Ph.D. alumna wins AJHA’s Blanchard Dissertation Prize

Melita Garza, a 2012 UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Ph.D. graduate, won the American Journalism Historians Association’s (AJHA) 2013 Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize given for the best doctoral dissertation dealing with mass communication history.

Garza, an assistant professor at Texas Christian University, won the award for her dissertation titled “They Came to Toil: News Frames of Wanted and Unwanted Mexicans in the Great Depression.”

This study comparatively analyzes news coverage of Mexicans, repatriation and immigration in independently owned English- and Spanish-language newspapers in San Antonio during the deepest recessionary period of the Great Depression.

Garza will receive $500 and a plaque during the 2013 AJHA national convention in New Orleans in September.

Garza completed her dissertation at the University of North Carolina under the direction of associate professor Barbara Friedman.

AJHA grants the annual award to the best doctoral dissertation dealing with mass communication history completed during the prior calendar year. The prize has been awarded since 1997.

Carolyn Edy, a 2012 Ph.D. alumna, received honorable mention and a $200 award for her dissertation “Conditions of Acceptance: The United States Military, the Press, and the ‘Woman War Correspondent,’ 1846-1945.” Alumni Distinguished Professor Jean Folkerts served as her dissertation committee chair.

Garza and Edy will discuss their work during a special session at the AJHA national convention.

Founded in 1981, the American Journalism Historians Association seeks to advance education and research in mass communication history. Members work to raise historical standards and ensure that all scholars and students recognize the vast importance of media history and apply this knowledge to the advancement of society.

For more information on AJHA, visit ajhaonline.org.