R.J. Morgan
Instructional Associate Professor and Director of Mississippi Scholastic Press Association
Dr. R.J. Morgan is an Instructional Associate Professor of Journalism and Director of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association
Research Interests
- Scholastic Media
- Sports Journalism
- The American South
Biography
Dr. R.J. Morgan is an instructional associate professor in the School of Journalism and New Media and a nationally-known figure in the field of scholastic journalism. He’s served as director of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association since 2013 and recently launched the Integrated Marketing Communication Association, a national high school media/marketing organization housed at the University of Mississippi. He sits on executive/advisory boards for multiple scholastic media organizations, serves on the national certification committee for the Journalism Education Association and is Awards Chair for the Scholastic Media division of the Association for Educators of Journalism and Mass Communication. He received the Elizabeth Dickey Distinguished Service Award from the Southern Interscholastic Press Association in 2018 and earned Master Journalism Educator status from JEA in 2020.
Morgan has a Ph.D. in K-12 education leadership from the University of Mississippi. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Mississippi State University and began his teaching career at Starkville High School, where he received several honors including STAR Teacher, Third Congressional District Teacher of the Year and the Paul Cuicchi Innovative Educator Award. He also advised the school’s newspaper, yearbook and broadcast programs and was thrice named MSPA Adviser of the Year.
Morgan spent 16 years covering college sports for The Associated Press and has written pieces for Religion Unplugged, Sporting News magazine, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and the Memphis Commercial Appeal, to name a few. He is currently working on his first book-length project about the folk and civil rights movements of the early 1960s.
Among other university appointments, he is a member of the School of Journalism and New Media’s executive committee and leads the school’s Talbert Fellows honors cohort. He was elected to the University of Mississippi Faculty Senate in 2021.
Education
B.S. Secondary Education, Mississippi State University (2007)
M.S. School Administration, Mississippi State University (2012)
Ph.D. Education, The University of Mississippi (2020)