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Faculty members

The College of Communication and Information is pleased introduce you to a our faculty members who have international experience in research, workshop and consultancies around the world. Find out more information about their activities by clicking the following links.

Benjamin Bates, PhD

Candace White, PhD

Carol Tenopir, PhD

Ed Caudill, PhD

Edwin Michael Cortez, PhD

Georgiana Vines

Gretchen Whitney, PhD

Jinx Watson, PhD

Kenneth J. Levine, PhD

Mark Littmann, PhD

Michael Otto Wirth, PhD

Michael Palenchar, PhD

Michelle Violanti, PhD

Paul Ashdown, PhD,

Peter Gross, PhD

Ronald E. Taylor, PhD

Sam Swan, PhD

Suzie Allard, PhD

 

Benjamin J. Bates, PhD

Professor

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

333 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-4013
Email: bjbates(at)utk.edu
http://www.cci.utk.edu/~bates

Dr. Bates is generally interested in the development of information/media systems and the role played by economics and policy in shaping that development. His recent work has focused on the impact of policy on telecommunications development, the implications of changing intellectual property rights, and the changing markets for media and information goods in a networked digital world. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to the University to Helsinki and University of Tampere (Finland), a Sir David Beatty/Ericsson Professorial Research Fellow at Victoria University, New Zealand, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Bates has particular expertise in Scandanavia and Western Europe, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China, and Canada.

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Candace White, PhD

Associate Professor

School of Advertising and Public Relations

Office: 476 Communications Bldg.

Phone: 974-5112

Fax: 974-2826
Email: white(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~advpr/faculty_detail.php?id=71

Dr. White is interested in studying how cultural differences affect how messages are received and how the practice of public relations varies in different countries. She has been involved in teaching, research, and professional activities in Scotland, Wales, and Italy.

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Carol Tenopir, PhD

Professor

Interim Director of Research, Center for Information Studies

School of Information Sciences

423 Communications Bldg.

(865) 974-7911

Email: ctenopir(at)utk.edu

http://web.utk.edu/~tenopir/

Dr. Tenopir has published over 200 journal articles, is a frequent speaker at professional conferences, and since 1983 has written the Online Databases column for Library Journal. She is a 2005 Fulbright Senior Specialist; University of Oulu, Finland, a 2006 Visiting Research Fellow; Finland, a 2004-2006 John Metcalfe Visiting Scholar; University of New South Wales, Australia, and a Honorary Senior Research Fellow for Ciber (Center for Information Behavior and the Evaluation of Research); University College London. She has teaching and research experience, and expertise in Finland, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Tenopir is interested in extending research on scholarly patterns of scientists and social scientists. Her current and most recent research projects include a Project for IEEE comparing communication and information use of high tech engineers in the US, India, and China, and a Project for CSA studying scientists in Germany, Finland, Denmark, and the US. Please refer to Dr. Tenopir’s webpage to see all that she is and has been professionally involved in.

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Edwin Michael Cortez, PhD

Professor and Director

School of Information Sciences

453 Communications Bldg.

974-2148

Email: ecortez(at)utk.edu

http://www.sis.utk.edu/people/faculty/cortez

Dr. Cortez is interested in IS education abroad particularly in establishing formal collaborative relationships with Universities in Spain, Africa, and the Caribbean. He has conducted training by Franco/American Institute on Library Automation. He has been involved in teaching, research, and professional activities in France and Puerto Rico. Dr. Cortez has expertise in Latin America, France, and the Caribbean.

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Ed Caudill, PhD

Professor

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

Office: 431 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-4450
Email: ccaudill(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~jem/people_detail.php?id=73

Dr. Caudill’s teaching areas are reporting, editing, theory and history. He has done research in archives at Cambridge University, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, and Imperial College, London. Dr. Caudill was also involved in a student exchange program called “Nacel” in which students from France came to UT to study mass communications in the 1990s.

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Georgiana Vines

Lecturer

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

Office: 426 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-8154
Email: gvines(at)utk.edu

Georgiana Vines received the Frank Ahlgren Distinguished Lecturer Award in Journalism and Electronic Media. She has more than 40 years of professional experience as a journalist, including being editor of the El Paso (Texas) Herald-Post. Georgiana is interested in working with journalism students who are Hispanic but also know English.

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Gretchen Whitney, PhD

Associate Professor

School of Information Sciences

443 Communications Bldg.

(865) 974-7919

Email: gwhitney(at)utk.edu

http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/gwpage.html

Dr. Whitney is generally interested in bibliographic databases and is currently working on a study on international literatures regarding medical research reported to international databases. She is currently interested in research and IT in support of people with disabilities. Dr. Watson was involved in training programs in family planning in Ghana and San Jose, Costa Rica in the 1970s.

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Jinx Watson, PhD

Associate Professor

School of Information Sciences

446 Communications Bldg.

(865) 974-8612

Email: jinx-watson(at)utk.edu

http://www.sis.utk.edu/~watson/index

Dr. Watson is generally interested in Children’s and young adult literature, particularly children’s information literacy. She has been involved with an international group called ‘Reflective Practice’ and also self-study of professional practice. Dr. Watson has been involved with a secondary curriculum group in Cape Town, South Africa and briefly consulted on one in Columbia, Latin America. She has been an inaugural member to a committee to judge international children’s literature for two years. Dr. Watson has expertise in Spanish-speaking countries and has a strong interest in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Kenneth J. Levine, PhD

Assistant Professor

School of Communication Studies

Office: 293 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-1136
Email: klevine1(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~commstudies/faculty_detail.php?id=147

Dr. Levine is interested in International Communication and the International Workplace. He is particularly interested in studying the difference between the US and international socialization to work and the workplace and the differences in leadership behaviors. He has organized and taught a summer study-abroad program in France and Belgium since 1998.

