Cronkite Professor Receives NATAS Silver Circle Award

Professor Donald Godfrey of the Cronkite School is presented with the Silver Circle Award by Jennifer Jones, president of the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Professor Donald Godfrey of the Cronkite School is presented with the Silver Circle Award by Jennifer Jones, president of the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Professor Donald Godfrey has been named a recipient of the 2007 Silver Circle Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Godfrey, who has been part of the faculty at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 1988, was recognized for his contributions to the broadcast industry. He was one of eight broadcasters who received the award April 22 at an induction ceremony at the Arizona Club in Phoenix.

To be eligible for the Silver Circle honor, individuals must have served in the broadcast industry for at least 25 years and made major contributions to the television industry, according to Jan Jacobson, Silver and Gold Circle chair for the NATAS Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter, which includes Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and El Centro, Calif.

“Don’s combined extensive industry background and educational accomplishments made him a distinctive candidate for the Silver Circle Society,” she said in a written statement.

Godfrey is the editor of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, a national journal devoted to broadcast education and research. He has written or edited 10 books and numerous articles related to the broadcast industry and Mormon history.

He holds many honors, including the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts’ Founder’s Award and the International Television Association Merit award. He has been a National Association of Television Program Executives Fellow and was founding chair for the BEA’s Festival of Media Arts. He is a past president of BEA and the Council of Communications Associations.

Before coming to ASU, Godfrey worked in commercial radio, public and commercial television and corporate communications in Ogden, Utah, Eugene, Ore., Tucson, Ariz., Phoenix and Seattle. He continues to do freelance writing, consulting, and corporate work within the industry.

“Don has had a profound effect in steering students in their careers in broadcasting,” said John Craft, a board member for the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter and a fellow professor in the Cronkite School. “He has made a difference both academically and in the profession.”

Godfrey joins Craft and Cronkite Associate Dean Frederic Leigh in the NATAS Silver Circle.

This year’s other Silver Circle Award recipients are: George Allen, Frank Camacho, Hector Gonzalez, Michael Grant, Tom Heidinger, David Miller and Linda Williams.

The National Television Academy is a national organization founded in 1955 to promote artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry. The Academy hosts and sponsors the Emmy Awards for news and documentary, technology and engineering, community service, sports, business and financial reporting as well as several other categories.