I'm a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University teaching digital and data-driven media skills and concepts. I completed Ph.D. studies in Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Texas at Austin in May 2005. At UT, I focused on the effects of the Internet on communication and culture. My dissertation, entitled "Gendered Spaces and Digital Discourse: Framing Women's Relationship with the Internet," dealt with the ways women's media and Web sites represent women's usage of the Internet. Prior to doctoral studies, I had a career in Marketing at Compaq Computer (now part of Hewlett Packard) in Houston and NCR Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. I have a Master of Business Administration from the University of Richmond and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2016, I founded the Media Innovation Lab and launched the new undergraduate major in Digital Media Innovation.
In 2020, I received Texas State's Presidential Award for Excellence in Service for Senior Faculty. In 2018 and 2019, I received the Everette Swinney Faculty Senate Excellence in Teaching Award at Texas State. In 2013, I was honored to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching at Texas State University and the AEJMC/Scripps Howard Journalism and Mass Communication Teacher of the Year award. During the 2013-2014 academic year, I was in residence at Stanford University in the Knight Journalism Fellowship program, where I worked on a platform to teach journalists how to code, CodeActually.com. Additional detail regarding my research, education and experience can be found throughout this site.
Here are the links to my course sites. Feel free to use the handouts and tutorials:
Throughout my career, I have focused on the areas of digital and data-driven media and how these topics relate to gender and pedagogy. I have been published in Digital Journalism, Journalism Studies, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Social Science Computer Review, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, #ISOJ, Newspaper Research Journal, Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab and MediaShift. I also have several published book chapters and my dissertation Gendered Spaces and Digital Discourse: Framing Women's Relationship with the Internet was published in 2010.
My professional activities include teaching, journalism, web design/development and experience in marketing, finance and sales at two major tech companies - NCR Corporation and Compaq Computer. I was the news editor and editor of the online newsletter for Texas Music Magazine and have written for Austin Business Journal. I am a co-founder of the Austin chapter of Hacks/Hackers and participated as a steering committee member for the launch of the News Product Alliance. In 2020, I published a report on the State of the News Product Community.