Date: Mar 12, 2009

Robert Papper to Be Installed as the Lawrence Stessin Distinguished Professor in Journalism

Nationally known expert on broadcast news, chair of Hofstra’s Department of Journalism, Media Studies and Public Relations

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Robert Papper, chair of the Department of Journalism, Media Studies and Public Relations, will be installed as the Lawrence Stessin Distinguished Professor in Journalism on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Hofstra University Club, David S. Mack Hall, North Campus.  There will be a reception immediately following the convocation.

Professor Papper joined the faculty at Hofstra University in fall 2007. Previously, he chaired the Journalism Department at Ohio Wesleyan University and served as head of the broadcast news sequences at both American University and Ball State University. He earned a Master of Science in Journalism from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history from Columbia College. 

Professor Papper’s professional journalism credentials include having worked as a writer, producer, special projects director, managing editor, executive producer and assistant news director at various television stations in Minneapolis, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Columbus, Ohio.

He is recognized nationally for his outstanding research examining the state of American radio and television news departments.  His research efforts include reports that detail the status of minorities and women in the news industry.  These reports, now known as the RTNDA/Hofstra University Annual Survey on the state of radio and television news in the U.S., are published annually by RTNDA, considered required reading for news practitioners and administrators and represent the country’s most widely-cited research on broadcast news today. As a result of his survey efforts, Professor Papper serves as a consultant to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s Annual State of the News Media. 

Professor Papper has authored four book chapters, eight major reports and published 81 articles. He is the author of Broadcast News & Writing Stylebook, approaching its fourth edition, as the most widely-used book of its kind in the U.S.  He has given 80 presentations at national and international conferences and countless more at state and regional events.  Next month, he will be speaking at the Annual International Convention of the Radio Television News Directors Association and participating in three panels at the Annual Convention of the Broadcast Education Association.  In the summer, Professor Papper will speak on two panels at the Annual Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). He is also a past president of the Maine Association of Broadcasters and a long-time member of the national education committee of the Radio Television News Directors Association.

He was the originator and lead researcher for the Middletown Media Studies; he is the founder and co-editor of Electronic News, the official journal of the Radio Television News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2006, Ball State University recognized Professor Papper as “Researcher of the Year,” and in 2007, the Associated Press inducted him into the AP Indiana Hall of Fame for “Distinguished Service in Broadcast Journalism.”  Professor Papper has won more than a hundred state, regional and national awards, including four regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and a DuPont-Columbia for “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.”  The DuPont-Columbia Award is considered the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. 

This professorship was named for Dr. Stessin, a journalist who joined the Hofstra University faculty as a professor of management in 1958 and served continuously until his retirement in 1973. After graduation from the Columbia University School of Journalism he worked at The New York Times and as a columnist and later as an associate editor of Forbes Magazine. Dr. Stessin also published in a wide range of scholarly and academic media. During his lifetime and as part of his will, Dr. Stessin made substantial contributions to our University, including his contribution to the Endowment Fund, which led to the establishment of the Stessin Prize, an incentive and reward for junior faculty who publish the results of their scholarly work.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from more than 145 undergraduate and more than 160 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services;  and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.