Barbara Cloud, professor emeritus in the UNLV Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, was recently awarded the prestigious Sidney Kobre Award from the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA).
The award, which is given for lifetime achievement in the field of journalism history, was presented to Cloud at the association's annual meeting in San Antonio. Cloud has been active in the AJHA for more than 20 years, during which she served as the association's first woman president. She has also edited the publication "Journalism History," which is considered to be the preeminent journal in the field.
"Barbara has had a major impact on the field of media history, both as editor of "Journalism History" and as a historian of the frontier press," said David Sloan, AJHA Founder and professor of journalism at the University of Alabama. "Her service as one of the early presidents of the AJHA helped put the organization on a sound footing and contributed greatly to its long term vitality."
Sloan also added that one of Cloud's books, "The Business of Newspapers on the Western Frontier," added a new dimension of scholarship to the study of frontier journalism. Published in 1992 by the University of Nevada Press, the book was one of the first to emphasize the realties of frontier publishing. It won the Wilbur Shepperson Humanities Book Award from the Nevada Humanities Council that same year.
Ardyth Sohn, director of UNLV's journalism school, also had praise for Cloud's accomplishments. "Her contributions are extraordinary and extend to a multitude of students who are guided and enriched by her scholarship," Sohn said. "She is a premier example of the best a scholar citizen can be in our field."
Cloud's present research activity focuses on a biography of Charles P. "Pop" Squires, a long-time Las Vegas newspaper editor, who helped lead the fight for Hoover Dam and the Colorado River Commission. She is also the only person to have headed all three of the national organizations devoted to the study of media history: History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and of the Broadcast Education Association, and as President of the American Journalism Historians Association.
Cloud, who retired July 1 after 26 years at UNLV, has also chaired the Nevada Humanities Committee.