By Perry Parks, Michigan State University, Membership Co-Chair, parksp@msu.edu

Ed Adams

Where do you work: Brigham Young University

Where you got your Ph.D.: Ohio University

Current favorite class: Currently serving as Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications. I don’t get much opportunity to teach.

Current research project: Dabbling with a couple of Public Relations History projects.

Fun fact: I really like mowing my lawn.

Fred Carroll

Where you work: Lecturer, Department of History and Philosophy, Kennesaw State University

Where you got your Ph.D.: College of William and Mary, 2012

Current favorite class: As a lecturer, I mostly teach the U.S. history survey courses to freshmen. It’s a rewarding challenge.

Current research project: I was reading a book written by Roi Ottley, a prominent black journalist, that was published in 1943. He mentioned a minor press dust-up that occurred in New York City in 1935 as Italy prepared to invade Ethiopia. A hustling promoter and a singer from the British West Indies duped the city’s white newspapers into believing she was an Ethiopian princess. The fraud unraveled quickly, but left many journalists fuming. I’m finishing an article that explores how the duo exploited the history of minstrelsy, human exhibits, and racial stereotypes to perpetuate this hoax on a white press conditioned to believe their ruse.

Fun fact about yourself: My favorite story as a reporter was also the story that propelled me into academia. I was covering city government in Newport News, Virginia, when Arthur Keyes, a community activist, told me about how the neighborhood next to his had originally been built for black families, but they were soon moved out and white families were moved in. It was a vague tip, but intriguing. Anyway, it turns out the neighborhood was the only suburban development built by New Deal housing agencies in the 1930s for African Americans. I interviewed a few people who lived there as children. Researched property records. Read lawsuits. Visited archives. Read newspapers on microfilm. I enjoyed the work and decided to pursue a career as a historian.

Caryl Cooper

Where you work: Department of Advertising and Public Relations, University of Alabama

Where you got your Ph.D.: Missouri School of Journalism

Current favorite class: History of Mass Communication

Current research project: Currently considering several ideas — in the developmental stage

Fun fact about yourself: I like to listen to jazz