Four College of Communications faculty members and one faculty associate were honored for their teaching, research and service with annual Deans' Excellence Awards that were presented at the end of the spring semester.
Those honored were:
- -- Tony Barbieri, who earned the Deans' Excellence Award for Teaching;
- -- Maura Shea, who earned the Deans' Excellence Award for Service;
- -- Richard Taylor, who earned the Deans' Excellence Award for Integrated Scholarship;
- -- Bu Zhong, who earned the Deans' Excellence Award for Research and Creative Activity; and
- -- Chuck Ungar, who was named Outstanding Faculty Associate.
"Our selection process was not easy. Several faculty members were strong contenders in each category but, ultimately, we came down to a handful," said Dean Doug Anderson, who made the selections in consultation with associate deans Marie Hardin and Anne Hoag. "And each of our recipients symbolizes in each of their respective categories the full depth of talent we have on this faculty."
Barbieri teaches news reporting, news media ethics and two courses he created -- international reporting and American journalism traditions and principles. Along with his instruction, Barbieri has crafted relationships, including one with McClatchy News Service, to distribute the work of students in the international reporting class from coast to coast.
His newest course creation focusing on American journalism is designed to make students aware of the crucial role the media have played in democracy.
Shea serves as the first-year engagement coordinator for the College, which involves implementing the First-Year Engagement Plan. The plan requires each first-year student to participate in engagement activities, including a 20-person class designed to help them adapt to campus and the community.
That endeavor alone requires Shea to support numerous faculty members by developing guidelines and support Web pages as well as providing materials about the program for the advising office and scheduling the seminars.
She also coordinates the film-video course schedule, leads the department’s portfolio-review process, teaches her own course load and serves as co-director of the summer camp for high school filmmakers.
"Her service has touched nearly every faculty member, adviser, staff member, first-year student and film-video major in the College over the past decade," Anderson said. "She is the embodiment of a master organizer and unselfish faculty member."
Taylor, an excellent teacher and unselfish provider of service, leads large 100-level classes, mid-sized 400-level classes and graduate seminars. He also advises undergraduate and graduate students.
This past year he developed a 100-level course about gaming and interactive media that will make its debut in the fall semester. He also presented three papers at national and international academic conferences and was elected vice-chair of the Board of Governors of the Pacific Telecommunications Council.
In addition, Taylor helped guide the creation of a first-of-its-kind online, peer-reviewed journal that made its debut this spring. That journal, the Journal of Information Policy, created by the Institute for Information Policy, which is housed in the College of Communications, is designed to bring contemporary scholarly research and analysis of significant information policy issues to the attention of policymakers in a timely fashion.
Zhong had six peer-reviewed articles published in the past year. He also presented papers at several national conferences. His research focuses on decision making in media use, media ethics and the psychological effects of information consumption. He also received a grant, from the Social Science Research Institute, for studies on communication anxiety and he serves as a fellow in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.
"His work is methodologically sophisticated and precise," Anderson said. "And he maintains his strong research record while engaging in yeoman service and diligent teaching."
Ungar teaches basic filmmaking courses, as he has done for years. Although he retired from WPSU-TV, he has not left the classroom. He continues to share his expertise, talent and high standards. Those are things the students appreciate, even as Ungar also brings expectations that can endanger their grade-point average.
"Chuck would always pull me down to earth and prove that I could have worked a little harder," wrote one student who nominated Ungar the award. "This was not because my projects were bad, but because he knew I was capable of more. The class was amazing."