Peter Mayeux—a teacher who for decades, colleagues say, was "always far too busy with students" to seek much recognition—has been named winner of the 2005 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education.

The award is conferred annually by the Radio-Television Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

As the 23rd winner of this high academic distinction, Professor
Mayeux will be recognized in a ceremony Aug. 11, 2005, at the AEJMC
convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Mayeux retired from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln following the 2004-05 academic year, having taught there for 36 years. He earned a reputation for wisdom and for rigor balanced with gentleness. The impressions he left on broadcast students are typified by this comment from a Kansas TV news director (class of 1974): "To this day, when I must correct employees or news interns I try to emulate the understanding, easy-going demeanor of Peter Mayeux. It works much better than yelling and throwing keyboards."

A Louisiana native, the 2005 Ed Bliss awardee studied at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and the University of Iowa during the 1960s. He worked as an announcer, reporter, anchor, producer, and station manager for a string of commercial stations, as well as in university broadcasting. In 1969 he joined the faculty of the then-tiny broadcasting department at Nebraska.

Research and textbook publication in the field of broadcast news became major priorities for Mayeux, always ranking behind his main professional priority and passion, teaching. From an early journal article on television critics to visiting-lecturer roles at other universities, his knowledge of and insights into electronic media became widely known. He published his first textbook, Writing for the Broadcast Media, in 1985 and later produced two more.

Meanwhile, he took an active, hands-on approach to the teaching of broadcast production. He executive-produced many series of student-produced radio documentaries, some of which won awards from broadcast organizations and the Society of Professional Journalists. He also oversaw production of television documentaries aired on the Nebraska ETV Network. He supervised student-generated broadcast advertising campaigns and the design of radio-television spot announcements for a number of Nebraska nonprofit organizations.

Along the way, Mayeux’s expertise led to his service as a judge in dozens of contests and competitions among broadcast-news professionals. He contributed countless hours as an adviser, speaker, and program coordinator to community agencies, all the while staying active in media and academic organizations.

In recent years, he has become well known for articles and presentations on media history. He also has written for trade publications on broadcast topics, and has contributed many reviews of media books. His own textbooks continue to spread the Mayeux teaching style and precepts to universities in more than 100 countries.

In nominating him for the 2005 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education, Nebraska-Lincoln broadcasting sequence head Jerry Renaud and associate professor Laurie Thomas Lee wrote, "It will be incredibly sad (in fall semester 2005) when faculty report back and Peter is not here. Something special will be missing…And we can’t think of a more fitting end to his career than being the recipient of this award."

Clearly, the Mayeux teaching imprint will remain an example of excellence, as it has done for a 36-year run of Nebraska broadcasting students. One of them, now an Omaha TV anchor, offers this tribute: "I’m pursuing my Master’s at UN-L in hopes of one day teaching at the university level…and if I can be half the instructor Peter Mayeux was…you know the rest."

Over the decades, his selfless devotion to his department, college, and
university kept Mayeux busy with scores of committee appointments and leadership roles in academic matters ranging far beyond the broadcast curriculum. In effect, he became a living institution at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—not to mention a dear friend and admired colleague of many.

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Peter Mayeux joins this lineup of distinguished broadcast
journalism educators honored by AEJMC's Radio-Television Journalism
Division:

Jack Shelly, Iowa State (1983); Ed Bliss, American University
(1984); Dick Yoakam, Indiana (1985); Henry Lippold, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1986); Rod Gelatt, Missouri (1987); Mitchell Charnley, Minnesota (1988); Don Brown, Arizona State (1989); Irving Fang, Minnesota (1990): Ernest F. Andrews, Syracuse (1991); Al Anderson, Texas-Austin (1992); Michael Murray, Missouri-St. Louis (1993); Joseph R. Dominick, Georgia (1994); Joan Konner, Columbia (1995); Gordon Greb, San Jose State (1996); Travis Linn, Nevada-Reno (1997); Vernon Stone, Missouri (1998); Elmer Lower, Missouri and other universities (1999); Ken Keller, Southern Illinois (2000); Lincoln Furber, American University, 2001; James Hoyt, Wisconsin-Madison (2002); Phillip Keirstead, Florida A&M (2003); and Thomas Griffiths, Brigham Young University (2004).

For more information contact Jim Upshaw, Chair, Bliss Award
Committee, at the University of Oregon: jupshaw@uoregon.edu or (541) 346-3745.