The school’s graduate students consistently excel on all fronts — in research and scholarly activity as teachers, and in professional endeavors. Guided by faculty members considered to be among the most productive scholars in the country, graduate students are regularly invited to present papers at national conferences, where they win more than their share of awards each year. Many go on to publish research in scholarly journals.

At the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Chicago in August 2008, 18 students presented a total of 23 refereed research papers, and two won top student paper awards. During the 2008-2009 academic year, graduate students also presented papers at an array of other meetings, including the American Journalism Historians Association, Academy of Advertising Conference, Academy of Marketing Science, International Association for Business and Society Conference, Marketing and Public Policy Conference, IALJS Fourth International Conference for Literary Journalism, and International Communication Association.

Faculty members also work with students to transform convention papers into journal articles. Students work has appeared in numerous publications, including Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism & Mass Communication Monographs, Communication Law and Policy, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Free Speech Yearbook, American Journalism, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Newspaper Research Journal, Media Studies Journal, Journal of Interactive Marketing, American Journalism, International Journal of Public Opinion, Journal of Health Communication, Public Relations Review, Media Report to Women, and Women and Health.

• Five UNC doctoral graduates — Ed Alwood, Mark Feldstein, Kathy Forde, Jane Rhodes and Mark West — have won the prestigious Nafziger-White Dissertation Award, given annually by AEJMC for the best dissertation.
• Doctoral graduate Kathy Forde’s book, “Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment” received the AEJMC History Division Book Award for the Best book on Journalism and Mass Communication History published in 2008. The book also received the Frank Luther Mott-KTA book award.
• Doctoral graduate Ed Alwood’s book, “Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarythism aimed at the Press,” won the James W. Tankard book award at the 2008 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference. The award honors outstanding scholarly books in journalism and mass communication written by AEJMC members.
• In 2006, doctoral student Lisa Paulin received a University Graduate Education Advancement Board Impact Award for her research.
• In 2005 two of doctoral students, Tom Terry and Joan Cates, won the $1,000 Impact Awards.
• Doctoral graduate Brooke Fisher Liu’s dissertation about U.S. government emergency management communications with Hispanics is being published as a book.
• Master’s graduate Major Chad Carroll, U.S. Army, received the 2007 Northwestern Mutual Best Master’s Thesis Award, which is co-sponsored by the Institute for Public Relations.

Many students have also been recognized for their excellence as teachers. Ph.D. graduates Terri Bailey, Lois Boynton, Glen Feighery, Richard Landesberg and Karl Schmid all won campus-wide Tanner Teaching Assistants Awards. Boynton is now a member of the school’s faculty. Bailey also received a Graduate Mentor Support Grant for her work with undergraduate mentoring and served a fixed-term appointment on the school’s faculty for the 2008-2009 academic year.

• Graduates Brian Carroll and Beth Koehler both won Student Undergraduate Teaching Awards.
• Seven Ph.D. graduates — Lois Boynton, Brian Carroll, Victoria Ekstrand, Dan Haygood, Jimmy Ivory, Harlen Makemson and Kathy Olson — have been recipients of the AEJMC Mass Communication and Society Division’s Most Promising Professor Award.

The school’s graduate students have also received recognition for their professional achievements. Master’s student Chris Carmichael won an award of excellence in the multimedia category of the college Photographer of the Year contest and master’s student Phil Daquila was named University Liaison at UNC for the Washington, D.C.-based Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

• Three master’s students — Eileen Mignoni, Melissa Moser and Phil Daquila — were part of a student group that covered the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise, Idaho.
• Master’s students Greg Efthimiou and Courtney Woo were winners in the 2008 Arthur W. Page Society Corporate Case Study Competition. Each received accolades for their research in public relations.
• Master’s graduate Daniel Johnson won the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ Best in Business student contest for best business news story.
• Doctoral student Erin Coyle was the first non-law student, campus-wide, to serve on the editorial board of the First Amendment Law Review published by the UNC School of Law.