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Roy H. Park Fellow and doctoral candidate
Hussman School of Journalism and Media
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Anticipated completion May 2020

More than two decades in the communications field has shaped my perspective from which to approach research and pedagogy. This orientation supports my objective to pursue a body of research that produces both theoretical value and empirical insight beneficial to the profession. I am also a passionate teacher and enjoy interacting with students in ways that boost their knowledge, confidence, and abilities.

My research interests include journalism’s role in democracy, media ethics, media processes and production, law and policy, and technology in the newsroom. My current projects include several projects (including my dissertation) related to the rising phenomenon of unpublishing requests—a result of technological change that challenges newsrooms both internally and externally.

Below is a link to a Daily Tar Heel article including some of my thoughts about the ethics of directing classroom discussions.

When is it ethical for teachers to direct classroom discussions?
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2019/02/ethics-across-the-disciplines-0226

The Fall 2019 edition of AEJMC Media Ethics Division newsletter includes a column I wrote on teaching media ethics in the wake of #MeToo. I explain in the article that while the movement offers excellent learning opportunities for students, it also prompts big questions from a personal and pedagogical standpoint for teachers. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on how #MeToo affects your work with students both in and out of the classroom!

If you teach, you’re likely to be familiar with the story I tell in my recent commentary in the AEJMC Media Ethics Division newsletter about political discussion in the undergraduate classroom. 

Although I frequently emphasize my media ethics classroom is an open forum for all ideas, the current political climate has made “balanced” discussion virtually obsolete. But one day this semester that changed, and it has been a sea change in my classroom. Students began telling sad tales of being shut down in other classes by both students and their professors after they expressed a conservative viewpoint. Conservative students are now enhancing our daily discussion—and teaching the bulk of the (liberal-leaning) students how to manage challenges to their opinions. Philosophy and codes of ethics are important to teach, but learning how to handle people who don’t think like you is a skill best learned in the classroom. The harsh realities of the professional world await to put those skills to the test, and I’d like my students to be ready.