The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 8/29/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Alison Stinchcomb/ THE DAILY GAMECOCK Augie Grant of the journalism school won the Texas Broadcasters Association's professor of the year award.

The Texas Broadcasters Association named journalism professor Augie Grant Educator of the Year this summer, returning him to his academic roots.

"I was surprised and very humbled," he said.

Grant worked with the Texas Broadcasters Association for 24 years and his first teaching job was in the state.

"Even after I left Texas, I kept my connections," Grant said. He credited technology for allowing him to stay close to his beginnings.

"To see this industry and how much it does - it's a pretty incredible thing," Grant said. "The same technology I teach about allows me, even though I'm living in South Carolina, to do everything I would do in Texas if I were there."

Colleague Dr. Lisa Sisk, a public relations professor, said the award reflects Grant's talent.

"I'm personally very proud of him," she said. "I love that it's a Texas award. It illustrates how his reach is far beyond South Carolina."

Grant began a career in local broadcasting while earning a bachelor's degree at the University of Florida, where he returned for a master's degree.

He then joined the faculty of the Radio-Television-Film Department at Sam Houston State University. After completing his doctorate at the University of Southern California, he joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin.

"The best part of teaching is helping a student find the 'ah-ha' moments, helping a student who is trying to understand how a process works and taking them to the point where they figure out where their place is," he said.

In 1996, Grant first taught at USC as a visiting professor. He started full time at Carolina a year later. He left for two years during the Internet boom; from 1998 to 2000, he was market research director for 2Wire, Inc., a telecommunications start-up in San Jose, Calif.

"I had a former student who offered me the opportunity to be the director of entertainment for an Internet start-up company," he said. "Things like that only come along once in a lifetime, so I said, 'Well, I'll take the chance.'"

He returned to USC in 2002, combining the study of traditional and emerging media with emphasis on media management, organizational structure, integrated communication, and consumer behavior.

Grant primarily teaches research classes, but also teaches new media - journalism slang for news on the Internet.

"I love it when my undergraduates come from one of his research classes because I know they know what they're doing," Sisk said.

In addition to his teaching, Grant has been an industry consultant - some of his clients have included the Fox Broadcasting Network, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Group W Productions and Nielsen Media Research - and is the editor of Communication Technology Update, a semi-annual review of the latest developments in consumer electronics, telephony, electronic mass media, and satellite technology.

Since 2005, he has been the Director of Training for USC's AMBER Alert training program, which helps find missing children.

"I like his outlook," said Sisk. "He pays attention to his students and has fun."

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