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School of Journalism and New Media
University of Mississippi

Posts Tagged ‘Marquita Smith’

Smith named Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics Fellow

Posted on: August 18th, 2022 by ldrucker

Dr. Marquita Smith, associate professor and assistant dean for graduate programs in the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi, has been named a Fellow at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi, Center Chairman Charles Overby announced today.

“Marquita brings to us an impressive blend of professional experience and academic accomplishment,” Overby said. “Her work signals a broader interest in the media’s role in democracy.”

Smith’s role at the center will focus primarily on creating the Mississippi Democracy Dashboard, a collection of data designed to help users increase their political engagement.

Dr. Marquita Smith

Dr. Marquita Smith

“The Democracy Dashboard will highlight trends in governance, particularly; democratic participation and voting; institutional functioning in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; and perhaps media capacity,” Smith said.

The dashboard is an effort to help strengthen community engagement in the political process while also serving as a resource to smaller local media outlets. It will be a non-partisan resource.

Smith joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in 2020 from John Brown University, where she was an associate professor of journalism and the division chair for Communication and Fine Arts. While at JBU, she served as the inaugural coordinator of diversity relations and helped implement the university’s first diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plans. She was also a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at the University of Ghana, Legon.

Prior to transitioning from the newsroom to the academy, Smith worked for more than a decade as a student media advisor and was an adjunct professor at two historically Black institutions, Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia, and Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. She is a well-published, award-winning teacher, and her leadership in journalism education is well known.

In addition to her academic achievement, she has significant professional experience.

She was a bureau chief for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.; the Go editor who coordinated/edited a team of seven reporters prepared to deploy in a crisis from multiple bureaus; and the Portsmouth city editor and interim city editor for Chesapeake.

During her years with The Virginian-Pilot, she was named a Knight International Journalism Fellow to Liberia, providing hands-on training, workshops and seminars to help media play an active role in the redevelopment of the country.

She was assistant city editor at The Montgomery Advertiser in Montgomery, Alabama; an urban affairs reporter at the Lexington Herald Leader in Lexington, Kentucky; a religion and education reporter at The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi, and a general assignment reporter at the Knight-Ridder, Washington, D.C. bureau.

She is a senior consultant and owner of MQ Communications, which designs training packages for new journalists, or specialized continuing education courses for existing media operations. Primary training typically involves newsgathering, writing, assignments, shooting, editing and producing.

The firm also provides companies with diversity training and tools they need to increase their communications capacity and use high-impact strategic campaigns to achieve their goals.

Smith has a Doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, a Master of Arts in Journalism from the University of Maryland in College Park, and a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2021, Smith was named Alumna of the Year of UT’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media.

Most recently she was recognized as the News Leaders Association’s 2022 recipient of the Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship, “which recognizes an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage students of color in the field of journalism.”

The Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics was founded in 2007 through a grant from the Freedom Forum. The center features programs, multimedia displays and publications exploring the complex relationships between politicians and the press, with a focus on Southern perspectives.

Smith honored with News Leaders Association award for encouraging students of color in the field of journalism

Posted on: August 9th, 2022 by ldrucker

A photo of Marquita Smith outside.A University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media assistant dean has been named the 2022 recipient of the Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship, awarded by the News Leaders Association.

Marquita Smith, Ed.D., assistant dean for graduate programs, won the $1,000 award given in recognition of an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage students of color in the field of journalism. Smith’s achievements will be recognized at next year’s News Leaders Association Awards Ceremony.

According to the News Leaders Association website, “NLA provides support and training that empowers news leaders and emerging news leaders to build diverse, sustainable newsrooms that use fact-based information to inform and engage the communities they reflect and serve.”

The website reports that the Bingham Fellowship selection committee was particularly impressed by Smith’s career-long commitment to diversity from her days at Knight Ridder, McClatchy and Gannett to those in academia.

The graphic reads Congratulations Marquita Smith.

According to her School of Journalism and New Media bio, Smith has a background in journalism and worked in various newsrooms in Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi and Virginia for 16 years. Her last newsroom position was Virginia Beach bureau chief at The Virginian-Pilot.

In 2008, Smith went on leave from The Pilot to complete a Knight International Journalism Fellowship in Liberia. During her time in West Africa, she created a judicial and justice reporting network. Both networks continue to operate in the post-war country today. Smith, selected as a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana for the 2016-2017 academic year, is passionate about teaching and researching in West Africa.

Smith earned her doctorate from the University of Arkansas focusing on curriculum and instruction and faculty leadership. In her bio, she said she believes graduate education is a privilege and opportunity for students to gain outstanding communication and research skills.

To read the full story about Smith’s win, visit https://www.newsleaders.org/bingham-award-winner