Mayeux wins Bliss Award for distinguished broadcast journalism education

Topping off his 36-year career at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Peter Mayeux was 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. Mayeux, who retired at the end of the spring semester, is the 23rd winner of this academic distinction. He will be recognized in a ceremony Aug. 11 at the association's convention in San Antonio.

The award announcement included this comment from a 1974 graduate, now a TV news director in Kansas: "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."

The announcement also cited Mayeux's 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.

In nominating him for the award, UNL 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."

CONTACT: Jerry Renaud, Assoc. Professor, Broadcasting, (402) 472-3056