Tomi McCutchen Parrish, instructor of communications at the University of Tennessee at Martin, was elected the Southeast Journalism Conference president for 2011-12 at the recent annual SEJC convention, held this year in Troy, Ala.
SEJC includes 35 member schools in eight southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee.
As president, Ms. Parrish is working with a team of UT Martin student media staff members to plan the 2012 SEJC convention, which will be held on the UT Martin campus Feb. 9-11. The convention is expected to bring nearly 300 college journalism students and their advisers to Martin for two days of educational sessions as well as the annual onsite competition.
Student president and convention coordinator Kara Kidwell is a junior communications/public relations major from Martin. Student co-presidents are Spencer Taylor and Regina Emery. Taylor is a junior communications/news-editorial and history double major from Martin and Emery is a junior communications/news-editorial major from Dover.
Ms. Parrish has been the UT Martin faculty delegate for SEJC since 1999. She served as vice president of the group, overseeing its annual “Best of the South” off-site competition in 2004-05, and was president-elect for 2010-11. She also served as a contest judge in 2002 and 2003.
A graduate of UT Martin and the University of Alabama, Ms. Parrish worked as a daily newspaper copy editor for more than 10 years before joining the UT Martin faculty in 1996. She holds bachelor of science degrees in communications and geography and a master’s degree in journalism.
Along with teaching, Ms. Parrish serves as the coordinator of the Office of Student Publications, which oversees production of The Pacer student newspaper, The Spirit student magazine and BeanSwitch literary and visual arts magazine. Her office also works closely with WUTM, the student radio station. WUTM and The Pacer have several SEJC awards to their credit, along with numerous student awards in the past decade of UT Martin’s association with SEJC.
Ms. Parrish also serves her department as the internship coordinator for public relations and visual communication majors, and teaches the yearbook elective each summer in the Governor’s School for the Humanities. She is a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Federal Requirements Committee and the Humanities and Fine Arts Curriculum Committee, serves as the local election stringer for the Associated Press and is an elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Martin.