The University of Toledo

Faculty and Staff Bios

Dr. Amy Capwell Burns is a Master Teacher and 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.

Dee Drummond is associate lecturer of communication. 

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 visit his web site.

Dr. Paul Fritz is a professor of communication and the chair of the department. He 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. 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 is a professor of communication. She 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 is a professor of communication and 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. Jackie Layng is a professor of communication and is a nationally recognized scholar in the fields of media and business communication. She has published a communication technology book for Prentice hall, written over 14 articles which have appeared in national and international journals and presented at more than 30 professional conferences around the world. Dr. Layng designed the nationally award winning broadcast curriculum at the university, which has won multiple awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She is the Executive Producer of UT:10 news. This newscast won First Place for the 2010 Best Overall Student Newscast in the country. The award called the College TV Award is considered to be the college Emmy and is the highest level of accolade from the television industry. Dr. Layng believes strongly in preparing her students for the “real world” and has hundreds of graduates working at TV stations, media companies and business all over the US as well as several countries around the world. She continues to consult for major corporations, produce media for various clients and is asked to speak often on media and technology for news outlets, businesses and the community.

Dr. Paul A. Many is a professor of communication. He is the author of three young adult novels and two picture books. 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, Professor Emeritus, 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.

Dr. Brian Anse Patrick is a professor of communication. He 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. WithK.R. Hart

Don Reiber is an associate 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 Simon has taught at UT since 1998 and has held positions as a part-time Instructor, Visiting Professor and is currenly an Associate Lecturer. She received her B. A. from UT in Communication specializing in Public Relations and earned her M. A. from BGSU in Mass Communication - Public Relations. Her areas of expertise are in Web Development and Public Relations and Marketing. She   teaches Visual Communication, Advanced Visual Communication, Public Relations Theory, Interpersonal Communication, Public Presentations and Information Analysis. She also is the Public Relations Student Society of America Advisor and an Academic Advisor for all Public Relations students.

Dr. Sumitra Srinivasan is an associate professor of communication. She received her B. Sc. in Physics from Stella Maris College, M. A. in Communication from the University of Madras, M. S. in Television-Radio-Film from Syracuse University and Ph. D. in Communication from Georgia State University. She also holds a graduate diploma in Computer Science and Information Technology and is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). Her industry experience includes working in the fields of journalism, market research and multimedia production. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in News Writing, Communication Theory/Research, New Media, International/Intercultural Communication. Her research interests and activities include the areas of Open-Source Media; International Journalism; Pedagogy and New Media Technologies; Environmental Communication; Gender and Science; Globalization, Culture and Technology; Telecommunication Law and Policy.

David Strukel is an associate lecturer of 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.