about Dr. julie E. Dodd

This is a view of the inside of Little Greenbrier School, a one-room log school, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The school was built in 1882. My visit to this classroom taught me the origin of the term "black board," as that's what I'm pointing to -- boards painted black that had to be washed after chalk was used.

Certainly the technology we use in today's clasroom has come a long way -- from blackboard to video projection unit, from student slate to handheld computer. But many aspects of good teaching remain the same, including understanding what motivates students and being able to design and present effective instructional activities.

A key for all of us as teachers is to be open to be learners ourselves -- from learning principles of pedagogy to learning how (and when or if) to use PowerPoint in teaching class.

I joined the University of Florida faculty in 1988. My teaching has focused on Writing for Mass Communication (MMC 2100), the college's required introductory writing class for advertising, journalism and public relations majors, and on Mass Communication Teaching, which is designed to help graduate students learn to be more effective teachers. I've also taught Sports Media and journalism courses for high school journalism teachers. For 11 years, I served as the executive director of the Florida Scholastic Press Association, a not-for-profit organization of high school and middle school journalism programs based in UF's College of Journalism and Communications.

I am a member of the College Faculty Senate, which was established in Febuary 2007, and am completing a term as chair of the Senate. I just completed a 3-year term on the UF Faculty Senate. I have served on (and in some cases chaired) the college's Tenure and Promotion, Technology, Faculty Development and Diversity, Sustained Performance Review committees. I've served on and chaired search committees in the Journalism Department and one of the two curriculum review committees of the past 25 years.

During my two years on UF's General Education Council, I reviewed more than 50 syllabi of faculty who were applying to have their courses approved for gen ed credit.

My research interests include teaching issues, scholastic journalism, technology applications, health and fitness, and sports media. I've had articles published in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Newspaper Research Journal, Quill and Scroll, Editor & Publishser, and Communication: Journalism Education Today.

Prior to teaching at UF, I taught high school journalism and English in Kentucky and Tennessee and taught in the Colleges of Education and Communications at the University of Kentucky while I was completing my doctorate. I was a sports writer and fitness columnist for The Oak Ridger (Tenn.) and worked in public relations for the Fayette County (Ky.) School District.

I've taught summer journalism classes for high school teachers at Indiana University for 14 summers and workshops for high school journalism students at Ohio University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, and Western Kentucky University.

I serve on the board of the Journalism Education Association, based at Kansas State University, and on the board of trustees for Quill and Scroll International, housed at the University of Iowa. I served as vice head and then head of the Association for Education and Mass Communication Scholastic Journalism Division.

While teaching in Tennessee I participated in the Tennessee Career Ladder program and reached the top level of the ladder.  The merit program involved taking the National Teaching Exam, developing a portfolio, being observed by statewide evaluators in announced and surprise classroom visits, and being evaluated by my students, administrators and colleagues.

At UF, twice I recieved TIP awards and was received the college's Teaching Award in 1996. I was the inagural recipient of the AEJMC Scholstic Journalism Division's Journalism Educator of the Year Award (2000), and I've served on the University Center for Excellene in Teaching advisory board.

Teaching is one of the major career tracks in my family. My grandmother was a teacher in a one-room school in Oregon -- with duties including chopping wood for the stove in the school and making sure all the students got home safely if a snow storm blew in during the school day. My father was the first principal hired by the Department of Defense to help establish the schools in Oak Ridge, Tenn., one of the cities created as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II. My mother taught at the elementary and high school levels after working in public relations for the Tennessee Valley Authority -- and being one of the few women in management.

Teaching is a challenging and rewarding profession -- encouraging us to evaluate our students, our subject area and ourselves. Mass Communication Teaching is a forum for that ongoing discussion.