April 29, 2010
For Immediate Release

Stan McKinney, assistant professor of journalism at Campbellsville University, thanks the CU Advancement Board for his selection as the Distinguished Professor at Honors and Awards Day. (Campbellsville University Photo by Ashley Zsedenyi)

By Linda Waggener, marketing and media relations coordinator

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Stan McKinney loves teaching journalism, photography and Mustangs. And his love of teaching earned him the Campbellsville University's Advancement Board's 18th Annual Excellence in Teaching Award for tenured faculty April 28 at the university's annual Honors and Awards Day.

The award is given annually to a faculty member who has excelled. Sara Curry, Gwinn Thompson Hahn and Betty Hord, members of the CU Advancement Board, made this year's presentation.

McKinney was given the award by Curry, chair of the CU Advancement Board, who has worked on several boards with McKinney over the years. McKinney served 20 years as the chair of the Campbellsville Fourth of July Celebration, and Curry worked with him on the board.

She said, “Stan is a beloved professor who values his students and who follows their careers and keeps up with their successes.”
Curry said the main criteria for the award is how a professor responds to students and how they respond to the professor.

“I've known Stan for years and years,” Curry said, “and I know of his devotion to the Fourth of July Celebration, to this community, and I know he is devoted to his students.”

She said the entire McKinney family including Stan's wife, Joan, who is being honored for 30 years of service to CU on April 30, and his daughter, Calen, who is a CU graduate and an adjunct instructor, “is very devoted to this university.”

Curry said McKinney has said the greatest compliment a student ever said to him was “You taught me to think.”

McKinney, who has taught at Campbellsville University ten years, said he was deeply honored to have received the award.
“I'm shocked,” McKinney said. “It's a great honor to be a member of the Campbellsville University faculty.”

He received a Distinguished Professor stole and a check for $3,000. The Distinguished Professor stole is worn during official Campbellsville University academic occasions.

McKinney has taught reporting, photojournalism, desktop publishing, media ethics and a variety of other classes at Campbellsville University since becoming a full-time professor in 2000. Prior to that he was an adjunct professor for 13 years while working at the Central Kentucky News-Journal, the Campbellsville twice-weekly newspaper.

He has a bachelor of science and a master of science degree in journalism from Murray State University. He worked for almost 25 years as a reporter, photographer and editor for three different newspapers.

His first job was at The Sturgis News as a reporter. He then worked for The Sentinel-News in Shelbyville, Ky. for five years (where he met his wife) and afterward for 20 years as news editor at the CKNJ, where his daughter now works as a reporter.

He serves as adviser of the Campus Times, the CU newspaper, and he has written three textbooks on journalism and photography and a personal one on flower photography. He is working on another textbook now. He has worked with students to create several books highlighting the CU campus and also books on veterans.

He worked with CU and the Central Kentucky News-Journal to form the Stan McKinney Central Kentucky News-Journal Digital Image Collection, A.B. Colvin Baptist Collection and Archives, Montgomery Library, Campbellsville University. The collection has more than 100,000 images taken while he was news editor at the CKNJ. His love of Mustangs took him across country last year where he drove his 2007 Mustang through 11 states in 14 days, traveled 4,602 miles and took more than 2,000 photographs.

He exhibited those photos on campus in February. And, yes, he already has a new 2010 Mustang now.

He is completing membership on the Kentucky Press Association Board of Directors and is a former member of the Kentucky News Photographers Association. He is in his fourth term as a member of the Campbellsville City Council.

A native of Princeton, Ky., McKinney has lived in Campbellsville since 1980.

He is the son of Norvell McKinney of Princeton, and the late Gurtha May McKinney. He graduated from Caldwell County High School.

He is married to Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator at CU. They have a daughter, Calen, who's grown up on the CU campus, is a graduate of CU, a reporter and photographer for the Central Kentucky News-Journal and is now teaching at CU as an adjunct communication instructor.

Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 3,006 students who represent 97 Kentucky counties, 30 states and 37 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report's 2010 “America's Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 23rd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South, tied for fifth in “most international students” and fourth in “up-and-coming” schools in baccalaureate colleges in the South. CU has been ranked 17 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America's Best Christian Colleges® and to G.I. Jobs magazine as a Military Friendly School. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his 11th year as president.