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We've Changed Our Name!
Our new name is NAMLE (pronounced name-lee), the National Association for Media Literacy Education. Read about the change in the FLASH!
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We are proud to present the slate of candidates for the 2008 Board of Directors. The following AMLA members have been nominated. Read the candidates' statements by clicking on a name.
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Sherri Hope Culver |
Jane Ballinger |
Jane Owens |
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Amy Petersen Jensen |
Brian Cohen |
Cindy Pulley |
We invite you to contribute statements of support for candidates at the ELECTION BULLETIN BOARD
Sherri is a candidate for President of the Board of Directors.
A commitment to media that educates and entertains has been a core thread of my career. I've been working in broadcast media for over twenty years, but it's during the past eight that I have focused passionately on using media to enhance an appreciation of diversity and cross-cultural understanding, particularly for children. I believe that any discussion of media and children must acknowledge the pervasive extent of media in our culture and the need for children to develop strong critical thinking skills, leading to their media literacy. That passion is what first brought me to the AMLA and it's what is now leading me to run for president.
Currently, I serve as Director of the Media Education Lab at Temple University and on the faculty in the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media. My research with the Lab and on the faculty is balanced with an extensive background in commercial and public television as both a senior executive and producer. I've served in several leadership roles in public broadcasting, including General Manager of WYBE Public Television in Philadelphia and as a consultant with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I hold a masters degree in Public Culture from the University of Pennsylvania.
I've served on the board of AMLA for the past two years. During that time, I've had an opportunity to learn about the organization from the inside; its opportunities and its challenges. I've served as chair of the Development Committee, served on the committee for the National Media Education Conference and lead the committee that ultimately recommended a change in the name of the organization, to the National Association for Media Literacy Education. (This change is currently taking place.)
I am interested in serving as President of AMLA because I can see what is possible for the field of media literacy education with a strong, effective national organization. I am eager to share my experience in executive media management, public broadcasting, government advocacy, and visibility strengthening to help the AMLA reach its mission. As I look over the goals of the board and its committee structure, I see many connections to my experiences in public broadcasting and on previous boards. I understand the responsibility and the need for a board president who is active and committed and can create an environment for collaboration with our membership and all individuals interested in media literacy education. In my service on other nonprofit boards, I have held positions of Chair, Vice-Chair, Visibility Committee Chair, and Campaign Leadership Chair. I have also facilitated Strategic Planning and drafted the Plans themselves.
Articulating a vision for the AMLA is something that, I believe, requires input from the board and other thought leaders in the field. However, I do see a vision for AMLA in which the organization is at the forefront of bringing media literacy education to all environments that connect with young people; in school, after school, and in the media they (and we) consume. AMLA should be seen as the lead organization for media literacy education and its strongest advocate.
Amy is a candidate for First Vice President of the Board of Directors.
As a media educator I recognize that people daily navigate the mediated world. They are affected by trends the media inspires and exposed to messages they might not be prepared to understand or evaluate. I believe my responsibility as a teacher of media -in both the public schools and at the university level-is to provide people with opportunities to engage with the media through critical inquiry and creativity. The AMLA promotes structures that will allow this to happen beyond my current scope of influence. I want to help shape those structures. As 2007 NMEC conference chair I had the opportunity to engage in substantive dialogue about the future of media literacy education with AMLA members from across the country. I have been encouraged by the vision that the membership of AMLA has for the future of Media Literacy Education in America. In 2007 I participated in the creation of the AMLA's Core Principles of Media Literacy Education in the United States, a document that will be a key force in promoting media literacy education in schools, homes and in public spaces. This experience reinforced in me the value of dialogue and the exchange of ideas. If elected to serve on the board of directors I hope to promote further opportunities for collaboration among the membership, improved communication between the AMLA and regional organizations with in the membership. Mostly I bring an enthusiasm for work and a desire to continue learning.
Jane is a candidate for an at-large position on the Board of Directors.
