Kathleen W. Wickham

Kathleen W. Wickham is a professor of journalism in the School of Journalism & New Media at the University of Mississippi. Her edited book, James Meredith: Breaking the Barrier, served as the commemorative book for the university's 60th anniversary events marking Meredith's integration of the university. She is also the author of We Believed We Were Immortal: Twelve Reporters Who Covered the 1962 Integration Crisis at Ole Miss (2017). In 2022 she was awarded the Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History, for the publication of "The Magnifying Effect of Television News: Civil Rights Coverage and Eyes on the Prize," published in American Journalism. Her significant campus projects included having the UM campus named a national historic site in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists in honor of the 300-plus reporters who covered Meredith's enrollment and the dedication of a memorial bench honoring Agence France-Press reporter Paul Guihard, killed during the subsequent riot. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Wickham worked as a reporter for 10 years in her native New Jersey, ending her reporting career as the Atlantic City bureau chief for the Newark Star-Ledger. For the last 15 years she has served as a judge for the National Headliner Journalism Awards, one of the nation's oldest journalist contests with categories across all media platforms.