Brown wins AEJMC division’s Distinguished Educator Award

Jane Brown, longtime professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media who retired in December 2012, will receive the 2013 Distinguished Educator Award from the Mass Communication and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

The Distinguished Educator Award is given annually to a member of the Mass Communication and Society Division whose personal teaching excellence and influence on pedagogy in the field is profound. Many of Brown’s former advisees, who are enjoying productive careers in the field, nominated her for the honor.

Brown's former students and colleagues are initiating a campaign to raise funds for an endowment to honor her legacy by continuing to build the Interdisciplinary Health Communication (IHC) program at Carolina.

Make a gift to the "Jane Brown IHC Fund."

Brown taught at the school from 1977-2012. During her time at UNC, Brown has been the Hussman School's James L. Knight Professor and a fellow in the Carolina Population Center.

She spent more than 30 years conducting research on how adolescents use media and how media influence their health behaviors. 

Brown is the co-editor or co-author of five books on adolescent health and the media, including: "Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality" (2002), "Media, Sex and the Adolescent" (1992) and "The Media, Social Science and Social Policy for Children" (1985). 

She is also author of more than 60 book chapters and articles, and serves on the editorial boards of journals in communication research, sexuality research and adolescent health. 

Brown has mentored doctoral and post-doctoral students in journalism and mass communication, public health, education, sociology and psychology. 

The award will be presented at AEJMC’s national conference in August in Washington, D.C.