KNOXVILLE — Sam Swan, professor and director of internationalization and outreach for the College of Communication and Information, has been named the recipient of the 2009 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education.
The award, given by the Radio-Television Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), recognizes an electronic journalism educator who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the field in the areas of teaching, service and scholarship.
Swan has been with UT Knoxville since 1985 teaching television news, international broadcasting and management courses. Swan was department head from 1985 to 1994, overseeing the acquisition of a commercial all-news AM radio station, WUTK-AM, and moving the department of broadcasting into a state-of-the-art facility. He also developed and continues to produce a unique weekly television news program broadcast on the NBC affiliate WBIR-TV in Knoxville. During his tenure the department became accredited by the AEJMC for the first time and has held that accreditation since.
Swan has conducted more than 150 TV journalism and management workshops in nearly 50 countries, and he has brought journalists from many of those countries to the U.S. for workshops. He has served as a news trainer and consultant for all News Corp Europe TV stations and has conducted workshops for the Voice of America, IREX, the U.S. State Department and CNN.
Swan is the author of three books on radio-TV management, radio station operations and landing a job in the media, has produced numerous news and public affairs television programs, documentaries and written papers and has made presentations at journalism and broadcasting conventions.
Before coming to academia, Swan worked as a news director, anchor, reporter and producer at radio and television stations in Missouri. He also has led broadcasting programs at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
The Edward L. Bliss award is given by the Radio-Television Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The award is named for a longtime writer, producer and editor for CBS News. Bliss was known for his work with Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite and ended his career as an educator at American University, which now houses the plaques bearing the award winners’ names.
Past winners of the Ed Bliss Award (formerly Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Educator Award): Jack Shelly, Iowa State (1983); Ed Bliss, American University (1984); Dick Yoakam, Indiana (1985); Henry Lippold, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1986); Rod Gelatt, Missouri (1987); Mitchell Charnley, Minnesota (1988); Don Brown, Arizona State (1989); Irving Fang, Minnesota (1990); Ernest F. Andrews, Syracuse (1991); Al Anderson, Texas- Austin (1992); Michael Murray, Missouri-St. Louis (1993); Joseph R. Dominick, Georgia (1994); Joan Konner, Columbia (1995); Gordon Greb, San Jose State (1996); Travis Linn, Nevada-Reno (1997); Vernon Stone, Missouri (1998); Elmer Lower, ABC, NBC (1999); Ken Keller, SIU-Carbondale (2000); Lincoln Furber, American University (2001); James Hoyt, Wisconsin (2002); Phillip O. Keirstead, Florida A&M University (2003); Thomas Griffiths, Brigham Young University (2004); Peter Mayeux, University of Nebraska (2005); Bill Knowles, University of Montana (2006); Jim Upshaw, University of Oregon (2007); and Glenn Johnson, Washington State University (2008).
Swan will be honored in a ceremony at the AEJMC National Convention on Aug. 6 at Emerson College in Boston.
C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)