The Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at Florida International University has selected Dr. Kate Keib, assistant professor of communication studies, as a 2019 Kopenhaver Fellow.

Dr. Keib (left) at the kick off for the Kopenhaver Fellowship.

The fellowship program, designed for tenure-track women faculty members, focuses on advancing women in communications through mentoring, networking, and preparing for tenure, promotion, administration or other leadership roles.

The fellowship kicked off in August at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Toronto. There, Keib attended training workshops like “Women Faculty Moving Forward: Pathways for Success” and “Academic Leadership: What Does it Take for Women to Get There?”, led by senior scholars and administrators and women colleagues who have achieved significant leadership positions in their careers.

“It was an opportunity to hear from other women who have navigated careers in academia through the tenure process and some into leadership at their universities,” Keib said. “It was also a very important way to make face-to-face connections with colleagues across my field. I was able to meet them at the fellowship pre-conference, then make plans to attend their sessions and they mine so that we connected about teaching and research throughout the conference.”

In addition to the training and networking at the conference, the fellows will take part in leadership activities of both the Commission on the Status of Women and the Kopenhaver Center throughout the year, and will have opportunities to reunite at subsequent conferences.