One university professor is being rewarded for his years of experience.

Mark Dolan, assistant professor in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, was elected president of the National Press Photographer’s Association Sunday by the organization’s board of directors. The meeting was held at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Dolan is an assistant professor within the school of journalism teaching courses in photojournalism and multimedia communications. He received his Master’s degree from Syracuse University in the Department of Visual and Interactive Communications at the Newhouse School, and has more than 25 years of visual and multimedia journalism experience.

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Dolan has worked as a staff photographer, picture editor and director of photography at newspapers in Florida, Alaska and Rhode Island.

“I’m very excited and honored to have this position,” Dolan said. “I think it is a big responsibility and I’m taking it seriously.”

The NPPA was founded in 1946 and is the leading voice for advocating the work of visual journalists around the world. The organization fights for the rights of photographers and helps with legal issues surrounding the way visual journalists earn their living, Dolan said.

Dolan was elected to the NPPA board of directors in Dec. 2011, and was elected vice president of the NPPA in April 2013.

The board of directors of the NPPA is made up of 15 members. There are six officers who make up the executive committee, six elected directors and six appointed directors.

As president, Dolan said he plans to continue advocacy of the work of visual journalists and to support the rights of photographers to do their jobs.

“The organization has done tremendous work with advocacy,” Dolan said. “We’re always seeking ways to help out our members.”

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Other accomplishments Dolan has made in his time at the NPPA include winning the John Durniak Mentoring award in 2009. This award is given to an individual who has served as an outstanding mentor, either to a specific individual or to photojournalism in general.

The NPPA student organization at the university was named “Outstanding Student Chapter of the Year” in 2013 for its work documenting a tornado that went through southern Illinois, called “4:56 a.m. The Story of the February 29, 2012 Tornado.”

Kyle Sutton can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter at @KyleSutton_DE, or 536-3311 ext. 258.