Grady College honors recipients of 2014 Alumni Awards
,
For demonstrated excellence throughout their distinguished careers, four graduates of the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication have been named 2014 Alumni Award winners.
Alan Griggs (ABJ '72) of Nashville, Tenn., received the John Holliman Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award; Amy Glennon (ABJ '90) of Atlanta was honored with the Henry W. Grady Mid-Career Alumni Award; Greg Bluestein (ABJ '04) of Dunwoody, Ga., was awarded the John E. Drewry Young Alumni Award; and Kathy Richardson (MA '83, PhD '92) of Rome, Ga., received the Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award. They were recognized at the college's Alumni Awards brunch on May 8 at the Georgian Hotel in Athens.
“The depth and breadth of our Alumni Award winners stands as testament to the power of the Grady College family,” said Dean Charles Davis. “From journalism and mass communication to the halls of academe, our alumni embody all that makes Grady a special place.”
Alan Griggs, honored with the John Holliman Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award, is a senior manager of communications with diverse experience including television news reporting and management, and political and corporate communications. He is chair of the Department of Communication and Journalism at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., where he teaches classes in television and multimedia journalism. He previously taught at the University of Tennessee and Western Kentucky University, where he earned a master's degree in organizational communication.
Griggs is also a producer and reporter for the PBS program “The Wild Side,” and is a senior consultant with the Institute for Crisis Management in Louisville, Ky. He is also the author of two books: “Flying Flak Alley: Personal Accounts of World War II Bomber Crew Combat” and “The Life and Tales of Pony Maples, Jr.”
The recipient of three Peabody Awards, Griggs has also been honored with a duPont-Columbia citation, two National Headliner Awards, the George Polk Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award for broadcast excellence, several Emmys, and the Robert F. Kennedy Award.
Amy Glennon, recipient of the Henry W. Grady Mid-Career Alumni Award, is the publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, serving as the top executive for the newspaper after a 20-year career with the company. She is the first woman to hold the position in the 145-year history of the newspaper.
Since joining the AJC in 1992, she has served in a number of roles including features editor, director of innovations, Gwinnett general manager, senior director, product & project management, and vice president of circulation. Prior to the AJC, she worked at the Gwinnett Daily News.
Glennon currently serves as an emeritus member of the The Red and Black's Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Georgia Chapter of the International Women's Forum and the VOX Teen Communications Advisory Board.
Greg Bluestein, recipient of the John E. Drewry Young Alumni Award, is a political reporter for the AJC. He has traveled to Haiti with President Jimmy Carter, journeyed to Panama with Gov. Nathan Deal and tracked down a suspected Ponzi scheme in suburban Kansas. He spent weeks in Louisiana covering the devastating Gulf Oil Spill, witnessed almost a dozen executions in Georgia's death chamber and helped document a tragic mine explosion in West Virginia. His beat now involves covering Georgia government from the campaign trail to the governor's office.
Before joining the AJC, he spent seven years at The Associated Press.
Kathy Richardson, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award, is the provost at Berry College where she is also a professor of communication. She earned a bachelor's degree in communication and religion/philosophy from Shorter College before becoming a double graduate of the Grady College.
Richardson joined the Berry College faculty in 1986 and has taught courses in media law, media ethics, journalism and public relations in the communication department. She served as associate provost and dean of academic services from 1999-2009, serving as interim provost in 2007-2008. She has received teaching awards from Berry College, Oklahoma Baptist University and AEJMC.
A co-author of “Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning” and of “Applied Public Relations: Cases in Stakeholder Management,” Richardson has also been editor of Journalism and Communication Monographs and is the current co-editor of the National Forensic Journal. She is a member of the editorial board of Mass Communication & Society and the Journal of Mass Media Ethics.
Named after the late John Holliman, Grady alumnus and former CNN reporter, the John Holliman Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award honors sustained contributions to the profession throughout a career. The Henry W. Grady Award recognizes a mid-career graduate who has been influential in his or her field. The John E. Drewry Award honors a graduate of the last decade who has experienced a successful early career. The Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes an alumnus for excellence and sustained contributions to scholarship in journalism and mass communication education.
UGA Grady College
Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in journalism, advertising, public relations, digital and broadcast journalism and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media.
Author: Stephanie Moreno, s.moreno@uga.edu
Contact: Diane Murray, murrayd@uga.edu