Skip to main content

Arkansas Publisher Weekly: June 22, 2023

Page 1

2 9

APA convention room block deadline just days away; reserve by Monday Guest Column: Rolen Around the Bend

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly

By Charity Rolen

Vol.18 | No. 25 | Thursday, June 22, 2023 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

UCA’s Keith to be honored as APA Journalism Educator of the Year A conversation with Dr. David Keith, journalism lecturer and The Echo advisor at the University of Central Arkansas, clearly demonstrates his focus is 100 percent on his students.

said. “But Donna is persistent, so I gave it a try. Besides, I realized at the time that I could use the $2,600. “I eventually learned two things about teaching – I did enjoy it and it is a whole lot more work than people realize.” The classroom lectures were two-and-a-half hours a week, but much more time was spent reading the work of his students.

That intense commitment, as well as years of professional accomplishments, have led to his being selected as the Journalism Educator of the Year by the Arkansas Press Association. Dr. Keith will be appropriately honored July 21 at the annual APA Convention in Little Rock.

The big career shift came when Dr. Stephens, currently the director of the School of Communication at UCA, helped put together a package to offer him a fulltime teaching position.

“This is an honor for my students, not for me,” Dr. Keith said. His real satisfaction comes from seeing personal development and eventual career success achieved by his students. “That’s what I am most proud of,” he said.

That was in December of 2005, and Dr. Keith began his journalism education career a month later. “I was very fortunate,” he said. “I had a full load of classes, and I could see I wanted to stay with it.”

Dr. Keith had a transition in late 2005 when a highly successful career in community journalism led to an offer to become a fulltime lecturer in the journalism program at UCA.

Dr. Joseph Anderson, at the time the department chair at UCA, advised Dr. Keith that obtaining a master’s degree was an expectation. While still teaching full-time, he entered the graduate program at the University of Arkansas Little Rock and completed the work in 2010.

He and his wife Tammy had decided to resign their positions at the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway to move down a different path. The initial concern was where that path was leading.

He then decided to continue his educational path and earned his doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2021. He taught at UCA while enrolled in the program but did spend two summers at Hattiesburg.

“I left (the newspaper) primarily because of the stresses it was putting on my life,” Dr. Keith said. “I needed a change. But we didn’t know what we were going to do.” Earlier, while still employed at the LCD, Dr. Keith had agreed to teach a beginning reporting class at UCA upon invitation of faculty member Donna Stephens. His initial response to the suggestion had been a “quick and emphatic no,” Dr. Keith Arkansas Publisher Weekly

His doctoral dissertation involved analyzing how college newspapers were coping with the decline in print journalism. See Keith Page 2

Dr. David Keith

1

June 22, 2023


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Arkansas Publisher Weekly: June 22, 2023 by Arkansas Press Association - Issuu