Tim Broekema is an associate professor of Photojournalism at Western Kentucky University located in Bowling Green, Ky.
Broekema’s career started in 1984 when he left his hometown of Kalamazoo, Mich. and by chance took a photography class at Western Kentucky. He continued to develop a passion for photojournalism by joining the Student Publications during his second semester at WKU and he continued on staff until the end of his senior year. Eventually he landed a part-time picture editing job for the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper. He then moved on to the Providence Journal where he worked as a sports and business page picture editor and designer. Then, just as Michael Jordan was becoming a household name, Broekema was called up to the majors where he worked for the Chicago Tribune as sports picture editor for 8 years. Once Jordan retired (for a second time) Broekema decided it was time to go home and convinced his childhood hometown newspaper to hire him as a Director of Photography. He worked there as a manager for nearly four years before realizing that you never really can go home again so he went for the next best thing and became a professor of photojournalism at the same school that introduced photography to him twenty years earlier.
Broekema has had his hand in multiple awards including a team Pulitzer Prize and eight Photographer of the Year International recognitions in picture editing, shooting and new media categories. He was also a member of the Chicago Tribune design team when the Society of News Design called the newspaper the Best Designed in the world. Western Kentucky has won the coveted Hearst Photojournalism competition 17 times, the contest started 20 years ago. In 2008, the inaugural year of the Hearst multimedia category, Western Kentucky University finished second place overall in that category and in 2009, WKU won. Students of his have also won, or placed, in multiple awards including College Photographer of the Year and individual Hearst awards.
Broekema is married to his wonderful wife Susan for 13 years and has two children, Kasey, 11, and Gabi, 9. He spends most of his free time watching Gabi climb vertical walls around the Tuckesee area and enjoys seeing both his daughters dance with the Nashville Ballet Company.
