Kajsa Dalrymple, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, earns Collegiate Teaching Award

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Kajsa Dalrymple, University of IowaThe University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has given the Collegiate Teaching Award for 2021 to Associate Professor Kajsa Dalrymple of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Dalrymple is her department's director of graduate studies and has worked with students in past semesters as faculty advisor of the Journalism Living Learning Community and the SJMC Graduate Student Association, which awarded her the Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award in 2014. She focuses her research on environmental communication and policy, studying the impact of influencers within social networks on creating positive social change. As founder and co-director of the Iowa Policy and Opinion Lab (IPOL) and the Policy Research on Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Team, Dalrymple works closely with undergraduate and graduate students to create opportunities for hands on research that engages government agencies, interest groups, and the public.

Dalrymple's students say her teaching has led them to understand the power of journalism.

"She emboldened the class to think critically about effective messaging for environmental issues in different contexts and on various media platforms," the student said.

A former student reflected on Dalrymple's ability to make even introductory course content exciting.

"I had the privilege of first getting to know Kajsa when she was my professor for the journalism prerequisite course, Media Uses and Effects," the alumnus said. "As we all know, freshman general education classes are known to be either a) intimidating, b) boring, c) impersonal, or d) all of the above. Kajsa defied these expectations by offering a course that was dynamic, inclusive, and engaging."

David Ryfe, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, hailed Dalrymple as an exemplary instructor, noting that she was named a "First Year Student Champion" in both 2013 and 2014.

"During her tenure in the School," Ryfe said, "she has demonstrated unqualified excellence in the classroom."

Dalrymple earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin, and joined the UI faculty in 2011.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.