FLORENCE, AL - Dr. Pat Sanders, a professor in the Department of Communications on the University of North Alabama campus, has been named the District 2 Representative for the Broadcast Education Association, or BEA, which is the premier international academic media organization.

"I find it an honor to have been selected to serve as the representative for District 2," Dr. Sanders said. "I will have an opportunity to work alongside some excellent scholars and creative people. I have been active in BEA for the past decade and a half. The organization has allowed me to share my scholarship and forge professional and personal relationships that I cherish to this day. I look forward to serving the district."

The BEA Executive Board named Sanders to the position after the current director had to step down from the two-year elected post. As part of her selection, Sanders will attend the organization's board meeting in Washington D.C. this fall.

"In the event of a director vacancy, the Executive Committee of the Board is tasked with appointing a successor," said Tony DeMars, BEA President. "The designated board member shall serve until a new board member is elected to fill the previously vacated position for the remainder or unexpired portion of the term. As a result, the BEA Executive Committee has appointed Pat Sanders as the new D2 Representative."

Dr. Sanders will occupy the seat until April of 2020, and she is eligible to be elected for a full two-year term. District 2 includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The BEA is headquartered in Washington D.C.

She will begin her 20th year at UNA this fall. Dr. Sanders teaches in the area of journalism and digital media production. A former, long-time broadcaster before joining academia she is married to Lin Sanders, and they have two children.

About the Broadcast Education Association

The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) is the premier international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. The association's publications, annual convention, web- based programs, and regional district activities provide opportunities for juried production competition and presentation of current scholarly research related to aspects of the electronic media. These areas include media audiences, economics, law and policy, regulation, news, management, aesthetics, social effects, history, and criticism, among others. BEA is concerned with electronic media curricula, placing an emphasis on interactions among the purposes, developments, and practices of the industry and imparting this information to future professionals. BEA serves as a forum for exposition, analysis and debate of issues of social importance to develop members' awareness and sensitivity to these issues and to their ramifications, which will ultimately help students develop as more thoughtful practitioners.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professionals. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I's ASUN Big South Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/