Name: Tom Bivins
Where you work: I teach in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon where I hold the John Hulteng Chair in Media Ethics and Responsibility. I split my time between courses in media ethics and media history.
Where you earned your Ph.D.: I received my Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in Telecommunication and Film (part of the Speech Department), and taught at the University of Delaware for four years before returning to Oregon.
Current favorite class: My favorite class currently is called Satire, Ethics, and Free Speech. It’s a wide-ranging, sometimes raucous, exploration of an often controversial subject.
Current research project: I am currently working with Dr. Brendan Maartens at Middlesex University, Mauritius, editing a new book titled Propaganda and Public Relations in Military Recruitment: Promoting Military Service in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Century. The book will present a global, historical perspective. I will also be contributing a chapter on the use of women’s images in WWI recruitment posters in the United States.
Fun fact about yourself: I’ve been a cartoonist and illustrator most of my adult life freelancing for newspapers and magazines, public relations and advertising firms, and the occasional children’s book (along with my brother, the working artist). My art also comes in handy for slide presentations in my mass-lecture classes. Much of my work appears on my personal website: http://tombivins.weebly.com/
Name: Donna Halper
Where you work: I am an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Lesley University, Cambridge, Mass.
Where you earned your Ph.D.: I went back to college at age 55 to study for my Ph.D. after a long career in broadcasting. I received my Ph.D. in 2011 at age 64 from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Current favorite class: Media Analysis
Current research project: I’m writing a series of articles for the African-American National Biography about men and women of color who have been written out of history (I’m helping to write them back in!)
Fun fact about yourself: When I was a deejay, I discovered the classic rock band Rush, who dedicated two albums to me, and I’m in a documentary about them (this photo, courtesy of Craig Renwick, is from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where I was asked to participate in awarding Rush their star in 2010).
Name: Thomas A. Mascaro
Where you work: Bowling Green State University
Where you earned your Ph.D.: I received my Ph.D. from Wayne State University (Detroit) in 1994 in Radio-TV-Film and wrote my dissertation on the decline of network television documentaries during the Reagan years.
Current favorite class: I teach a two-course sequence in documentary history, one before 1968 and one after 1968. The dividing point hinges on changes after the 1968 DNC in Chicago, which tilted many Democrats against network news because of their narrow loss to Nixon, which was followed by Nixon’s assault on the media. The lax broadcast journalism policies that emerged in the 1980s were seeded immediately after 1968, and eventually killed the network documentary units. I love teaching these two classes because the films present unknown or unfamiliar history to students as well as excellent documentary examples.
Current research project: I am currently working on a book, with the working title, Hard Truths: The Documentary Odyssey of Bob Rogers and Rhonda Schwartz, which is about the NBC News Washington documentary unit headed by Robert F. Rogers from 1967-1989. This is a sequel to Into the Fray: How NBC’s Washington Documentary Unit Reinvented the News. The second book has a rich story of women as documentary creators, ultimately earning “Producer” credit.
Fun fact about yourself: I enjoy interviewing documentary producers, researchers, and correspondents and have reached out to many during my research. One day I was cutting the lawn when my elder son Joe came out to inform me, with an expression of disbelief, “Dad, Mike Wallace is on the phone for you.” In fact, Wallace was widely available to me and generous with interviews. The first time I contacted him was during my dissertation. I wrote to him and followed up a couple weeks later with a call. We exchanged awkward queries and answers about why I was calling. We were talking about Vietnam, and he wanted to get a sense of how much I knew about the war, when he asked, “How old are you?” “Forty-four,” I said. “And you’re working on your dissertation?” “I am.” He shouted to his assistant to “Close the door,” and I knew I had him.
Name: Aleen Ratzlaff
Where you work: I am full professor of communication at Tabor College where I’m serving this year and next as faculty chair. Also I am the adviser for the Tabor College View, the student publication.
Where you earned your Ph.D.: I earned my Ph.D. in mass communication at the University of Florida in 2001.
Current favorite class: My favorite class to teach is CO201-G Intercultural Communication. The course is required of communication majors but also meets a GE (general education) requirement, so I learn to know and teach a nice range of students from across disciplines.
Current research project: I’m tracking down local correspondents for three black newspapers that published in the 1920s — The Kansas City (Mo.) Call, the Black Dispatch of Oklahoma City, and the Negro Star of Wichita, Kan.
Fun fact about yourself: I love to travel and over the past years have co-led eight student study-travel trips to Southeast Asia.