Dr. Tim Bajkiewicz on the set of “VCU InSight,” the award-winning news show produced by undergraduate Mass Comm students that airs on Richmond PBS.

Office: Temple 1149-D
Phone: (804) 828-4203
Email: tbajkiewicz@vcu.edu

Dr. Tim Bajkiewicz (“Dr. B.” to a lot of his students) is an associate professor of broadcast journalism and the undergraduate journalism sequence coordinator in the School of Mass Communications. He joined VCU in fall 2008.

He teaches courses in both the undergraduate journalism and graduate multimedia journalism programs, including MASC 203 Journalism Writing, MASC 465 Newscasting, MASC 645 Visual Journalism, MASC 684 Multiplatform Storytelling and MASC 688 Converged Media Applications.

Dr. Bajkiewicz is the faculty instructor (through MASC 465 Newscasting) and news director for VCU InSight, the school’s 30-minute undergraduate student-produced TV news program that airs monthly on WCVW-TV Richmond PBS. He shares co-executive director responsibilities for the show with Gary Gillam, a fellow faculty member who teaches video production courses. The show won first place for “Best All-Around Television Newscast” in the Society of Professional Journalists’ “Mark of Excellence” awards for Region 2 (including Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina) in 2010, and took third place in 2011.

In summer 2010 Dr. Bajkiewicz was a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the University of Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Austria through the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. He taught undergraduate and graduate classes on multimedia journalism, media convergence and new media technologies. He also consulted university leadership and faculty on media curriculum development and convergence.

His research on new media and news convergence has been published in the journal Electronic News and in two book chapters. He has also authored text book chapters about online writing and postmodern content analysis media research. He has presented dozens of peer-reviewed papers at refereed conferences in the U.S. and internationally.

From 2004-2012 he served as the elected webmaster for the Electronic News division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and is currently the Vice-Chair and Programming Chair for the 2013 conference in Washington, D.C. In 2011-2012 he served as the elected president of the Ph.D. Alumni Association for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 2005-2006 he served as the elected Professional Freedom and Responsibility Chair for the AEJMC Mass Communication and Society division.

He began working in radio in 1987 and is an award-winning copywriter and documentary producer. His professional experience includes more than 10 years in broadcasting and media at ten different radio stations, with positions as a morning and afternoon radio on-air personality, news anchor and management positions in promotions and production. He has also worked extensively in live audio production, both for broadcast and live concert production, along with audio film post-production and freelance video production.

Dr. Bajkiewicz graduated from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts in Southfield, Mich. (outside of Detroit) in 1987. He earned his B.A. in Anthropology in 1993 (with honors) and M.A. in Mass Communications (with distinction) in 1995 from the University of Florida. He was a Roy H. Park Fellow in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he completed his Ph.D. in 2002. He was co-recipient of the “Outstanding Ph.D. Student” award in 2001.

From 2001-2008 Dr. Bajkiewicz served on faculty at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he taught an exciting undergraduate multimedia journalism class in cooperation with The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, NBC-affiliated WFLA-TV News Channel 8, and their online news operation, TBO.com, all owned by Media General. He was honored with a 2004-2005 USF Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher award and took second place in the “Promising Professors” national teaching competition in the Mass Communication and Society division of AEJMC. He was also honored with a Director’s Award by Tampa Bay-based RCS for producing a short fund-raising video for that social service organization’s successful efforts to raise $2 million to purchase property for their food bank. In 2004 he was named “Outstanding Communications Media/Technology Teacher” by the Tampa Educational Cable Consortium, which runs The Education and Learning Channels.

Dr. Bajkiewicz grew up in Monroe, Michigan, which is about 40 miles south of Detroit. He is a fan of the Tigers, the Red Wings and will always believe in the Lions.