UNL's Larry Walklin to be honored by Omaha Press Club Foundation

            Larry Walklin, a longtime professor at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will receive the Omaha Press Club Foundation's Journalism Educator Award at a dinner April 24.

            Rose Ann Shannon, news director at KETV in Omaha and chair of the college's professional advisory board, will be honored at the event with the foundation's Career Achievement Award.

            Walklin, the Fred and Gladys Seaton Professor, has taught a broad array of undergraduate and graduate courses at UNL since joining the faculty in 1967. The founding general manager of KRNU-FM, the university radio station, he headed the broadcasting program at the college and oversaw distance education graduate degree programs.

            Walklin also was president of UNL's academic senate and chaired the university's curriculum committee. He holds a bachelor's degree from Kansas State University, a master's degree from Michigan State University and a doctorate from the University of Iowa.

            Walklin grew up in Grand Island, where he started his broadcasting career at the KMMJ radio station at age 16. Outside of UNL, he was president of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, chaired its board of directors and had a term as its secretary-treasurer. He also has been on the National Association of Broadcasters First Amendment Committee.

            Walklin has chaired the Media Liaison Committee for the Nebraska Supreme Court and the Nebraska Court of Appeals. He also has been on the boards of directors of the Radio-Television News Directors Association and the Radio Television News Directors Foundation as well as head of the Radio-Television Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

            He and Shannon co-chair NBA's Freedom of Information Committee.

            Shannon, a graduate of the School of Communication at University of Nebraska at Omaha, joined KMTV as an intern in 1973 and worked there as a reporter, photographer, anchor and assignment editor. After a year as press aide to Omaha Mayor Mike Boyle, she joined KETV in 1986. She rose to news director in 1993 at the station, where she oversees more than 50 journalists and staffers.

            Shannon was president of the Omaha Press Club in 1992 and has been president of the OPC Foundation. Admitted to the Omaha Press Club Hall of Fame in 2012, she also chaired the ABC Affiliate News Director Advisory Board and has worked with Media of Nebraska, advocating for First Amendment rights.

Writer: Joe Weber, College of Journalism and Mass Communications