Professor of Journalism and Professional Writing Kim Pearson received the Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award during the Faculty Senate Awards at this year’s Teaching and Learning Summit at TCNJ.
The award recognizes a full-time faculty member who has made an exceptional contribution to the college’s aim of becoming more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist.
Pearson said that her career as an educator was heavily influenced by her father who received his GED and went to graduate school all while raising her. Pearson, who became her father’s research assistant at the age of 10, said that growing up with a direct experience of the transformative power of education made her value the idea of providing opportunity for all.
She received an AB in Politics with a certificate in African American Studies from Princeton University, a MA in Journalism from New York University, and began teaching full time at TCNJ in 1990. She has taught a diverse range of courses including Media Entrepreneurship, Health and Environmental Journalism and Race, and Gender and the News. She also co-founded the interactive multimedia program.
Prior to teaching, she was a lay counselor for the Cancer Information Service and the writer and editor of a newsletter for allied health professions. Her research has received funding from Microsoft Research, the National Science Foundation and the New Jersey Council of the Humanities.
During her career, Pearson has reported on a range of issues. “I was influenced by the lack of representation of the kinds of people I knew. The communities I grew up in did not reflect anywhere near the reality understood,” Pearson said. “When I left the corporate world and came to academia, what I wanted to do was create learning environments in which students grapple with these emerging real world issues.”
Pearson said she believes it is important to create pathways for everybody to realize their potential in the economy and civic space that is emerging. and in order to understand that, it is important to have knowledge of history.
“What I hope I’ve done is helped students ask themselves what stories aren’t being told, to have some curiosity that is rooted in understanding that we’re all fundamentally human, flawed, and complicated,” Pearson said.
Tristan Weisenback ’25 said Pearson has been a great mentor throughout his four years at TCNJ.
“I had the opportunity to take four classes with her, and each one gave me a unique experience in journalism,” Weisenbach said. “I’ve used a lot of what she’s taught me in my work for The Signal and beyond. She’s always willing to help and support her students.”
– Emilia Calabrese ’27