Dr. Richard Robinson, professor of mass media and strategic communication at the University of Tennessee at Martin and the faculty adviser for the WUTM campus radio station, received the Byron St. Dizier/David Sloan Award for the SEJC Outstanding Educator at the annual Southeast Journalism Conference held Feb. 5-7 in Cartersville, Georgia.
“I was truly honored to receive the award,” he said. “It was humbling to be recognized by the conference. I’ve always said that great students make professors look good. I have been fortunate over the years to work with great students.”
Robinson was the recipient of the UT System’s President’s Award in 2020 in the category of “Educate.” He won the University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Award in 2007 and 2020, and was a national finalist for “Best College Radio Station Adviser” in 2016 and 2020.
Robinson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the University of Central Arkansas and a Master of Arts degree in journalism (radio-television) from the University of Arkansas. He earned his doctorate at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has been a faculty member at UT Martin since 2001.
Robinson previously taught at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and served as an adjunct instructor at Ouachita Technical College (now Arkansas State University-Three Rivers) in Malvern, Arkansas, for two years, while also teaching at Henderson State University.
The Southeast Journalism Conference Outstanding Educator award was named for the people who were the founding president and secretary-treasurer of the SEJC in 1986 and put together the first convention and competition in 1987 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Nominees for the award must have served in a capacity in which they were charged officially by the school with supervision of students on a full-time basis either as a classroom instructor or faculty adviser. Adjuncts, volunteers, honorary or part-time staff or instructors are not eligible for the award.
