Missouri School of Journalism: Profiles in Success: Shirley Staples Carter '87

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Name: Shirley Staples Carter
Degree and Year: PhD '87
Academic Institution: University of South Carolina
Academic Institution Web Site: http://www.jour.sc.edu/
Title: Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communications
City and State: Columbia, S.C.

Shirley Staples Carter, PhD '87

What do you do?
I oversee faculty and programs, budgets, resource development and allocation. I provide academic and administrative leadership, while representing the School to a wide range of campus and professional constituencies.

How did you get your job?
I began my career track as a journalism professor and administrator at mainstream universities through professional contacts I made as a doctoral student at Mizzou in the 1980s. Since then, I have served as a chair or director of journalism and mass communication programs at diverse institutions across the country.

Best professional lesson learned at the J-School?
The importance of accuracy, fairness and freedom of information. My exposure to the Freedom of Information Center at Mizzou led to my becoming a founding director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.

What would be your best advice to current students?
The Mizzou Journalism education extends beyond the classroom - take advantage of every opportunity the School provides to interact with professors, alumni and industry professionals. Participate in seminars, J-Week and work on the Missourian, or KOMU. My academic experience at Mizzou has become a lifelong exploration and quest for knowledge.

What makes you good at your job?
My work ethic, professionalism and drive to succeed borne of the Mizzou "show me" experience.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
Earning the respect of my peers and being elected President of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, an international organization of administrators of journalism and mass communication programs.

What is your secret to success?
Stay spiritually grounded.

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	Revised: 23 April 2007. Copyright © 2008 The Curators of the University of Missouri \| Contact the J-School