Candace Perkins Bowen, associate professor and director of the Center for Scholastic Journalism, has been named the 2013 Linda S. Puntney Teacher Inspiration Award winner by the Journalism Education Association (JEA). The award recognizes a journalism teacher who 鈥渢hrough excellent instruction inspired others to pursue scholastic journalism teaching and/or advising.鈥�
Bowen was nominated by Colleen Gacic, one of her former high school students at St. Charles High School in Illinois. During a stint on the high school newspaper, Gacic decided she wanted to be a high school journalism and English teacher just like Bowen. In her nomination statement, Gacic recalled that there was no journalism position available in her first years of teaching, so she incorporated journalistic writing and thinking into her English classes using the reference, 鈥淎pplying NCTE/IRA Standards in Classroom Journalism Projects,鈥� which was co-authored by Bowen. 鈥淚t should鈥檛 have surprised me that [Bowen] literally 鈥榳rote the book鈥� on getting journalism into the ELA classroom,鈥� Gacic wrote.
In bestowing the award, the JEA recognized Bowen for creating an online master鈥檚 program in journalism education. Six journalism educators have completed the online master鈥檚 program since its founding in Fall 2007. Bowen is also credited for mentoring journalism teachers throughout Ohio and the nation through her workshops, writing, and curriculum support.
The JEA is the only independent national scholastic journalism organization for teachers and media advisers.