Athens Banner-Herald:
ATHENS — The National Press Photographers Association will relocate its headquarters to the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication starting in early 2015.
NPPA is the voice of visual journalists, representing photographers, videographers, multimedia journalists, editors, designers, visual managers and academics, with nearly 6,000 members nationwide and around the world.
“UGA’s Grady College and NPPA share a deep commitment to excellence in journalism,” said Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Their partnership creates exciting new opportunities in instruction, scholarship and outreach that will benefit our students and faculty as well as the more than 6,000 constituents of NPPA.”
NPPA’s move to Athens will provide the Grady College’s growing photojournalism department access to resources for students including contact with visiting professionals, participation in workshops taught by NPPA staff, and members and employment opportunities including the potential of work with the organization’s News Photographer magazine and website.
NPPA will also allow the Grady College’s research faculty to access its Best of Photojournalism contest entries for study.
“NPPA is very excited about this partnership with UGA’s Grady College, and we’re excited to be moving our headquarters there in 2015 when the college will celebrate its centennial anniversary,” said Mark Dolan, president of NPPA. “Advocacy and education have long been major tenets of NPPA’s mission, and partnering with a university has been one of our goals.”
Charles “Chip” Deale, the executive director of NPPA, echoed those thoughts.
“NPPA’s relocation to the University of Georgia and its partnership with the Grady College effectively positions the association for a vibrant future and one that is of great relevance to visual journalists.”
Deale will be based at Grady College and will collaborate with the school’s faculty and staff on a daily basis.
“NPPA members will directly benefit from, and experience, enhanced value because of the relationship,” Deale said. “With the vast resources of the college at its disposal, NPPA will be an even stronger voice for the profession.”
The agreement also cites a mutual interest for NPPA and Grady College to work together to raise funds for educational programming online and in person, apply for grants focusing on visual journalism projects, create a graduate fellowship in visual journalism and expand the scholarship programs that the association currently offers.
“The relocation of NPPA to Grady College will greatly benefit the photojournalism program, providing tremendous experiential learning opportunities for our students and our faculty,” Charles Davis, dean of Grady College, said. “We see tremendous opportunities as NPPA joins forces with other UGA assets and begins to explore ways we can work together to benefit students as well as NPPA members.”
Programs will be explored to work NPPA into some of the Grady College’s signature programs, including the Peabody Awards and the New Media Institute. There may also be the possibility of housing the NPPA’s seven decades-long archives and other historical material about the photojournalism profession at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.
In January, Deale will move into office space in Grady College and will hire one or two support people once the office is settled. There is a potential that some of the other NPPA membership and publication services may relocate to Athens in the future.
The NPPA offices are currently located in Durham, N.C.
