School of Journalism & Broadcasting Staff - Tim Broekema, M.S.

Tim Broekema, M.S.

Professor

Office:  MMTH 126
Phone:  (270) 745-3005
Email:  tim.broekema@wku.edu
Website:  http://www.wkupj.com

Courses

Photojournalism and New Media
Digital imaging
Picture editing and news design
Photo management
Communication theory

Experience

• Associate Professor of Photojournalism and New Media, WKU, 2008-present.
• Assistant Professor of Photojournalism and New Media, WKU, 2002-2008.
• Professional-in-residence, WKU School of Journalism and Broadcasting, 2001-2002
• Director of Photography, Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 1998-2001
• Professional-in-residence, sabbatical WKU School of Journalism, Freedom Forum Grant, 1997.
• Sports picture editor, Chicago Tribune, 1991-1998
• Picture editor and page designer, The Providence (RI) Journal, 1989-1991
• Picture editor, The (Louisville) Courier Journal, 1988
• Photojournalist intern, The Muskegon (Michigan) Chronicle, 1988
• Photojournalist intern, The Providence Journal and Evening Bulletin, 1987
• Photojournalist intern, The Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel, 1986

Education

• M.S. Communications, Grand Valley State University, 2001
• B.A. Photojournalism, WKU, 1988
• Poynter Institute Convergence Seminar, 2004
• Poynter Institute Design Fellowship, 1988

Research

Professional Activities

Contract photojournalist 

• America 24/7, May, 2003
  Contracted to photograph the nation-wide week in the life of 
  America project.
• Benoit and Associates, May ' 2002-2003
  Photographed horse races at the Kentucky Oakes, the Kentucky 
  Derby, throughout the season at Arlington Park International Race
  Track in Chicago, the Hall of Fame series in Saratoga Springs, NY
  and the Breeder's Cup.
• International House of Bowling Green, May, 2002
  Portrait series of International Refugees who have housed in Bowling Green, KY

Freelance photojournalist

• Published in the Detroit Free Press, the New York Times, the
  Baltimore Sun, Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, USA Today,
  the Washington Post, the New York Times, the LA Times, 
  the (Louisville) Courier-Journal and the Getty Allsport Archives.
• Consultant, January, 2004
  The Palm Beach (FL) Post on developing new media skills and workflow
• Consultant, April-May, 2002
  AidsChild ' worked with Chad Stevens on the development of his one-year project working with orphans of AIDs victims in Uganda, Africa

Book editor

• Three-peat, 1993
  Picture editor for the Chicago Tribune Publishing's 88 page book recapping the Bull's third NBA title.
• Da Champs, June, 1992
  Picture editor for the Chicago Tribune Publishing's 88 page book recapping the Bull's second NBA title.
• Stampede, June, 1991 
  Picture editor for the Chicago Tribune Publishing's 144 page book recapping the Bull's first NBA title.

Workshop presentations/Fellowships

• NPPA Flying Short Course and KNPA annual meeting, Louisville, KY, October 2002
• Kentucky News Photographers Association, Louisville, KY, January, 2001
• College Media Advisors, New Orleans. Oct 25-28, 2001
• The Electronic Times seminar on digital photojournalism. Columbus, OH Oct. 1997
• Atlanta Seminar of Photojournalism, Atlanta, GA, 1990,97,00,01

Projects

• A Long Road Home, 2003
  A DVD production on the plight of a Chicago area family involved in a car accident resulting in multiple brain injuries. Original photographs and sound gathered by colleague Jeanie Adams-Smith.
• Behind the scenes at the Kentucky Derby, 2003
  A DVD production on the planning and execution of today's top photojournalists as they cover one the most prestigious sporting events in the country.
• Day in the life of Timber Ridge, 2003 
  A dual class trip involving practicum photojournalism and web 
  design. Photojournalists covered the routine of operating a ski
  resort while web design produced a live online experience of
  the mid-west ski resort.
• New York: A City Searching for Hope, 2001
  A 16-minute multi media production of student and faculty work
  Resulting from the events of September 11, 2001 in New York and
  Washington D.C.

Bio

Tim Broekema is an associate professor of Photojournalism at Western Kentucky University located in Bowling Green, Ky.

Broekema’s career started in 1984 when he left his hometown of Kalamazoo, Mich. and by chance took a photography class at Western Kentucky. He continued to develop a passion for photojournalism by joining the Student Publications during his second semester at WKU and he continued on staff until the end of his senior year. Eventually he landed a part-time picture-editing job for the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper. He then moved on to the Providence Journal where he worked as a sports and business page picture editor and designer. Then, just as Michael Jordan was becoming a household name, Broekema was called up to the majors where he worked for the Chicago Tribune as sports picture editor for 8 years. Once Jordan retired (for a second time) Broekema decided it was time to go home and convinced his childhood hometown newspaper to hire him as a Director of Photography. He worked there as a manager for nearly four years before realizing that you never really can go home again so he went for the next best thing and became a professor of photojournalism at the same school that introduced photography to him twenty years earlier.

Broekema has had his hand in multiple awards including a team Pulitzer Prize and nine Photographer of the Year International recognitions in picture editing, shooting and new media categories. He was also a member of the Chicago Tribune design team when the Society of News Design called the newspaper the Best Designed in the world. Western Kentucky has won the coveted Hearst Photojournalism competition 18 times, the contest started 21 years ago. In 2008, the inaugural year of the Hearst multimedia category, Western Kentucky University finished second place overall in that category and in 2009, WKU won. Students of his have also won, or placed, in multiple awards including College Photographer of the Year and individual Hearst awards.