Max McCoy, ESU English, Modern Languages, and Journalism professor and advisor to the ESU Bulletin student newspaper, was recognized by the College Media Association as the 2020 Noel Ross Strader Award winner.
The Noel Ross Strader Award is given annually to full-time teacher or adviser in campus journalism who has exercised the principle of freedom of the press “at some risk to personal or professional welfare” or made a “major contribution to the graphic or other physical progress of a campus publication,” according to CMA.
“At times, this award has been given to advisers who have been fired from jobs where they were punished for taking an ethical stand or sticking up for student journalism,” said McCoy, ”I’m pleased that isn’t the case here, and I am grateful for the support that my department and Emporia State, by and large, has shown for student journalism over the years.”
McCoy has served as adviser to the ESU Bulletin since the 2007-08 academic year. The Bulletin is a weekly publication operating as the student voice of Emporia State University since 1901.
When asked about receiving this honor, McCoy gave credit to the students of the ESU Bulletin: “I’ve been lucky enough to work with an outstanding series of student journalists. And working with them has convinced me that not only is there a future for journalism, but that the future might be better than anything we can imagine now.”
In addition to his role as a professor of journalism and Bulletin advisor, McCoy is the director of the university’s Center for Great Plains Studies, as well as an award-winning author.
“I’m honored, of course. Receiving an award of this sort is recognition of a lot of hard work and many late nights and a bit of soul-searching about the future of journalism.”
McCoy will be honored at the CMA/ACP Virtual 2020 Fall National College Media Convention on Oct. 23.