Grady College is pleased to recognize its Teachers of the Year for the 2020-2021 academic year:
- Tom Cullen, instructor limited term, public relations
- Lori Johnston, lecturer, journalism
- Taylor Cole Miller, assistant professor, entertainment and media studies
- Glenna Read, assistant professor, advertising
The Teachers of the Year are selected by their peers, based on excellence in the classroom and student feedback.
“All of us are so thankful for these award-winning teachers,” said Charles N. Davis, dean of Grady College. “Few outside the classroom realize the incredible investment in time required to reach this level of teaching excellence. In a college renowned for great teaching, the bar is set rather high, and these outstanding teachers went above and beyond, especially over the last year.”
Cullen (MA ’18) is familiar with the classroom from both perspectives: as a graduate of the public relations master’s program and as a professor of public relations communications. He is currently enrolled in the MFA program in Narrative Media Writing and helps advise the Crisis Communication Coalition.
“Tom Cullen is a beloved public relations writing teacher,” said Bryan Reber, the C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership and head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. “He’s part drill sergeant, part coach and part counselor. He makes teaching intensive writing to 80 public relations students each semester look easy. It’s not.”
Cullen is known among his students for challenging them with high expectations and drawing out their talents so they can accomplish future success.
Johnston (ABJ ’95, MFA ’17), who started teaching part time and moved to a full time role two years ago, has had a significant impact on students in a short time.
“Lori’s course pushed me to the limit,” said one of her students. “She pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me to do things that I didn’t even think I was capable of.”
Johnston is a former Associated Press journalist and still manages Fast Copy, a freelance writing business she owns with her husband, Andy. She frequently incorporates new multi-media elements and technologies into her assignments. Johnston recently led a group of students in redesigning the Covering Poverty website thanks to a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation.
Janice Hume, the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Chair for Excellence in Journalism and head of the Department of Journalism, recognizes the collaboration Johnston brings to her work.
“Lori Johnston provides our journalism students such a strong foundation in reporting and writing,” Hume said. “She has become a leader in our department in terms of sharing ideas and resources so that students in multiple sections of the same course, even though they have different instructors, enjoy a consistent and exceptional experience.”
Miller shares his enthusiasm and knowledge of entertainment, and especially with syndicated television, with his students. An expert of all-things from “The Golden Girls,” Miller researches issues of gender and sexuality within various media forms.
“Dr. Miller’s teaching puts together two very important topic areas: television studies and diversity,” said James Hamilton, a Jim Kennedy New Media Professor and head of the Department of Entertainment and Media Studies. “It’s apparent from student comments just how successfully he does this.”
This semester, Miller teaches Television Histories and Representation in Entertainment, and his role as Peabody Media Center Academic Director has provided experiences teaching from the vast Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection.
His students praise his care and understanding for not just their education, but also their state of mind.
“This course challenged me to think more about why and how entertainment media is created and provided me with tools to analyze my findings,” said one of his students. “It shows that the professor cares a great deal about his students, their well-being, and their futures. He made this course engaging not just through lectures but also through the assignments and activities that helped students better understand the concepts.”
When Read is not teaching media strategy and planning, she is working on message effectiveness research in the Body, Brain and Media Lab, which she directs. There, she investigates cognitive and affective, or emotional processing studies of audio and visual media…in other words, what’s happening in the body that helps to understand psychological processes in response to audio and visual stimuli.
Prior to joining the College faculty in 2018, Read taught at Indiana University and was the recipient of the competitive Annie Lang Dissertation Award from the International Communication Association.
She is known for spending extra time with students pursuing research interests outside the classroom, too, through the CURO program.
“Glenna Read makes an impact on both the graduate and undergraduate level, particularly through her Body, Brain, and Media Lab,” said Reber. “She is creative in her teaching methods and has developed at least three new courses in her time at Georgia.”