Where you work: I’m an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Whitworth University, where I’ve been since 2015. From 2009 to 2015, I taught in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
Where you got your Ph.D.: Indiana University (2009). I received my M.A. from the University of Utah in 1993. In between those two degrees, I was working in journalism before being drawn back to academia.
Current favorite class: Definitely my Media History course. I also enjoy teaching International Media Systems, a class that allows me to tap into my passion for talking to students about journalism across borders.
Current research project: I have recently wrapped up a research project on the German-American press during World War I (article forthcoming). I am now exploring my next direction in my research areas of history of foreign-language journalism and Cold War-era journalism.
Fun fact about yourself: My entry into the world of broadcast journalism came during high school, when I co-hosted an overnight radio show one summer on the local public radio station. The show featured heavy-metal music (this was the late 1980s, just for context). My musical tastes have evolved since then, but as I tell my students, you never know where paths in life might lead you.
Where you work: Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
Where you got your Ph.D.: University of Washington (2002)
Current favorite class: Media Law and Policy – I truly enjoy teaching students about the history and application of landmark cases. It is more important today than ever for students to understand their rights and who fought for them.
Current research project: Maverick Rights: Mayor Maury Maverick and the First Amendment in Pre-War San Antonio – a co-authored book with Mellon undergraduate research fellows about Congressman and Mayor Maury Maverick, Sr., of San Antonio and his stance on First Amendment issues. Here’s a short blurb about the project:
A former U.S. Representative and Texas firebrand, Maverick was a staunch Democrat, New Deal Reformer, and vocal supporter of free speech, especially for minority groups in San Antonio until 1939. In that year, Mayor Maverick approved a permit for the use of the Municipal Auditorium by the Communist Party. This event, which was opposed by the Catholic Archbishop and by every veterans group in the city, ended in a “stone hurling crowd of 5,000,” breaking “nearly every window in the building.” This incident had a significant impact on Maverick’s core values and career. In 1940, he rejected a similar request by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to use the auditorium, silencing the voice of this controversial religious sect.
But this was just the start. For the remainder of his term as mayor, he rejected almost every minority group request for access to public spaces. Ironically, this turn away from free speech did not help his public approval. Maverick was ultimately voted out of office in 1941, after being labeled a Communist himself.
Fun fact about yourself: I am a former White House Intern.
Where you work: School of Communications, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Where you got Ph.D.: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Current favorite class: Intercultural Communication (COM 340)
Current research project: I have collected more than 8,000 Japanese 78rpm records and related ephemera over the past decade. With the assistance of a generous grant, I have been studying these cultural artifacts with the intent of writing a book while laboring to make items in the “Echoes from the Past” collection available to interested scholars and students.
Fun fact about yourself: I hand stitch kimonos for fun. In the 1990s, I built my own Japanese-style supergun, a device that enables people to play or test coin-operated video games without the need of a full arcade cabinet. It still works. My favorite pastime is cooking Okinawan food for dinner guests to promote my brand of gastronomic chauvinism.
Where you work: The University of Maine
Where you got your Ph.D.: Georgetown University
Current favorite class: Propaganda and Political Communication
Current research project: I’m working on a book manuscript that seeks to answer a deceptively simple question: why were there only two original broadcasting (radio) networks in the U.S.A. (CBS and NBC)? Why not seven, 10, or 50?
Fun fact about yourself: In June 1994, I was the Evening Assignment Editor in the CNN Los Angeles bureau, and I helped coordinate much of the live coverage of the famous white Bronco freeway chase.