by Cathy Jackson, Norfolk State
Nominations and Elections Chair

It’s that time of the year when AJHA members learn about the candidates for open leadership slots. One AJHA member was nominated to serve as second vice president, and three members are were nominated for three board of directors seats.

The 2nd VP, under normal circumstances, rises to the presidency in two years, then serves on the board as ex-officio for an additional two years. Board members serve for three years and are expected to attend board meetings at the annual convention.  

A nominee to the Board of Directors or to any officer position must have been a member of the AJHA for at least one calendar year immediately preceding the date of the election. No more than one person from an institution can serve on the Board at one time.

The election will be conducted via online survey, distributed in early September. A write-in option will be available for each position. 

Below are brief bios for each nominee.

Second Vice-President Candidate

Pam Parry is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University, where she teaches media history. Her research focuses on public relations, diversity, and presidential communications. She’s the author of Eisenhower: The Public Relations President and co-editor of the Women in American Political History book series, which has published seven books to date with more on the way. She has co-edited two books on campus diversity titled Coping with Gender Inequities: Critical Conversations of Women Faculty and Exploring Campus Diversity: Case Studies and Exercises. She just completed her three-year term as editor of Journalism History. The AEJMC History Division recently gave her the 2024 Exceptional Service Award for her contributions to the publication. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi.

A lifetime member of AJHA, joining in 2009, she served as a member of the AJHA Board of Directors from 2015-2018. She was also a judge for the AJHA Book Award in Spring 2016 and Summer 2019; chair of the Education Committee, 2015-2017; and a member of the Public Relations Committee, 2010-2013.

Parry said, "As a 15-year member of AJHA, I want to give back to the organization that advances the discipline to which I devoted my life. My professional goal involves progressing media history as a discipline, and that goal aligns with the mission of AJHA. In the six years since I was on the AJHA board, I served in other leadership capacities and on other historical boards that equipped me to serve as the Second Vice President. I spent the past three years advancing media history for the AEJMC History Division, and now, I would like to do the same for AJHA. My love of this organization drives me to want to lead it."

Board of Directors’ Candidates

Julie Lane, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Boise State University. She has been a member of AJHA since 2016 and has served on the Public Relations Committee for the past four years. As the Public Relations Chair for the past two years, she has worked with her fellow committee members to design and implement a social media strategy to facilitate member engagement and to raise AJHA’s public profile. Lane appreciates the supportive environment AJHA provides to graduate students and to faculty at all levels and would like to bring her experience to the AJHA board as the organization continues to fulfill its mission of advancing mass communication history education and research.

Julie’s research focuses on the construction of narratives by and about journalists and news institutions, including the efforts of conservative media to cultivate the idea of liberal media bias. Her work has been published in Journalism History, American Journalism, The Blue Review, and Communication & Sport. She earned her Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Marquita Smith, Ed.D., is associate dean for graduate programs and research at the University of Mississippi. She is a former Fulbright Scholar, who lived and worked in Ghana and Liberia. As a Knight International Journalism Fellow, Smith created a judicial and justice reporting network in Liberia which continues to operate. She has more than 14 years of experience in higher education, and more than 15 years as an award-winning journalist. Smith earned her Ed.D. at the University of Arkansas.

Smith attended her first AJHA in 2017 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since that first conference, she published on HBCU radio history and radio history in West Africa, specifically Ghana. As a former head of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Commission on the Status of Minorities, Smith’s research interests include health communities and ways media impact and inform underrepresented communities. Her research interests also focus on media development, public health communications, and topics on diversity, equity and inclusion. 

As an AJHA board member, Smith will advocate for the importance of journalism history and its relevance to contemporary media practices. Smith would also work to promote the preservation of historical records and the integration of journalism history into educational curricula and memorialization projects. She says it would be an honor to contribute to the direction and priorities of AJHA and, by extension, the field of journalism history. "Serving on the national board of AJHA, would also provide great opportunities for professional growth and leadership development and for me to give back to the journalism history community and support the work of scholars and practitioners in the field," Smith said.

Pamela E. Walck, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Multiplatform Journalism in the Media department of McAnulty College of Liberal Arts at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Walck's research explores how news routines and story frames in the mainstream and Black press influenced audience understanding of race and race relations, with a particular focus on World War II. She received her Ph.D. in Journalism History and Mass Communication from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University 

Since Walck’s first AJHA conference in New Orleans in 2013 (as a second-year doctoral student), the organization has been her academic home. Among its membership, she found mentors, colleagues, and friends. These amazing people encouraged her in academic research pursuits, first as a doctoral candidate, then as a tenure-track professor, and now as a tenured scholar. 

Walck is a dedicated member of AJHA.  She served on the Oral History Committee, then chaired that group, and she assisted on the elections committee. Four years ago, Walck successfully applied to be the editor of American Journalism. As she steps down from that role, AJHA’s academic community would benefit from having her join the AJHA board. Her expertise as editor, in addition to being a long-term member, would provide invaluable insights.

“Over the last few years, it has been my greatest pleasure to serve AJHA in this capacity," Walck said. "It allowed me to support other scholars at every level in their academic journeys. It has helped me share AJHA with a wider audience. And it has made me see I have more to give to an organization that has given so much to me. It would be my honor to serve as a board member -- and hopefully support a whole new generation of media historians.”