Trinity University

Russell Guerrero '83
russell.guerrero@trinity.edu
210-999-8444
Apr. 15, 2011

Communication Professor Receives Fulbright Award

Sammye Johnson, Carlos Augustus de Lozano Chair in Journalism, to teach in Finland

Sammye Johnson

SAN ANTONIO - Communication professor Sammye Johnson, who holds the Carlos Augustus de Lozano Chair in Journalism, has received a Fulbright Award from the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As a Fulbright scholar, Johnson will teach and conduct research in Finland. Only 12 Fulbright Awards were awarded for the 2010-2011 year in the academic field of journalism.

"This is a professional and personal high point for me to receive such a prestigious international award," said Johnson.

Johnson will spend the Fall 2011 semester at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, where she will be teaching a graduate course based on her book, The Magazine from Cover to Cover.  She will also work with graduate students to develop professional magazine projects and research dissertations focusing on magazine theories, methods, and applications.  

Johnson will also collaborate with Maija Töyry, professor of magazine journalism in the media department at Aalto University School of Art and Design on a project titled "Audience Construction in International Magazines."  

"We are going to study how licensed American magazines successfully construct their audiences in Finland and other European countries," said Johnson. "For example, Cosmopolitan, which has 59 international editions distributed in more than 100 countries, is both a brand and an editorial product for a specific reader." Johnson added that she will research how magazines with a particular identity are packaged by local marketing and editorial departments.

In addition to writing The Magazine from Cover to Cover, which she is currently revising for a third edition for Oxford University Press, Johnson is the author, along with Patricia Prijatel, of Magazine Publishing as well as numerous academic articles.  Johnson has also worked as a freelance journalist and editor for more than 30 years.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." With this goal as a starting point, the Fulbright Program has provided almost 300,000 participants - chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential - with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. The core Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year to lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.