AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity Interview with Barbara Hines

  • Introduction
  • Dr. Hines discusses her childhood, her love of writing, and the factors that influenced her interest in journalism.
  • Dr. Hines recalls what her media choices were like as a child.
  • Dr. Hines talks about when she first noticed the need for diversity while working at the Daily Texan at the University of Texas at Austin.
  • Dr. Hines shares information about the types of stories that she was personally involved in while working at the Daily Texan and her efforts to address diversity through that work.
  • Dr. Hines talks about the fact that the need to address diversity didn't really come to her attention until she was teaching high school journalism and speech at Parkdale High School in Prince George's County, Maryland.
  • Dr. Hines address what her experience was like after being recruited to teach at the University of Maryland at College Park and some of the programs that she worked with to develop internship programs while serving as the assistant Dean of the College of journalism in order to increase diversity within journalism.
  • Dr. Hines shares how working on internship programs led her to create high school journalism workshops at College Park before Lee Barrow, Dean of the School of Communications at Howard University, asked her if she would be interested in teaching at Howard.
  • Dr. Hines talks about being part of a completely different environment at an HBCU (Historically Black College University) and some of the work the she was able to accomplish while there.
  • Dr. Hines recounts starting a program at College Park that rewarded local high school students with a scholarship to the school and an internship with the Baltimore Sun. She talks about the purpose of the program as well as a few of the success stories of participants, Michelle Singletary and Milton Kent.
  • Dr. Hines explains how she got her first job out of college, working as a press secretary for Senator Yarborrow from Texas, and talks about the things that she learned while holding that position, including opportunities to meet people like Cesar Chavez, Ted Kennedy, Jay William Fulbright, and others.
  • Dr. Hines credits Senator Yarborrow for encouraging her to continue on with her education, and mentions that it didn't hurt that she was dating someone in Washington at the time who had helped her get the position of editor of her high school newspaper.
  • Dr. Hines shares that she was offered a position teaching in Prince George's County at the same time that the Senator Yarborrow lost his re-election to Lloyd Benson. She worked both positions until the Senator's last day in office and then began teaching exclusively.
  • Dr. Hines talks about her interest in media and educational achievements during the time she was working on Capitol Hill. She also discusses the opportunities that working in variety of fields afforded in because of relationships she had established.
  • Dr. Hines describes what is was like to work at Howard University as a minority among a minority, and some of the experiences she had interacting with students.
  • Dr. Hines explains her experiences at the College Park Campus as a woman, and some of the comments that were made to her about her ability to achieve tenure as well as the eventual lawsuit that was filed on behalf of female faculty.
  • Dr. Hines explains her efforts to push her students out of their comfort zone so that they might look outside the box, and take opportunities regardless of where they were located.
  • Dr. Hines did all she could to push herself as well so that her students might benefit from her experiences.
  • Dr. Hines addresses the diversity issues she encountered as she got more involved with the graduate program and the opportunities her students had to gain experiences in all types of settings including internationally.
  • Dr. Hines talks about the blessing and the curse of working at Howard University in Washington DC. with the multitude of opportunities and the need to find balance in their own lives.
  • Dr. Hines shares the agenda she tried to establish within different organizations as she served in their leadership. She starts with PRSA (Public Relations Society of America).
  • Dr. Hines shares an annecdote about helping provide training for PR professionals at Paluszek & Leslie Associates which later became Ketchum Communications.
  • Dr. Hines explains her approach to participating and serving within AEJMC and its divisions; not consider herself a special leader in any specific organization, but "just a good soldier".
  • Dr. Hines expresses her concerns about where things are going with respect to issues of diversity because of our growing dependance on technology and the state of the industries involved.
  • Dr. Hines is concerned with the struggles of the journalism industry and how it is affecting the organizations of NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists), NAHJ (National Association of Hispanic Journalists), and others.
  • Dr. Hines worries about the current state of societal communications skills and admits that they doesn't know ho things can be fixed, but she expresses a need to focus on communication moving forward.