UNA Pressroom

UNA Professor Wins International Podcast Award

Jul. 30, 2021



Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, AL - A University of North Alabama faculty member is the creator and host of an award-winning podcast focused on women of color in higher education. Dr. Patricia “Pat” Sanders, the chair of the Communication Department at UNA, recently won an international competition for her podcast “This Prof Life: Women of Color in Higher Education.”

The Broadcast Education Association, or BEA, selected Dr. Sanders as the “Best of Competition Long-Form Audio Production” winner for its 2021 Faculty Festival of Media Arts competition. All submissions for the competition are peer reviewed and blind reviewed, with a highly competitive acceptance rate. “This Prof Life” won in its respective category out of nearly 300 submissions from around the world.

“ ‘This Prof Life: Women of Color in Higher Education’ discusses race, gender, and equity in underrepresented and marginalized groups such as Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC); focusing on their leadership and teaching,” said Dr. Sanders. “At its core, it focuses on the challenges, accomplishments, and experiences of women of color in positions of administration and the professorship in the world of academia. Its goal is to elevate their voices and scholarship and to inspire other women in aspiring leadership roles.”

The podcast, which was launched in June of 2020, is centered on empowerment and advancement for women working in higher education. The podcast also features guest speakers, who share personal insight into their challenges and successes in their professional careers. Dr. Sanders said she endeavors to tell the stories of Black, Indigenous, and people of color, also known as BIPOC, in higher education careers.

Podcast listeners who wish to find “This Prof Life” may do so on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Listen Notes, or any other podcast platform.

For more information on Dr. Sanders, her podcast, and her career, visit her website here. To learn more about the Broadcast Education Association, click here.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. 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 and Big South Conferences. 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/. 

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering credential, certificate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs in the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. The first-choice University for more than 10,000 on-campus and online students, UNA is on a bucolic campus in Florence, Alabama, part of the historic and vibrant Shoals region. Lions 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 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/