By Kruthika Kamath, Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Equipped with “an enthusiasm that spreads like wildfire”, Dr. John P. Ferré has been a fixture in the Department of Communication at the University of Louisville, Kentucky since 1985. He is known for his interdisciplinary background, with specializations in religion, divinity, and communications, and has written/edited books on a range of topics—composition (Rhetorical Patterns in 1981 and Merrill Guide to the Research Paper in 1983), religion and media (A Social Gospel for Millions in 1988 and Channels of Belief in 1990), and ethics and media (Public Relations and Ethics in 1991, Good News in 1993, and Ethics for Public Communication in 2012). To top it off, Professor Ferré has also served for eight years as the College of Arts and Science’s Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and for two years as Interim Dean.

All these accolades serve as a spring board for the conversation and discussion below, where he elaborates on his long-term projects, recent work, how history has informed his work on media and ethics, as well as some advice for new scholars.

Q: What is the most recent historical research project you have worked on?

A: My long-term project is a history of religion and media in the United States. I’ve taken occasional detours to work with colleagues—in 2012, I wrote Ethics for Public Communication: Defining Moments in Media History with Clifford Christians and Mark Fackler for Oxford University Press, and this year I joined Gwyneth Mellinger to edit Journalism’s Ethical Progression: A Twentieth-Century Journey for Lexington Books—but now I’m back to writing a history of media and religion.

Q: How did you come to your area of scholarship?

A: As an undergraduate religion major at Mars Hill College, I had a six-month internship at a weekly newspaper, The News-Record in Marshall, North Carolina. For my major I studied belief and ethics, and I soon found myself thinking about journalism in those terms. Afterwards, as an MA student in communication at Purdue, I wrote “Denominational Biases in the American Press,” which was published in Review of Religious Research. Then, as an M.A. student at the University of Chicago Divinity School, I wrote “Contemporary Approaches to Journalistic Ethics,” which was published in Communication Quarterly. By the time I started my doctoral work in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois, my focus on religion, ethics, and communications was set.

Q: What was the key moment or turning point when you decided on this approach to historical research?

A: History played a large part in my university education. As a student of religion, I studied the history of theology and ethics. My graduate studies in communications also delved into media history. By the time I was studying for my prelims, I was reading a lot of historical sociology. I was thinking historically and I wrote my dissertation on best-selling religious books in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

Q: How does/did your research inform your teaching?

A: When I was a doctoral student, I was impressed by an essay I read by a Yale professor who said that he always wrote books about what he was teaching. That made perfect sense to me, even if integrating teaching and research is less straightforward in large programs populated mostly by undergraduates. But at the University of Louisville I’ve been able to include specialty courses in religion, media, and communication ethics in my annual teaching assignments throughout my career.

Q: How does your research program add to the diversity goals of the AEJMC History Division?

A: AEJMC’s History Division is diverse in terms of gender, age, race, and ethnicity and in terms of the time periods, media, locations, and topics that members study. That fact, plus the high quality of research, imagination, and insight, makes History Division scholarship fascinating.

Q: What advice do you have for junior faculty/scholars?

A: To borrow from Stephen Stills, “Love the one you’re with.” If you’re fortunate enough to land a tenure-track job, commit yourself to your college or university. Your research can make you a go-to person on campus and in the community. Your teaching can help your students see the world in new ways and help them exceed their expectations. And your committee work can help improve your institution and introduce you to your colleagues, some of whom will become friends for life. If the Stephen Stills line is too risqué for a mantra, consider thinking in terms of the title of the novel by Fred Chappel: Brighten the Corner where You Are.

Interview conducted by Kruthika Kamath, a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.