Dr. James Benjamin is the new Department Chair as of August 15, 2005. Dr. Benjamin joined The University of Toledo in 1986 and his areas of interest include; organizational communication, visual communication, and rhetorical theory and criticism.
Dr. Amy Capwell Burns, assistant professor, has taught at UT since 2000. She earned her undergraduate degree from Baldwin-Wallace College, her M.A. from Cleveland State University, and her Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University. Her areas of specialties include Interpersonal Communication, Gender Communication, and other general communication courses.
Joe Clark has worked at UT since 1991 serving eight years as chief public relations officer for the University and assistant to President Frank Horton. He has retained adjunct status in the department of communication and is the current advisor of UT's chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Joe has been accredited by the PRSA since 1974.
John Eidemiller has worked as a producer/director for the UT Department of Communication since the summer of 2002. He shoots, edits, and produces various video projects for clients both within and outside the University and helps to maintain and supervise the television studio and remote truck. Prior to joining the UT Department of Communication staff, he worked at Creative Video, a Washington D.C. corporate video production company, where he coordinated, set up, and directed multi-camera productions at many prestigious venues in Washington and around the country. To find out more about John, or to access information for his Basic TV Studio Operation Class, click here to check out his web site.
Dr. Paul Fritz began teaching at U.T. in 1980 after completing his graduate studies at Bowling Green State University. He teaches Communication Theory, Conflict in the Workplace, Portfolio Documentation, and Introduction to Communication (Introduction to the Internet) on the Web. His current research investigates the Microsoft monopoly trail.
Please feel free to stop at his office for career counseling and a free copy of "Pathways To Careers In Communication"~a list of job titles from 14 different career areas (business, television, health care, etc). You can visit his personal page with course links at www.utoledo.edu/~pfritz/.
Dr. Paulette D. Kilmer began teaching at UT in the fall of 1997. She graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign campus, with a Ph.D. in media studies, from the University of Kansas in Lawrence with a M.A. in speech/ theater, and from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a M.A. in specialized reporting as well as a B.A. in journalism and history. She is the author of "The Fear of Sinking: The American Success Formula in the Gilded Age" (1996) and "Always Sunny Skies:Why We're Wanderers At Heart" (forthcoming). Her research interests include values across time and narrative formats in the mass media for myths and legends. She serves as the advisor of the Society for Professional Journalists.
Dr. Richard J. Knecht, has taught at UT since 1971. He has earned degrees from the University of Dayton, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and the Ohio State University. His areas of specialties include Telecommunications Policy in the United States, and Professional Business Communication.
Dr. Jacqueline Layng has been a professor at UT since 1997. She has a Master's of Arts degree in Media Communication and a Doctorate in Educational Technology from Northern Illinois University. Her recent publications include:
Layng, J. (1999). Developing Multimedia Presentations in a New Technology
Communication Course. Speech Communication Teacher. 13(4), 1-2.
Dr. Paul A. Many is a professor of communication. He is the author of two young adult novels: "These Are the Rules" and "My Life, Take Two," both published by Walker & Co. of New York City. He has an MA in journalism from Ohio State University, an MFA in creative writing from Bowling Green and a Ph.D. in mass communication/journalism from Ohio University. You can visit his homepage at www.utoledo.edu/homepages/pmany
Dr. Norbert H. Mills began his career at UT in 1974, as an assistant professor of speech. He earned his bachelor's degree at Winona State College in Minnesota and continued his graduate studies at Bowling Green State University, where he earned his master's degree and doctorate. Dr. Mills retired Summer, 2005.
Tom Osswald has been producing video, television, radio, and web materials for UT since 1998. He has worked as a video and audio editor/engineer and as a television news editor in California, Montana, and Ohio. His interests include the utilization of new media for marketing, public relations, and teaching. He holds a bachelors degree in communication from UT. He has taught visual communications and radio production and programming.
He is an advisor to UTTV, the student television broadcasting organization and works with students to produce the "Rocket Report", student news program. Click here for the UTTV page.
Brian Anse Patrick, Associate Professor, joined the Department in 2000 and holds a Ph.D. in Communication Research from The University of Michigan. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in research methods, group communication, propaganda and persuasion. His honors seminars on “Propaganda and Social Science” and “American Gun Policy” rank as the most popular courses in the University’s Honors Program. He is a nationally recognized expert on American Gun Culture. He believes in respectfully engaging students. He says, “My educational model is the conversation—let’s talk.” Publications include the following:
Rise of the Anti-Media: In-Forming the American Concealed Weapon Carry Movement (Lexington Books, 2009, in press).
The National Rifle Association and the Media: The Motivating Force of Negative Coverage (Peter Lang Publishing, 2003).
Viking and Rappers: The Icelandic Sagas Hip-Hop Across 8 Mile. Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 41, 2, 2008.
Beyond Hegemony: Classical Propaganda Theory and Presidential Communication Strategy after the Invasion of Iraq. Mass Communication & Society, 10, (1) 2007. With A.T. Thrall.
Group Ethos and the Communication of Social Action. Small Group Research, 37, No. 3, 2006.
Oppression as a By-Product of Administrative Hermeneutics and Group Processes: A Case Study. Quarterly Journal of Ideology, Vol. 22, 3-4, pp. 33-62, 1999.
What Automatic Guns Can Do for Motion Pictures: Disambiguation and the Deus-Ex-Machina Finale. In M. Pomerance & J. Sakeris (Eds.), Bang Bang! Shoot Shoot! Essays on Guns in Popular Culture. New York: Random House. 1999. With K.R. Hart
Don Reiber is an assistant professor of communication and the director of the department of communication's Media Services. He oversees the department's television studio and production facilities in Rocket Hall.
He teaches classes in television production, live-truck production, and radio production and programming.
Fatima A. Shousher has taught at UT since 1998 and has held positions as a part-time Instructor, Visiting Professor and is currenly a Lecturer. She received her bachelor's degree from UT in the Communication Department and earned her master's degree from BGSU. She has experience in Web Development, Public Relations and Marketing and currenly teaches Visual Communication and Interpersonal Communication.
Dr. David E. Tucker is an associate professor of communication. He teaches Mass Communication and Society, Radio/TV Newswriting, Communication Theory and Senior Portfolio classes.