Professor, Department of Journalism
Dr. Lamar W. Bridges is professor of journalism. He is in his 28th year at A&M-Commerce, and he has been department head and interim department head for the former Department of Journalism, Photography, and Printing. He presently is Division co-ordinator for the journalism programs in the Department of Mass Media, Communication and Theatre. Journalism offers undergraduate degree sequences in news-editorial, public relations, and the secondary teaching of journalism.
As co-ordinator, Dr. Bridges teaches a full load each term, serves as internship director securing off-campus internship opportunities for majors, is adviser for majors, and recruits students for the University. For about 25 years, he has each spring directed the regional UIL competition on campus in addition to helping high schools in their UIL district competitions.
Dr. Bridges teaches a variety of courses, as the program dictates, but likes to focus on law and ethics and writing for print and public relations. His students in a community journalism class prepare stories for weekly and smaller newspapers, and he fields from time to time legal questions, always adding, “But, remember I am not an attorney.”
He is a co-author of Newspaper Competition in the Millennium (2006) and co-author of a chapter in Advances in Communications and Media Research (2008). He has authored or co-authored articles in Journalism Quarterly, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism History, The Journal of Media Economics, Business Research Yearbook, Newspaper Research Journal, The Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Louisiana History, The Journal of Mississippi History, The West Tennessee Historical Society Papers, and has served as a referee, moderator, and discussant at sessions of the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He serves on the panel of advisers for the prestigious George Polk Awards for Distinguished Achievement in American Journalism.
Dr. Bridges and his wife, Janet, are currently engaged in a study of front-page news values of a national sample of American newspapers, working with Dr. George Sylvie of The University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Sandra Utt of the University of Memphis. The research team also is examining online content of the sample, an addition to two earlier studies.
He is married to Dr. Janet Ann Schulz Bridges, who teaches at Sam Houston State University. They are the parents of two sons and reside in Commerce.