Dr. Phillip Jeter
Dr. Phillip Jeter, professor and chair of the Department of Mass Communications at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), has been named the recipient of the 2010 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education.
This award recognizes an electronic journalism educator who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the field in the areas of teaching, service and scholarship. It is given annually by the Radio-Television Journalism (RTVJ) division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and will be presented August 5 at the association’s national convention in Denver.
Jeter has been at Winston-Salem State since 2008. Previously, he had spent 19 years on the faculty of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University. In 2007, he was named the Geier Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University and he has also taught mass media courses at Johnson C. Smith University, Marshall University, Michigan State University and the University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus. Prior to becoming a professor, Jeter was a news writer for United Press International and worked at WTTW-TV, a public broadcasting station in Chicago.
Jeter currently serves on the editorial board of RTVJ’s academic journal, Electronic News, and is former chair of the Minorities and Communications division. He has been a chair and member of the Teaching Standards Committee and is on the board of contributing editors for Journalism History, American Journalism, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, and the Howard Journal of Communications. Jeter is a past chair of the Multicultural Division of the Broadcast Education Association.
One of Jeter’s former students is Kathy Times, an Emmy-winning investigative reporter who is now an anchor for Fox 40 in Jackson, MS, and this year’s president of the National Association of Black Journalists. “Dr. Jeter has the right ingredients for reaching and teaching students. I remember him being calm, but he demanded that we excel in every aspect,” Times said. “(He gave) me my tuition’s worth and more.”
In writing Jeter’s nomination letter, Dr. Don Heider, dean and professor of the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago, said, “Phil represents everything we look for in a Bliss winner. He is a dedicated teacher who has served students for many years. He is dedicated to broadcasting where he worked and has kept an active hand over many years, and he has an exemplary record of service, stepping up whenever asked.”
Jeter holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, an M.A. from Cornell University, and a B.A. from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). He is active in the alumni associations for both Wisconsin and JCSU, and he is a life member of the NAACP.
The distinguished broadcast journalism educator award is named for Edward L. Bliss, a long-time writer, producer and editor for CBS News. Bliss was known for his work with Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite and ended his career as an educator at American University, which now houses the plaques bearing the award winners’ names.
