Where you work: Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina. I am head of the Mass Communications Sequence.
Where you got your Ph.D.: School of Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Current favorite class: My master’s and doctoral seminars in mass communications history, and my undergraduate course titled “The African American Freedom Struggle and the Mass Media.”
Current research project: Exciting research that suggests the colonization debate of the 1810s and 1820s – to send African Americans “back” to Africa – played a more significant role in the founding of Freedom’s Journal than previously indicated in historical scholarship. Freedom’s Journal, of course, was the first black newspaper, founded in March of 1827.
Fun fact about yourself: This is my 30th year on the faculty. I never thought I would be in any one place for 10 years, much less 20 or 30.
Where you work: I am an assistant professor in the School of Communications at Elon University. I teach courses in the strategic communications major. Elon’s School of Communications received PRWeek’s 2019 Outstanding Education Program award.
Where you got your Ph.D.: I received my Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Current favorite class: Public Relations and Civic Responsibility. I practiced public relations and corporate communications for about 30 years before moving to academia, so I like teaching public relations to the next generation of practitioners.
Current research project: African American public relations pioneers have been excluded from the history of public relations in the United States, and I’m working to change that. One of those pioneers is Moss Kendrix, and I’m conducting research about his public relations and marketing communications work.
Fun fact about yourself: I love watching foreign films, especially those in German, which I speak. I was born in Germany, have family there, and lived there for many years. When I watch those films, I turn off the subtitles and it’s nice to just hear the language, which I don’t get many opportunities to do here.
Where you work: The Media School, Indiana University
Where you got your Ph.D.: Also IU (I’m a rare home-grown species who came back to roost after a stint at Ball State U).
Current favorite class: J450 History of Journalism (undergrad)
Current research project: A book about the history of prizes in journalism’s professional development
Fun fact about yourself: I’m fascinated by cryptozoology and own a full-sized Bigfoot costume that I bought from a student and once wore while administering a midterm.
Where you work: Winthrop University. I am a professor and chair of the Department of Mass Communication.
Where you got your Ph.D.: I received my Ph.D. from Ohio University in 2003, with a focus on journalism, of course, with a minor in criminology because I have always been interested in portrayals of deviance. My dissertation, which later became a book, The National Police Gazette and the Making of the Modern American Man, 1879-1906, was focused on precisely that.
Current favorite class: Media Writing; also Media Ethics — writing because it is foundational to what we do, and ethics because it is how we do it right.
Current research project: I haven’t really started it in earnest yet, but I am planning to research and write about William Brownlow, the Tennessee governor (1865-69) who was also publisher of The Whig, which by the time the Civil War began was the last newspaper in the South opposing Secession. His views were sometimes complicated, but he was ultimately anti-slavery and was an object of derision and contempt because of it. He is buried in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I obtained my undergraduate degree in journalism at the University of Tennessee.
Fun fact about yourself: For fun, I’m enclosing a photo of myself with Rachel Maddow, who came to Winthrop during the last presidential campaign — Winthrop is a hot spot for candidates because South Carolina is the “first in the South” primary and is a pivotal primary state. Rachel was funny, charming and extremely helpful to our journalism students, who were thrilled to meet her.
Where you work: I am an assistant professor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism, College of Social and Behavioral Science, where I teach science journalism, environmental journalism, media law and ethics, and reporting the news.
Where you got your Ph.D.: I received a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California, Davis; a J.D. in law at the University of Oregon School of Law, a master’s degree in biological sciences at California State University Sacramento, and a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
Current favorite class: My two favorite classes are environmental journalism and media law. In environmental journalism, students are able to experiment with writing formats other than the inverted pyramid. Media law and ethics classes provide the opportunity for students to engage in lively discussions about the ways in which legal and ethical considerations impact journalism.
Current research project: I’m currently engaged in several research projects: an exploration of the way in which scientific misinformation or disinformation impacted settlement of the U.S. Great Plains and the arid regions of South Australia and an examination the works of several World War II-era journalists. I’m also working on a book proposal with the working title, Spinning Science: Science Misinformation, Disinformation and the Public Understanding of Science.
Fun fact about yourself: I live at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. I appreciate all of the creatures of the Southwest – including those that many people disdain (like scorpions, lizards, and snakes). For a pastime, I enjoy riding my horse in the desert near my home. P.S. I played the accordion when I was a child.
Interviews Conducted by Madeleine Liseblad, Membership Co-Chair, Madeleine.Liseblad@mtsu.edu