The Mizzou Alumni Association (MAA) honored 14 outstanding faculty and alumni on Friday, Nov. 11, at its 44th annual Faculty-Alumni Awards ceremony. Betty Houchin Winfield, Curators’ Professor in the Missouri (MU) School of Journalism, was recognized with the 52nd annual Distinguished Faculty Award. Winfield is a member of the MAA and previously received its Faculty-Alumni Award.

The Distinguished Faculty Award, the highest honor given by the MAA, recognizes a faculty member whose sustained efforts in teaching, research and service have added to the excellence of the university. The award also considers the faculty member’s relationships with students.

One of the nation’s leading journalism historians, Winfield has taught mass media history to more than 8,000 students. She joined the school of journalism in 1990 after a career at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University. In addition to her role at the school, she has served MU as an adjunct professor of political science and as an affiliated professor in the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs. Winfield published some of the earliest research on U.S. presidents, first ladies and mass media and received the Kappa Tau Alpha National Research Award for her book, “FDR and the News Media.” She has published four books, has two more in progress, and has written more than 120 research articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries and refereed conference papers.

Winfield completed post-doctoral fellowships at Columbia University and Harvard University. In addition, Winfield has been recognized as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair and has received numerous other prestigious awards for her work as a journalism historian and educator, including the Cathy Covert Award for best publication in journalism history from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and the American Journalism Historians Association Excellence in Teaching Award.

Winfield and her husband, Barry Hyman, divide their time between Columbia and Seattle.