Jon Mabee Archives - Reynolds College Blog

Missouri State University’s Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (RCASH) continued its tradition of honoring the legacy of Judith Enyeart Reynolds with the Third Annual Judy Awards May 3, 2024.

The event, held at The Old Glass Place, celebrated the achievements of faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends within the RCASH community.

Dean Wahl stands at podium — Dean Shawn Wahl announces his selections for the Dean’s Judy Awards.

A special moment of the celebration included recognizing MSU President Clif Smart and Gail Smart and then Dr. George Connor, professor of political science. All three received the Dean’s Legacy Award from Dean Shawn Wahl. Smart is set to retire on June 30. The legacy leadership and work of each recipient will continue to make a difference in the lives of RCASH members for generations to come.

Christopher DePriest, Mark Templeton, and Rob and Sally Baird were each honored with the Dean’s Champion Award. All have diligently worked, often behind the scenes, to positively impact RCASH.

MSU Alum Austin Elliott accepted the Dean’s Alumnus Award on behalf of Locke and Stache, a production company located in Springfield, Missouri. Locke and Stache was recognized for their exceptional achievements in video production.

The award ceremony concluded with The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice receiving the Dean’s Award of Distinction for excellent performance as an academic unit over the past year.

Named in honor of Reynolds, a dedicated staff member and role model for many years in the Department of English, the Judy Awards cover a variety of contributions to the college, ranging from traditional awards in teaching, research, and service to those that recognize collaboration, inclusive engagement and efforts to highlight the pillars of the University’s public affairs mission.

Except for the dean’s awards category, winners were nominated either by their peers or self-nominated, then selected by representatives from each academic department serving on the Judy Awards Selection Committee.

Hosts Dr. Alan Tinkler, Dr. Aida Hass-Wisecup and Mary Lynne Golden announced the following winners of the 2024 Judy Awards.

Students from Missouri State University’s Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film have won a 2024 Student Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS)—Mid-America for an episode of their documentary, “Discovering Dickerson Park Zoo.”

Episode 3, “Medicine of Dickerson Park Zoo” not only won the Student Emmy for Best College Non-Fiction Long Form, it also won second place from the Missouri Broadcast Education Association in the Video Documentary category.

Another episode, “Education of Dickerson Park Zoo,” was nominated for a Student Emmy for Best College Non-Fiction Short Form.

The entire documentary is a nine-episode web series filmed and edited by students taught by Jon Mabee, associate professor of film and television.

Mabee co-directed the documentary, along with Autumn Girgin, a recent graduate of the MFA in Dramatic Writing program. Mabee was also one of the producers.

“The National Academy of Arts and Sciences-Mid America Emmy competition is one of the most prestigious of the awards festivals that we compete in, since they are judged by professionals in the industry,” said CMJF department head Dr. Deborah Larson. “With two wins and one nomination this year, our students showed how we can compete at this level.”

“This also speaks volumes about our faculty who mentor them and the production and journalism programs we offer to our students,” Larson added.

“Real world” project based on client need

The zoo documentary project came about when Mabee, who has worked with the Dickerson Park Zoo on other projects, agreed to help the zoo create content to celebrate its 100th birthday.

This was an opportunity for students to be involved in “real-world applications” that reflect content taught in CMJF courses, Mabee said.

During the project, Mabee supervised roughly two dozen students, some of whom were enrolled in his Client-Based Video Production (MED 385) and Editing for Film & TV (MED 466) courses.

Total production time was about 20 weeks, Mabee estimated, with about three weeks devoted to actual filming. The project began in March 2023 and concluded in December.

2024 Judy Awards honor excellence in the Reynolds College community

MSU students win Emmy Award for documentary

“Real world” project based on client need