KansasCity.com

Improving journalism with cultural insights

10:39 PM CST

Earnest L. Perry has helped make diversity count at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. Since 2005, he has been chair and associate professor of journalism studies. No African-American held such a position when I was a student in the mid-’70s. But Perry, who in 1998 was the first African-American man to receive a Ph.D. at the journalism school, has helped the school and students be better able to cover the increasing diversity in the United States.