Kelsey Whipple Receives Promising Professor Award

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) has named Kelsey Whipple, assistant professor of journalism at UMass Amherst, a 2022 Promising Professor. The AEJMC presents the Promising Professor Award to three junior faculty and three graduate students who demonstrate excellence and innovation in teaching.

“During my first two years at UMass, I’ve worked really hard to connect with students, engage them in both the values and conflicts of journalism and provide them with opportunities to generate real-world experience and clips,” says Whipple.

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Whipple researches gender, gender identity, and race in the media, as well as the influence of social media and other technologies on journalism. She is also a podcast enthusiast and educator, creating the University of Texas’ Tiny Texas Podcast Festival while a graduate student at the university.

At UMass Amherst, Whipple shares her love of podcasting with students through Introduction to Radio and Podcasting and Advanced Podcasting courses, where students receive hands-on experience pitching stories, conducting interviews, as well as writing and mixing radio scripts. She has also taught introductory journalism courses and will introduce a new class this fall, Reporting About Gender and Sexuality.

“I want [my students] to leave my classes with proof of what they have learned, confidence in their abilities, and a better sense of what their role could and should be in the future of journalism. And my students have taught me a lot about how to adapt and improve my own teaching,” says Whipple.

Promising Professor Award winners will be honored at a ceremony during the upcoming AEJMC Annual Meeting in August.