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 in the spring, foundation officials announced.
Rose Ann Shannon, news director at KETV in Omaha and chair of CoJMC’s professional advisory board, will also be honored at the April 24 event with the foundation’s Career Achievement Award.
Walklin, the Fred and Gladys Seaton Professor at CoJMC, has taught a broad array of undergraduate and graduate courses at University of Nebraska–Lincoln 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 has served as president of the university'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, Nebraska, where he started his broadcasting career at the KMMJ radio station at age 16. Outside of University of Nebraska–Lincoln, he has served as president of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and chaired its board of directors, as well as served as NBA secretary-treasurer. He also has served 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 served 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 now co-chair the NBA’s Freedom of Information Committee.
Shannon, a graduate of the School of Communication at University of Nebraska, Omaha, joined KMTV as an intern in 1973 and worked there as a reporter, photographer, anchor and assignment editor. After a year serving as press aide to Omaha Mayor Mike Boyle, she joined KETV in 1986. She rose to news director in 1993 at the station, the ABC affiliate in Omaha, where she now oversees more than 50 journalists and staffers.
Shannon in 1992 served as president of the Omaha Press Club and has served as 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.
The dinner honoring the pair will be at the Omaha Press Club, 1620 Dodge Street, Omaha.
