School of Media & Communication

Basic Photography
Intermediate Photography
Picture Editing
Photojournalism
Advanced Photojournalism

Experience

• August 2015 to Present - Professor of photojournalism Western Kentucky University
• August 2008 2015- Associate Professor of photojournalism Western Kentucky University
• January 2002-2008 - Assistant Professor of photojournalism Western Kentucky University
• May 1992 - January 2002- Worked as a photo editor for the Chicago Tribune
• September -December 2000- Photographer for City 2000
• September 1999- September 2000 - Attended Ohio University as the John S. and James L. Knight Fellow, where she taught in the Visual Communications department and worked on a master's degree in the photojournalism sequence.
• 1992-1999- Worked as a photo editor for the Chicago Tribune; where she was the National/Foreign Picture Editor- responsibilities included researching and assigning photographs for our bureaus and working on many of the Tribune's special projects, including Killing Our Children, a year-long documentary on the children murdered in Chicago in 1993, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Outstanding Journalism.

Education

• September 1999-September 2000- Completed a master's degree at Ohio University in Visual Communications
• 1990-1991- Completed a master's degree in Communications from Western Kentucky University
• 1985-1990- Completed a bachelor's degree in Photojournalism with a minor in English from W.K.U.

Professional Activities and Awards

• 2004- Cox Newspapers Photographer of the Year contest judge
• 2003- Photographer for the America 24/7 Project
• 2003- Photographer of the Year International, 3rd Place Feature Picture Story
• 2003- Received a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women
• 2003- Received a Junior Faculty Grant, Western Kentucky University
• 2003- Was a guest speaker for the National Brain Injury Assoc. Annual Meeting
• 2003- Michigan Photographer of the Year contest judge
• 2002- Kentucky News Photographer of the Year, 2nd Place
• 2002- Attended the Maine Photographic Workshop on Storytelling with Eugene Richards
• 2002- Was the Story Researcher and a Photo Editing coach for the Mountain Workshop in Cave City, KY.
• 2001- Received a first place in The University Missouri Photographer of the Year competition for Best Use Photos Multimedia
• 2001 - Illinois Press Photographer of the Year, 3rd Place
• 2001- Recipient of the Chicago Arts Grant
• 2001- Received a second place and an Award of Excellence in Issue Reporting Category the NPPA/University Missouri Photographer of the Year competition
• 2000 ' Was a photographer for the City 2000 project in Chicago that spent a year documenting the city in the millennium.
• 2000- Received the Kit C. King Graduate Scholarship
• 2000- Received an Award of Excellence in Issue Reporting in the NPPA/University Missouri Photographer of the Year competition
• 1999- Finalist in the Gordon Parks Photography Competition
• 1998- Part of the editing team at the Chicago Tribune that received Best Use of Photography, 3rd place in the NPPA/University Missouri Photographer of the Year competition
• 1997- Received three Awards of Excellence for design from the Society of Newspaper and Design for a week-long series in the Chicago Tribune on over-population
• 1997- Was a student at the W.K.U. Mountain People's Workshop on photojournalism in Russelville, Ky as a photographer documenting the small-town community
• 1995- Attended the Poynter Institute for Media Studies for a week-long seminar on ethics in journalism.
• 1995 - Was the conference chairperson for Insights, NPPA's Women in Photojournalism Conference.
• 1995' Published a book on minor league baseball, Portraits of Minor League Baseball The Kane County Cougars
• 1994- Attended the Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop
• 1993- Was the picture editor for the Chicago Tribune's Killing Our Children project, which received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Journalism
• 1991- Recipient of the Eastman Kodak Student Scholarship
• 1991- Was the W.K.U. Senior Photojournalism Student of the Year
• 1990- Recipient of the Bob East Scholarship
• 1989- Was a William Randolph Hearst semi-finalist
• 1988- Was a runner-up in College Photographer of the Year
• 1987- Present- Member of NPPA and KNPA

Jeanie Adams-Smith is a Professor of Visual Journalism and Photography at Western Kentucky University, where she has taught and mentored generations of photographers, photojournalists, and visual storytellers since joining the faculty in 2002. Her teaching focuses on photography, photojournalism, visual storytelling, picture editing, lighting, and the professional practices necessary for photographers working in an increasingly digital and multimedia environment. She is committed to helping students develop not only strong technical and visual skills, but also the curiosity, ethical judgment, and storytelling abilities necessary to make meaningful work.

Before joining WKU, Adams-Smith spent a decade at the Chicago Tribune, where she worked as a photo editor and ultimately served as the newspaper's National/Foreign Picture Editor. Her responsibilities included researching, assigning, and editing photography for national and international coverage as well as major documentary projects. Among those projects was Killing Our Children, a year-long examination of children murdered in Chicago that received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Outstanding Journalism. Her professional experience as both an editor and photographer continues to inform her teaching and her approach to visual journalism.

Adams-Smith's creative work centers on social documentary photography and the ways photography can give individuals and communities a voice. Her projects have examined subjects including children and families, health care, traumatic brain injury, survivors of sexual assault, rural communities, and changing cultural landscapes. She has published multiple books of documentary photography, including Survivors: The Children of Divorce, a long-term project that was nominated by WKU for a Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction. Her work has received regional, national, and international recognition, including honors from the Kentucky News Photographers Association and Photographer of the Year International.

Her commitment to teaching has been recognized nationally. In 2021, Adams-Smith received the National Press Photographers Association's Robin F. Garland Educator Award, honoring educators who make significant contributions to the development of emerging visual communicators and photojournalists. She has also served as a judge for regional and national photography competitions and has participated in workshops, educational programs, and international teaching opportunities.

Adams-Smith holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in communication from Western Kentucky University, as well as a master's degree in visual communication from Ohio University, where she was a John S. and James L. Knight Fellow. Her combination of professional newsroom experience, documentary photography, editing, and more than two decades of university teaching gives her a distinctive perspective on the relationship between visual journalism, photography, technology, and storytelling.

At WKU, Adams-Smith continues to emphasize hands-on learning and the importance of producing work that is visually compelling, journalistically responsible, and connected to the people and communities being documented. Her goal as an educator is to prepare students not simply to make photographs, but to become thoughtful visual storytellers who understand the responsibility that comes with representing other people's lives.