Barbara Bateman, CJE, the yearbook adviser at Walsworth Yearbooks school Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama, was named the recipient of the 2017 Diversity Award by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) on Wednesday.
JEA’s Diversity Award honors a scholastic journalism teacher, student media adviser or scholastic journalism group that demonstrates a commitment to cultural awareness and encourages a multicultural approach with its student media staff, media production and/or community.
Bateman has been teaching scholastic journalism at Murphy High School since 2010, including serving as the adviser of The Mohian yearbook, as well as the student newspaper, news broadcast and lit magazine.
Murphy is a Title I school with a 70% minority population. When Bateman inherited the program, the staffs were small and exclusively white. She has diversified and built the staff into a fully converged, comprehensive program.
“When I talk about diversity in our program I do not mean just racial and ethnic diversity. I believe that journalism staffs should be as diverse as the general public,” said Bateman in the JEA’s announcement for the award. “It should also have a place for special education, regular, honors, AP and IB students, because those are the types of people who make up the population.”
Receiving honorable mentions were Camille Respess, editor-in-chief, and Erin Castellano, adviser, at Clayton High School in Clayton, Missouri; and Thomas Kaup, MJE, of Auburn High School in Auburn, Washington.
Bateman and all of the honorees will be recognized during the adviser luncheon April 8 at the 2017 JEA/NSPA Spring National Journalism Convention in Seattle.
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