Jimmy Gentry

Classes: Financial fundamentals for communicators (Edwards Campus) and media management courses (Lawrence Campus)

First year at KU: 1997

Degrees: B.A. history, 1966, Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss.; M.A., 1983, journalism, University of Missouri; Ph.D., 1993, journalism, University of Missouri

More Information: www.jameskgentry.com

James K. Gentry, Ph.D., is a professor and former dean at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas.

Gentry is nationally known for his ability to turn complicated financial and accounting information into understandable language for corporate communicators and journalists. Over the past 25 years, he has taught thousands of communicators and journalists how to understand the language of business.

His has been nationally recognized for his teaching at KU. In August 2008, he received the Barry Sherman Teaching Award from the Media Management and Economics Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The award recognizes excellence and innovation in teaching of media management and economics.

Gentry created and teaches “Financial Fundamentals for Communicators” for graduate students in the school’s Marketing Communications master’s program on the Edwards Campus. He teaches an undergraduate version in Lawrence. He also teaches Multimedia Management and Leadership, and Capstone in Marketing Communications.

For a J-Links story about Gentry’s courses in financial communication, go to: www.journalism.ku.edu/alumni/J-Links%20Winter%202008-Web.pdf

He is a frequent guest speaker in J-School classes, discussing topics including markets, management concepts, financial statements and general business issues.

This spring he is teaming with two national organizations to present workshops to improve the financial knowledge of corporate communicators and business reporters. He will team with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) to present two two-day workshops on “Communicating Company Results to Build Trust and Reputation.” He also will team with the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism to present five programs on “Rethinking Financial Statements in the Post-Crash Environment.”

In the past few years, Gentry has presented workshops for Freddie Mac, Cerner Corp., American Standard Co. (now Trane), Teva Neurosciences, AMC Entertainment and WABCO, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. He’s also conducted sessions for Bloomberg News, USA Today, the San Jose Mercury News and the Seattle Times.

Gentry earned the International Association of Business Communicators’ All-Star Speaker designation for his presentation at the international convention in June 2007. In summer 2008, Gentry was the only academic to participate in the Chicago Board Options Exchange two-day “Portfolio Management and Institutional Investors Seminar.”

In 2003, Gentry received the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ Distinguished Achievement Award. Gentry was SABEW’s first executive director in 1984-90 and ran the Business Journalism Program while he was at the University of Missouri.

Prior to joining KU in 1997, Gentry was dean at the University of Nevada, Reno for five years and was a member of the faculty at the University of Missouri School of Journalism for 14 years.

Gentry was a reporter and editor for several newspapers before joining the Missouri faculty. He received his Ph.D. in journalism with an emphasis on management and organizational behavior from Missouri in 1993.

His research examines how companies communicated with their employees in the midst of the fall 2008 crash and how journalism programs provide financial education for students.