Cle Cousins, an instructor in the Department of Mass Communication at UNC Pembroke, has been selected as a faculty fellow of the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, housed at Florida International University.

Cousins is a former TV and newspaper reporter who teaches courses in writing and broadcasting at UNCP and serves as coordinator of internships. She is completing her dissertation in communication at Regent University.

The Kopenhaver Center was founded in 2012 to mentor successive generations of young scholars and professionals as they build careers in mass communication and to develop leaders and visionaries who can make a difference in their communities or professions.

As a member of the 2022 cohort, Cousins attended the “Women Faculty Moving Forward” workshop at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference on August 2 in Detroit, Mich. The keynote speaker was Lucy Dalglish, Dean of the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

“In Detroit, we had frank conversations about the ups and downs of being a female in academia and the field of communication,” Cousins said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to be mentored by Dr. Dalglish and other great women leaders as I build my career.”

The faculty fellows will be invited to additional training and networking activities planned during the year by the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women and the Kopenhaver Center.

“We’re really excited for Cle,” said Dr. Jamie Litty, chair of the UNCP Department of Mass Communication. “She’s been doing yeoman’s work as a full-time instructor in our curriculum while completing her doctoral studies. She’s in the data collection stage of her dissertation right now, and we’re looking forward to the results.”