Students Help Compassionate Professor Earn National Honor

There’s winning an award, and then there’s winning one for which you were nominated by your students. Jenny Wohlfarth appreciates the magnitude of what might seem like a minor difference.

“It means so much to me,” says Wohlfarth, winner of this year’s Society of Professional Journalists’ (SPJ) David L. Eshelman Outstanding Campus Adviser Award. “A person advises a student organization because they’re invested in undergraduate education and extracurricular activities matter to them. That makes it all the more valuable to be nominated by students for an honor like this.”

Wohlfarth, educator associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the University of Cincinnati’s

Journalism Department

, is the adviser of UC’s student chapter of SPJ. She will be presented with her award at the Excellence in Journalism 2012 conference held from Sept. 20-22 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. SPJ is a nonprofit organization protecting the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press, promoting journalism ethics and supporting journalism education.

As adviser to UC’s chapter, Wohlfarth’s primary role is to serve as an official resource for the students. She helps with administrative responsibilities, planning events, getting access to campus resources, connecting with professional partners of the Journalism Department and reaching out to recent graduates.

Unofficially, she serves as head cheerleader. Just ask last year’s UC SPJ president and journalism alumna Sara Maratta, who also was one of the students who nominated Wohlfarth for the SPJ award. Wohlfarth was Maratta's journalism adviser, and through four years of deadlines and dilemmas, Maratta knew she had a constant mentor and advocate at her side.

“She just gives off this aura of positive energy,” Maratta says. “Everyone in her eyes has potential to do great things. She will make sure you have the opportunity to show your skills, whether it’s in the classroom, writing for one of our student publications or helping you get an internship by acting as a reference. She’s always been there for us.”

Wohlfarth is proud of the steady growth she’s seen in UC SPJ’s membership the past couple years. During her time as adviser, the group has hosted well-attended events ranging from a panel discussion on reporting on tragedy and trauma to a “Faculty Feud” gameshow-style trivia contest pitting students against faculty. This year the group is considering events for internship recruiting, diversity in journalism and First Amendment rights.

In the meantime, Wohlfarth remains humbled by the national recognition she’s received and hopes it serves as an example of the commitment to undergraduate education that is so prevalent in the Journalism Department, the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences and throughout UC.

“The investment of time outside your normal arena of responsibility pays off because you see how it enhances your students’ lives,” Wohlfarth says. “We’re committed to students learning inside and outside the classroom and providing as many opportunities as possible for them to show leadership and get involved with the community and their discipline. It ties in with the whole idea of a liberal arts education where you’re engaged on many levels and you’re opening your mind to thinking about what you could do with your own career.”