Athens, Ga. – Carol J. Pardun of Columbia, S.C., was presented with 2010 Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award from the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication on Thursday, May 6.
Pardun, a 1992 Ph.D. alumna of Grady College, is director of and professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and associate dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina.
The 53-year-old is also the current president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the world’s largest group of journalism and mass communication educators with over 3,700 members.
The Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award honors an alumnus for excellence and sustained contributions to scholarship in journalism and mass communication education.
Pardun has published research in Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Pediatrics, Newspaper Research Journal, Public Relations Review and elsewhere. Much of her recent research has developed from her work as co-investigator of the Teen Media project, a $2.6 million National Institutes of Health grant awarded during 2001-2006.
The former editor of Mass Communication & Society, Pardun currently sits on the editorial boards of many journals in the field of communications. Her book, Advertising and Society: Controversies and Consequences, was published in 2009 by Blackwell-Wiley.
Before South Carolina, Pardun held faculty or administrative positions at Middle Tennessee State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Kansas State University. In addition to her doctorate from Grady College, she holds a master’s degree in communications and an undergraduate degree in English literature from Wheaton College, Ill.
Pardun was one of four distinguished Grady College alumni recognized at the 2010 Alumni Awards Dinner at UGA’s Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. Also honored were newspaper publisher W.H. “Dink” NeSmith Jr., Athens, who received the John Holliman Jr. Award for Lifetime Achievement; New York Times reporter Justin Gillis, New York City, who was the recipient of the Henry W. Grady Award for Mid-Career Achievement, and news anchor Lynnsey Gardner, who received the John E. Drewry Award for Young Alumni Achievement. The four received additional recognition at Grady’s Spring Convocation held on Friday, May 7, at the Athens Classic Center.
“These exceptional individuals demonstrate how Grady alumni carry the banner of achievement in journalism and mass communication forward into their professions,” said E. Culpepper Clark, dean of the Grady College. “They and the alumni they represent are extremely valuable resources to the college. Their character, careers and service to the field teach and inspire.”
Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to WNEG-TV, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow Grady on Twitter at twitter.com/ugagrady.
