Kathleen Fearn-Banks’ research is primarily in crisis communications. She departed from that subject recently to write The Historical Dictionary of African-American Television because of her two decades in network television. She will also soon resume the study of press secretaries of U.S. presidents. Highlights of accomplishments Honors

Lisa Coutu, Teaching Professor Emeritus, specializes in the study of communication and culture, the ethnography of communication, and discourse analysis. In particular, her research interests involve the study of how groups’ ways of speaking are created and maintained within the context of coexisting and competing ways of speaking. Now retired, she taught undergraduate courses in … Read More

Lance Bennett received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1974, and has taught since then at the University of Washington, where he is Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor Communication and Professor of Political Science. He is also founder and director of the Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy. The Center is dedicated to understanding … Read More

Professor Randal Beam does research about social and economic influences on the news. He teaches courses about journalism, mass media and society, and media business and economics. He is a co-author of The American Journalist in the 21st Century: U.S. News People at the Dawn of a New Millennium. That book, based on a national survey … Read More