Brown to be honored with Massey Distinguished Service Award

Jane D. Brown, James L. Knight Distinguished Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, is one of six employees selected by Chancellor Holden Thorp to receive 2011 C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards, one of the most coveted distinctions the University gives faculty and staff.

Thorp will honor Brown and the other recipients, who were chosen from nominations from the campus community, at an awards luncheon on April 9. Each will receive a $6,000 stipend and an award citation.

Praised as “the epitome of a University citizen,” Brown has made a tangible difference at Carolina since she joined the faculty of the journalism school in 1977. Her impact also has been felt beyond campus, with committee service spanning from the local community to the White House.

At Carolina, she served as director of the Academic Leadership Program in the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and as a member of the Chancellor’s Naming Committee.

A former chair of the faculty (1994–97), Brown has also chaired the UNC Task Force on Future Promotion and Tenure Policies and Practices, the University Child Care Committee and the Faculty/Staff Development Campaign.

She developed and now leads the journalism school’s undergraduate honors program and has earned national renown for her research into the media’s influence on teen tobacco and alcohol use, aggression and sexual behavior.

Recipients of this year’s Massey Award also include: Ruben Gonzalez-Crespo, interpreter in the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; Helen M. Marsh, environmental technician in Housekeeping Services; Mark Meares, director of corporate and foundation relations in the Office of University Development; Karen Shelton, head coach of women’s field hockey in the Department of Athletics; and Tom Sudderth, landscape installation supervisor in Grounds Services.

The late C. Knox Massey of Durham created the awards in 1980 to recognize “unusual, meritorious or superior contributions” by University employees. In 1984, he joined the families of his son, Knox Massey Jr., and daughter, Kay Massey Weatherspoon, in creating the Massey-Weatherspoon fund. Income from the fund supports the Massey Awards and Carolina Seminars.