Joel Beeson, associate professor in West Virginia University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, has received a first-place, national award for “Best Practices in Teaching of Diversity” by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

He will receive the award and present his winning entry, “Civic Engagement, New Media and Journalism: A Template for the Organic Incorporation of Diversity into a New Journalism Curriculum,” at the organization’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass., in August.

Beeson’s work in diversity-conscious service learning has been honored in recent years by the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans’ Brain Trust, Society for Professional Journalists and Broadcast Educators Association, among others.

Beeson challenges students to imagine how stories can be told with different voices, perspectives and media while empowering them to practice new journalism with more dimension and cultural awareness.

Official press release at http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/news/page/7865/.