Journalism professor receives social media externship grant

Sue Burzynski Bullard is one of six recipients of the 2012 Scripps Howard Foundation/Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Social Media Externship Grants.

Bullard will spend two weeks in June at the Chicago Tribune and WGN learning how the newspaper and broadcast station use social media across multiple platforms.  Bullard, who teaches reporting, editing and multimedia classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will bring what she learns in Chicago into the classroom next fall. The program also provides funds to bring a media professional from the Tribune and WGN into Bullard’s classroom during the 2012-13 school year.

The Scripps Howard Foundation is providing $3,000 for each faculty member’s travel, housing and other expenses for the two-week summer visit. The Foundation is also providing each media professional $1,000 for expenses related to the campus visits.

AEJMC received 53 applications for the program. Other faculty members selected are from the University of Utah, Grand Valley State University, Western Kentucky University, Texas Wesleyan University and Cal State University, Chico.

Bullard and CoJMC journalism professor Michelle Hassler also won a third place award in the 2012 Best Practices in Teaching Writing competition, sponsored by the AEJMC Teaching Committee. They’ll discuss their entry, “Writing for the Web: Twitter as a starting point for breaking news,” on a panel at the AEJMC national conference in Chicago in August. 

In 2011, Bullard and Hassler shared a third place award in the Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century competition. The AEJMC News Division recognized the two CoJMC faculty members for “How to Pitch Stories in a Multimedia World,” an assignment they use in a multimedia reporting class at UNL.

In 2010, Bullard earned first place in the promising professors teaching competition for new faculty from AEJMC’s Mass Communication and Society Division and Graduate Education Interest Group.

She also published an e-textbook, “Everybody's an Editor, Navigating Journalism’s Changing Landscape,” in 2011. It is being used in editing classes at UNL.

 Before coming to UNL, Bullard was a visiting editor-in-residence at Michigan State University. She also has taught daylong workshops on “All Things Web” as part of a One Day University program at UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, aimed at busy professionals.

Before entering academia, Bullard held a variety of editing positions during 21 years at the Detroit News, including three years as managing editor. She was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the newsroom and supervised nearly 300 journalists and helped integrate print and online newsrooms. Bullard also worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Lansing and Port Huron, Mich. Bullard earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State and a master's degree in administration from Central Michigan University. She was named an outstanding alumna of the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences in 2007. In 2008, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Detroit chapter. And in 2009, Bullard was inducted into the Michigan State News Hall of Fame.