UHCL professor honored with scholarship in her name

A scholarship has been created in memory of Ashley Packard, professor of communication and digital media studies, who died Nov. 13, 2014, after a year-long battle with cancer.

A $1,000 scholarship will be available on an annual basis for selected students enrolled in either the Digital Media Studies or Communication programs, starting this year.

Kim Herhold, assistant director of development-annual fund, facilitated contributions and coordinated the efforts to establish the scholarship in Packard’s name.

“Taleen Washington [faculty adviser for the student newspaper] and I got together to create the scholarship, and she discussed with the family what their wishes were – she also discussed the scholarship with other faculty in [the Communication program] – and it’s going to go to a selection committee every year,” Herhold said. “This one is going to be an endowed scholarship. It will be a permanent scholarship to be awarded on campus; it is going to be awarded every year on the interest earned.”

Packard, who graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Ph.D. in journalism, joined UHCL as an assistant professor of Media Studies in 1997. The Media Studies Program was renamed the Communication Program in 2002. In 2006 Packard wrote the proposal to start a graduate Digital Media Studies program at UHCL, which was approved the following year.

During Packard’s 18 years at UHCL, she taught undergrad and graduate classes focused on journalism, mass communication, public relations, media law and media ethics. Additionally, she served as a program chair and, subsequently, department chair. She was also an internationally recognized author on the subject of media law.

Typically, it takes a year for enough interest to accrue before a scholarship can be awarded. There was enough money raised in excess of the required $10,000 base fund for Packard’s family to be able to offer a scholarship this year.

“The family has decided to pull a thousand dollars out of what is going to this permanent fund to put into a current semester scholarship, so we can award a scholarship for next academic year,” Herhold said.

Herhold said there has been a broad show of people who donated money – including family, friends, colleagues, students and alumni – to make the scholarship possible.

“I’ve been taking phone donations from alumni who want to contribute to the scholarship,” Herhold said. “Almost everyone has some kind of deep personal relationship with Packard.”

The scholarship committee has raised the money necessary to offer the scholarship, but people can continue to contribute to it indefinitely.

Carla Bradley, president of Communication and Digital Media Association (CDMA), is helping coordinate CDMA fundraising efforts so that some of the scholarship contributions will come directly from Packard’s students.

“With our organization contributing financially to the scholarship through fundraising efforts, our members and officers can help keep Dr. Packard’s legacy alive,” Bradley said.

Roman Rama III, UHCL alumnus and Web and instructional designer at NASA, took Media Law and Portfolio Review classes taught by Packard.

“A lot of stuff that I do, I remember all the small things that she taught me in class; I remember the rules,” Rama said. “When it comes to designing websites, I’ll never forget the rules that she taught me. There are a lot of teachers out there at UHCL, but there are a handful of special ones out there. She deserves everything, the scholarship, everything; she deserves a lot.”

To find out more about the Ashley Packard scholarship and other UHCL scholarships available, visit the Financial Aid website at www.uhcl.edu/finaid or contact Leslie Wells by email at Wells@uhcl.edu or by telephone at 281-283-2480.

 Tributes commemorate professor’s legacy

Click here to read tributes to Ashley Packard shared by former students and colleagues.

To contribute your own, please send a message with your name and affiliation to webmaster@uhclthesignal.com.