PULLMAN, Wash. — David Cuillier, a doctoral student in Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, won first place in the Graduate Student Promising Professors competition. The event was sponsored by the Mass Communication and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Cuillier will give a lecture and receive recognition for the award at the AEJMC’s Promising Professor workshop Aug. 3 in Toronto.
His upper-level degree work at WSU was preceded by a decade spent in print journalism as a reporter and editor at newspapers in a number of Northwest cities, including Everett, Kennewick, Vancouver and Boise, Idaho.
“My professional career was preparation,” Cuillier said. “I always wanted to teach.” Besides professional experience, Cuillier returned to school with a wife and two children, ages 7 and 5.
He earned a master’s degree from the Murrow School in August 2003 and was the first student accepted to the communication doctoral program, which began last fall. The doctorate in communication at the Murrow School is unique in that it focuses on intercultural communication.
Cuillier is investigating various segments of society and whether there are discrepancies among groups in access to government records and meetings. His graduate research position for AccessNorthwest at WSU focuses on open-government issues. He is also investigating the impact of Web sites on tribes in the Northwest.
According to Cuillier, the decision to continue his education at WSU was easy. “This is the place to go for communication. They have some really good people here who are tops in their field. I’m glad I did it,” he said. He expects to complete his doctorate in spring 2006.
Cuillier is already getting a taste of standing in front of the classroom. He lectures in the Murrow School and is a part-time adjunct journalism lecturer at the University of Idaho.
“He is a natural in the classroom,” said Susan D. Ross, associate professor in the Murrow School, director of AccessNorthwest and Cuillier’s doctoral adviser. “His lecture style is easy-going, even conversational, which encourages class participation and student questions. He connects extremely well with the students.”
“I think I’ve reached the conclusion that if students are bored or get the idea you are bored then they don’t learn very well,” Cuillier said. “Not only do we have to know our stuff as teachers, but we have to learn how to deliver it effectively and go the extra step to make it interesting and get students charged up.”
According to Ross, “Cuillier simply exudes commitment to the topic and to the students. I expect David will be a charismatic leader in the classroom and among his peers.”
Cuillier credits Ross and Kenton Bird, interim director for the UI School of Journalism and Mass Media, for writing letters of support and encouraging his entry in the Promising Professor competition. The experience teaching news writing at WSU and UI was invaluable in developing a portfolio for the competition, he said.
AEJMC is a non-profit, educational association of journalism and mass communication faculty, administrators, students and media professionals with an estimated worldwide membership of 3,500.