I am applying to be a member of the AMLA board of directors because I want to continue to deepen my involvement in the media literacy movement, and I believe I can use my skills and talents to help both the movement and AMLA to grow. I have worked as a journalist and a public relations consultant, and I have used these skills in the past two years as the chair of the Communications Committee of the AMLA board of directors.
Although I teach college students, I strongly believe that media literacy needs to start at a much younger age. I am always disturbed to learn how few of my students have been exposed to critical analysis of the media prior to college. I am deeply committed to helping grade school and high school teachers to learn about media literacy and to providing resources for their teaching activities. My interests are in curriculum development in K-12, as well as at the college level. I have extensive experience with combining media literacy education and service learning at the University level. I am also interested in promoting media literacy scholarship and working to define its place in academia.
Brian is a candidate for an at-large position on the Board of Directors.
I share AMLA's vision to bring media literacy education into every classroom and every household. As an educator and media producer, I have also worked towards this goal. As a media producer, I have created community-based documentaries for public television that brought diverse and often unheard voices to the screen. As an educator, I have introduced courses in MLE into the Department of Education at Washington University and within my local community media center.
These experiences have allowed me to understand production from the inside out, and to work with teachers, students, and life-long learners in a wide variety of educational settings. It has also given me the opportunity to both teach and be taught by these creative producers of independent media. Along with producing and teaching, I also serve as webmaster for numerous non-profit and campus organizations. In doing so I have helped craft their images and grow their memberships.
If elected, I hope to serve on multiple committees--such as communications and marketing--that will allow me to contribute to AMLA in a similar way. Although I am relatively new to AMLA, I look forward to becoming more active. I attended my first NMEC conference last year in St Louis and will present this May in Detroit. Becoming more active through board service will broaden my perspective, put me in touch with others doing similar work, and allow me to contribute to the national effort to advance media literacy education.
Jane is a candidate for an at-large position on the Board of Directors.
My vision for AMLA as a national educational organization is that this organization would be instrumental in getting the message out to partner organizations, educational institutions, media and the public that it is essential that students receive education in media literacy. This message should entail that students not merely be exposed to media in the classroom but that there be educational frameworks in place that enable teachers, schools and community organizations to teach their citizens the tenets and the pedagogy of media literacy. This organization should also serve as a resource and clearing house on many platforms for research and information on media literacy.
I'm certified as a NY State Reading Teacher and I hold a Masters in Teaching Reading (K-12). This background and education enables me to offer the board an understanding of a broader framework of strategies to teach literacy as well as how media literacy fits into an all encompassing multi-modal literacy approach. From my work in public television I can offer the strong education component that is inherent in public television's media and outreach as well as the specific visual literacy strategies that apply to video. In this context it is important to address who is the author of the message, what is the purpose that the author had in creating this message and who is the intended audience of the message.
From my local board work and position on the executive staff at Mountain Lake PBS I can offer the board experience in the goal setting and fiscal responsibilities of a not-for -profit organization. In this capacity I've been involved in the following: strategic planning, creation of online materials and brochures and familiarity with the development and membership aspects of the organization.
I can commit fully to fulfilling my responsibilities as a board member of this organization. I would attend the yearly board meeting and also the 2009 conference. I also can fulfill the weekly email responsibilities as well as the monthly conference calls.
As a board member I hope to achieve many things both personally and more broadly to benefit the organization. Personally, I feel that I can increase my knowledge in this field and be instrumental in conveying the message that media literacy is an essential component of a free society. Students of the 21st Century need these skills so that they can discern the messages that are coming at them from many different formats and make informed decisions and problem solve based on this knowledge. Media education for today's students should constitute not only reading for information but the ability to critically analyze this information. In conclusion, I think that I can help the organization make the case that is important for our society and for the maintenance of our individual rights that citizens be educated on how to "read" media and be informed critical evaluators of media.
Cindy is a candidate for an at-large position on the Board of Directors.