UNT faculty member, student honored with Arthritis Foundation award

From a UNT News Service press release

Karen Anderson, assistant professor of communication studies, and Norma Jones, a second year master's student in communication studies, received the Outstanding Media Partner award from the North Texas chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

Anderson and Jones were honored for a public service announcement, "Faces of Arthritis" that they created for the Arthritis Foundation's awareness campaign, "Kids Get Arthritis, Too." The 30-second PSA features 19 children from the Dallas/Fort Worth area who have juvenile arthritis. It opens with a series of close-up shots of the children stating that they are the faces of arthritis, giving their young ages and reminding viewers that "kids get arthritis, too." The PSA ends with facts on the screen and a voiceover about juvenile arthritis.

Anderson notes that nearly 300,000 children under the age of 17 have the disease, with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis being the most common form, and that more than 1,700 children with juvenile arthritis come to Dallas for treatment each year.

"More children have juvenile arthritis in the U.S. than those who have cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia combined, yet we don't have a national campaign to raise funds for the treatment of the disease," Anderson says.

Anderson and Jones developed the concept and script for the PSA together. Jones, the co-owner of Liquid Flicks Media in Denton and director for education and research for the Muller Film and Television Education Foundation in Irving, donated equipment and time to shoot the PSA at The Studios at Las Colinas and provide post-production support. Three other UNT master's students in communication studies assisted with the shoot.

Jones and Anderson's PSA is scheduled for limited release in the spring of 2011 and national release in July 2011.

Nancy Kolsti with UNT News Service can be reached at Nancy.kolsti@unt.edu.

Read other stories in this issue:

• President's Note
• Moving Forward: UNT, Chilean partners open first field station for environmental philosophy and ecology research
• Athletics receives $1 million donation for new stadium, athletic facilities
• Billboards, ads build awareness of UNT's success
• Faculty Focus: Pudur Jagadeeswaran
• Traditions: Green and White spring preview game
• Featured Link: UNT Facebook and The North Texan Twitter
• UNT Alumni Association