One of journalism’s top executives will travel more than 500 miles to be recognized alongside journalists such as Walter Cronkite and Otis Chandler.
Senior Vice President and Executive Editor for Associated Press Kathleen Carroll will be in Athens for two days to accept the Carr Van Anda Award, the top award given by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Carroll will give a speech after accepting the award Monday night in Baker University Center Theatre with a reception to follow.
Carroll will only be able to stay in Athens for two days because of her schedule, but she will be speaking in front of The Future of Media 1010 class — the largest journalism class offered at OU, said Robert Stewart, director of the journalism school.
“We know it’s a lot of trouble for her to come and be here, but we think if we get her in front of a lot of people, it will have the maximum effect,” Stewart said.
Carroll has held the position of AP’s executive editor since 2002 and senior vice president since 2003, and she served as a Pulitzer Prize board member from 2003 to 2012.
Andy Alexander, a 1972 alumnus of OU and current visiting professor, worked alongside her in Washington during the 1990s and nominated her for the award.
While Alexander worked as Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers, Carroll was a bureau chief for Knight Ridder, a former media company bought by the McClatchy Company in 2006.
“She adheres to the very highest standard in journalism,” Alexander said. “She very clearly articulates the importance of those (standards).”
The award is not always given on an annual basis, but Stewart said the school generally gives out one per year in honor of Carr Van Anda, an OU graduate who served as managing editor for The New York Times for 21 years.
“I think she is a lot like Carr Van Anda that he was a manager of a real large organization,” Stewart said.
Although the topic of Carroll’s speech has not yet been announced, Stewart said seeing her success as a boss in media should be inspirational to students.
“She is not a household name like a Walter Cronkite or Anderson Cooper, but she is an extremely influential and talented individual,” Stewart said.
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