NEW YORK, N.Y., JANUARY 3, 2011 – A former journalist-turned-journalism teacher at Campbell Universityis the 2011 John McCandlish Phillips Chair of Journalism for the World Journalism Institute at The King’s College in New York City.
The Manhattan-based World Journalism Institute announced today that veteran journalist Michael Ray Smith has been appointed to the 2011 John McCandlish Phillips Chair of Journalism, which honors the prolific New York Times writer and author known for his commitment to truth and lyrical prose.
The Phillips Chair is an honorific title.
“Dr. Smith has taught for WJI for several years and has consistently been acknowledged as a favorite by young journalists from around the country,” said Robert Case, WJI director. “We are pleased that Michael would accept this prestigious responsibility for this year.”
Smith is a professor of communication studies at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., 30 miles south of Raleigh.Smith teaches with Drs. Edward Johnson and J. Dean Farmer among others in the department.
He earned a doctorate in communication from Regent University and taught at state and private universities, at graduate and undergraduate schools and now is a professor at Campbell University.
An award-winning writer and photographer, he has been quoted in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Arizona Republic, Editor & Publisher, Christianity Today and many other periodicals. In addition, he’s been interviewed on France24 TV concerning newspaper pay walls and, recently, Wikileaks and its fallout. He has written five books, 12 journal articles and hundreds of articles for the popular press.
His latest book, Free press, Free hand: The Citizen Journalism of John McLean Harrington’s Handwritten Newspapers, is scheduled for publication in February 2011by Edenridge Press.
In 2008 Shippensburg University, his graduate school, honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, the highest award presented by the university. He has presented workshops on writing in the United States and overseas. He works with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication on issues of equity and disability. He and Barbara, his wife of 30 years, live in Lillington and have one daughter in university and another working in public relations and raising a family.
The World Journalism Institute’s mission is to recruit, equip, place and encourage Christian journalists in the newsrooms of America first and then the world. To that end, WJI offers courses, conferences, internship funding, and monographs on the intersection of Christianity and journalism.
Photo Copy: Dr. Michael Ray Smith