I am the director of Gannon’s Journalism Communication program and an assistant professor in the School of Communication and the Arts. A native of Pittsburgh, I finished my undergraduate work at San Francisco State University, where I majored in journalism, in 1977. I remained on the West Coast for most of the next 30 years, with the exception of a year that I attended West Virginia University, where I obtained a Master of Science degree in journalism. The focus of my master’s thesis was a content analysis that compared tabloid newspapers to broadsheets with respect to facts and opinions.
Prior to coming to Gannon in the fall of 2005, I spent nearly 30 years working as a journalist for several Northern California newspapers. I began my career in journalism as a sports writer and spent a dozen years in that arena. For the next 18 years, I focused on news and features, where I covered a wide array of serious topics -- criminal justice, the environment, municipal government, education – as well as some not-so-serious topics. Unless you are among those who consider the annual Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee a serious matter.
In addition to directing the Journalism Communication program and teaching a full-time course load, I serve as the faculty adviser to The Gannon Knight, the university’s award-winning student-produced weekly newspaper. I am also active on several campus committees. For the past 11 summers, I also have conducted a week-long journalism workshop for area high school students.