 In 1943, Frank Luther Mott, dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri at Columbia, recruited Edom to head the new photojournalism sequence.He also enrolled as an undergraduate; teaching classes he wasn't able to take until his junior year, and finally completed his Bachelor of Journalism in 1946.Edom was prolific in his advancement of photojournalism as a recognized field, including the founding of Kappa Alpha Mu, the National Photojournalism Honors Society on April 20, 1945, and editing with Vi Edom the society's official publication, "The National Photojournalist".