In honor of Media Literacy Week, November 6-10, each day we will recognize a key figure in the field of media literacy here in Washington state.
Barbara Johnson has been working for the last 26 years as a program operations specialist at NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy, College of Education UW. The center develops media literacy curriculum as a hook to address teen health issues. As part of the center staff she has traveled the state of Washington doing focus work groups with parents, teachers and students to develop effective curriculum that target a wide-range of health issues. The project has trained teachers, community educators and youth to be facilitators in media literacy curriculum in school and community programs as well as organized statewide media literacy workshops and conferences. She is a founding member and treasurer of Action for Media Education.
Marilyn Cohen, AME’s Executive Director, was one of the founding members. Marilyn has been actively involved in media literacy education since the early 90s. She also currently serves as the Director of the Northwest Center for Excellence in Media Literacy, College of Education, University of Washington. Through her work with AME and the NW Center, she has taken a leadership role in organizing conferences and workshops designed to grow the media literacy movement particularly in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, in 2007 she assumed leadership in organizing the nation’s first Media Literacy Research Summit, sponsored by the organization now known as the National Association for Media Literacy Education. Marilyn has also written a number of media literacy-based curriculum materials that have been implemented widely by schools as well as by a broad range of groups and organizations serving young people across the nation.