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Frank Jamison gets community access leadership award

July 24, 2008

KALAMAZOO--Frank R. Jamison, professor emeritus of instructional media at Western Michigan University, has received the 2008 Roxie L. Cole Leadership Award for exemplifying the spirit of access television in the community."

The award, given by the Alliance for Community Media­Central States Region, was presented during the alliance's regional conference May 2 in Cincinnati and was announced locally by Kalamazoo's Community Access Center.

Jamison was selected as this year's Cole Leadership Award recipient out of individuals from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana for his initiative, skill and effectiveness in forwarding the cause of community media in the Kalamazoo area.

The award is named in honor of a community media pioneer who died in 1994. Known to many as the mother of public access, she started public access in Dayton, Ohio, in 1978 and was a vital part of the Alliance for Community Media's development.

Receiving this year's award was particularly poignant for Jamison, who personally knew the award's namesake and is a pioneer himself.

In 1990, Jamison was named a founder of SCOLA, the Satellite Communications for Learning, International television network. In designating him for the honor, SCOLA noted his efforts to expand and produce international programming locally and nationally. It also cited him and Dr. Howard R. Poole, WMU professor emeritus of educational studies, for having conducting the most comprehensive research to date on the educational uses of foreign news broadcasts in higher education.

In addition, Jamison was instrumental in establishing the Community Access Center in 1981 and has been active with this center ever since. He currently serves as treasurer of the board of directors and as a national board member of the Alliance for Community Media.

"His support of community media is genuine in that he has not only been involved on a strategic level, he has taken full advantage of the opportunity to share his 'voice' with the community as a television producer," the access center noted in announcing his recent award.

"Providing interviews with Kalamazoo residents as well as with the likes of President Ford and the Dalai Lama to showcasing his travels to destinations as exotic as Vietnam, Tibet and Cuba, Jamison has been a testament to the relevance of the Access Television medium."

Jamison came to WMU from commercial and public television in 1967. He joined the staff as manager of television services and a decade later, also was appointed to the faculty.

During his tenure, he served in such staff positions as head of Media Services and of Audiovisual Services as well as supervised the initial programming design for EduCABLE, the University's campuswide cable television system.

A 33-year employee, Jamison retired in 2001 as a faculty member and as the University's manager of video distribution and general manager of EduCABLE.

Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu

WMU News
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