, visit http://www.aejmc.org.