Faculty mentoring award for Brown

Carolina Women’s Leadership Council honors two UNC faculty for mentoring

The Carolina Women’s Leadership Council has honored UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Professor Jane Brown and School of Public Health Professor Jo Anne Earp with the Faculty Mentoring Award. The awards were presented during the council’s annual meeting at the Carolina Inn on Feb. 29.

Brown, the James L. Knight Professor at the school, received the award for faculty-to-faculty mentoring. Earp received the award for faculty-to-student mentoring.

Brown teaches courses in health communication and communication research and theory, and is responsible for the school’s undergraduate honors program. Many nominators said Brown serves as either an official or unofficial mentor for most of the female faculty there.

“Jane is a successful scientist who has made significant contributions to media studies and our knowledge of adolescent development,” said one nominator. “However, she also has the more rare quality of really caring about junior faculty, being inclusive in her interactions with students and faculty, and providing sound advice and guidance.”

Another nominator recalled this story: “I have known Jane Brown since 1986 when I first came to the University as a new assistant professor … there were no women in my department, and it would have been a more difficult role to be in had it not been for Jane. Jane was the first person to call me once I arrived; she introduced herself to me and invited me to lunch. … That lunch was so critical to my feeling more comfortable and welcome, and since that first lunch in 1986, Jane has continued to mentor me.”

The awards are funded by an endowment established by the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council, a volunteer committee formed during the Carolina First Campaign, the University’s major fund-raising drive that ended Dec. 31, 2007. The council continues to be engaged with the University, and council members have raised more than $260,000 to endow the mentoring awards as an effort to bolster faculty support.

The awards, which carry a stipend of $5,000 each, recognize outstanding faculty members who go the extra mile to guide, mentor and lead students or junior faculty members as they make career decisions, embark on research challenges and enrich their lives through public service, teaching and educational opportunities.

“We are deeply grateful to the Women’s Leadership Council for honoring and rewarding our faculty for their attention to nurturing the careers of students and colleagues,” said Bernadette Gray-Little, UNC executive vice chancellor and provost. “The nominations provided eloquent testimony of the critically important role that mentoring has played in the lives of those who nominated faculty for these awards. Congratulations to professors Brown and Earp for meriting this recognition, and to the many faculty who were nominated.”

Earp is a medical sociologist whose research interests focus on the role of social and attitudinal factors in explaining variation in health behaviors. This is not the first time she has been recognized as a wonderful mentor. In 2005, she received the John E. Larsh, Jr. Award for Mentorship at the School of Public Health.

One nominator said Earp “makes no distinction in people’s rank or position. Instead, what she sees is the potential in people, and then she sees it as her job to help them see – and realize – that potential as well.”

Another nominator wrote that “dozens of people” find themselves “caught up in Jo Anne’s orbit. … I imagine that they almost always conclude an interchange with Jo Anne knowing that now they have a good road map to go forward, that they are capable of facing the often daunting challenges before them and that they have the absolute best ally in their corner.” This same nominator concluded that “one of the most refreshing attributes about Jo Anne’s mentoring style is that, for her, it is a way of life.”

Julia Sprunt Grumbles, UNC Class of ’75 and co-chair of the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council, said the awards focus attention not only on Carolina’s excellent faculty but on the continuing need to support that excellence.

“An overwhelming number of faculty members have identified the need for more recognition programs to honor the fine work being done by our scholars,” Grumbles said. “To that end, we found a way to honor those faculty members who have shared their wisdom and experience to lead, encourage and support students and colleagues in attaining academic and personal goals.”

First awarded in 2006, the mentoring awards will be an ongoing recognition program, open to tenured and tenure-track faculty, as well as fixed-term faculty who have taught at UNC for at least three years. Nominations may be submitted by anyone from the UNC community, including current and former faculty, staff and students. A selection committee appointed by the provost and on which Grumbles serves reviews and recommends the award recipients.

In 2006, the winners were Joy Kasson and Carla White-Harris. In 2007, the winners were Janna Dieckmann and Andrew Reynolds.

The Carolina Women’s Leadership Council is a nationwide network of women committed to supporting the University and students’ educational experiences. Along with providing financial support, members volunteer their time and share their expertise, champion UNC in their regions and serve on boards that further the University’s mission.