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Mark Littmann, PhD

Professor

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

Office: 267 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-8156
Email: littmann(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~jem/people_detail.php?id=74

Dr. Littmann holds the Julia G. and Alfred G. Hill Chair of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Medical Writing, an endowed professorship in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. Dr. Littmann is presently writing a 3rd edition of Totality: Eclipses of the Sun (projected publication date late 2007 by Oxford University Press), an article on the outer solar system commissioned by Sky & Telescope magazine (projected publication date early 2007), and an article for a scholarly journal about base-20 Maya mathematics and how it can be successfully taught to children as young as 3rd graders to help with their fundamental understanding of mathematics. He is also writing a play about Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), the first woman to become a professional astronomer and plans to visit the historical Herschel sites in England. He is the author of 4 books, 12 booklets, and 35 planetarium programs about astronomy. As a leader of solar eclipse expeditions, Dr. Littmann has conducted historical research and delivered speeches to tour groups in Bolivia, Peru, Turkey, and on a cruise ship en route to Aruba. As a leader of a Halley’s Comet viewing expedition, he has spoken on a cruise ship with port stops throughout the South Pacific. As a leader of Leonid Meteors viewing expeditions to Australia and Portugal, he has spoken to tour and community groups.

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Michael Otto Wirth, PhD

Professor and Dean

College of Communication and Information

Office: 302 Communications Building
Phone: 974-3031
Email: mwirth(at)utk.edu

Dr. Wirth is interested in the development of Chinese media (economics, management, law, and policy). He has been involved in teaching, research, and professional activities in China and Australia. He was the first Guest Professor from the United States to the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University in Beijing, China (1997), and served as the first Visiting Professor from the U.S. to Zhejiang University’s School of Journalism & Communication, in Hangzhou, China (2001). Wirth was one of only two academics, worldwide, invited to deliver a keynote speech to China Central Television’s International Forum on Chinese TV and Media Development (2003). He served as a member of the Experts Advisory Board of the Communications Economics Research Program at Curtin University of Technology’s School of Economics and Finance in Perth, Western Australia (1997-2000), where he served as a Visiting Professor during summer 1999. Wirth also served as Co-director of the Chinese Executive Media Management Program at the University of Denver from 2000-2006.

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Michael Palenchar, PhD

Assistant Professor

School of Advertising and Public Relations

Office: 476 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-5123

Email: mpalench(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~advpr/faculty_detail.php?id=195

Dr. Palenchar is interested in expanding studies of community risk perceptions and community health, and safety campaigns in relation to living near chemical manufacturing facilities to other countries.

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Michelle Violanti, PhD

Associate Professor

School of Communication Studies

Office: 287 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-7072
Email: violanti(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~commstudies/faculty_detail.php?id=100

Dr. Violanti is interested in cultural and co-cultural communication.

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Paul Ashdown, PhD

Professor

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

Office: 330 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-5155
Email: pashdown(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/people_detail.php?id=60

Dr. Ashdown is interested in European media. His teaching areas are reporting, magazine and feature writing, opinion writing, journalism as literature, and international communication. He has been involved in teaching, research, and professional activities in Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, India, Bosnia, and Slovenia, and has expertise in Ireland, Germany and Slovenia. Dr. Ashdown is the author of A Cold Mountain Companion, published in 2005. In 1995, he was a Fulbright scholar in India.

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Peter Gross, PhD

Professor and Director

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

Office: 333 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-5155
Email: pgross(at)utk.edu

Dr. Gross is interested in international and comparative mass communication, media, and journalism; media and development, transition, and transformation; politics and media; media ethics; US media history; censorship and press freedom; media and foreign affairs; international information and communication law and policy; foreign-language/ethnic press in the US and in East Central and Southeast Europe. Projects he is currently working on include a book on the ex-pat media in Eastern Europe and another one on the Romani (Gypsy) media in Europe.

Dr. Gross has been involved in teaching, research, and professional activities in Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Byelorussia, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Taiwan, Turkey, and India. He is the lead trainer/workshop leader for programs sponsored by governmental and non-governmental agencies (e.g. Voice of America, United States Information Agency, etc.) for Albanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Kosovar, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Romanian, Russian, and Serbian journalists since 1990. He has expertise in Eastern European countries.

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Ronald E. Taylor, PhD

Professor and Director

School of Advertising and Public Relations

Office: 476 Communications Building
Phone: 974-3048

Fax: 974-2826

Email: retaylor(at)utk.edu
Web site: http://web.utk.edu/~retaylor/

Dr. Taylor is interested in European advertising and Advertising Regulation. He has lectured in France and conducted research in France, Belgium, and Spain.

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Sam Swan, PhD

Professor

School of Journalism and Electronic Media

Office: 333 Communications Bldg.
Phone: 974-4291
Email: sam-swan(at)utk.edu

http://www.cci.utk.edu/~jem/people_detail.php?id=27

Dr. Swan has been a leading international media trainer since 1996. He has conducted over 100 workshops in more than 40 countries on broadcast management and broadcast journalism. Many of the workshops have been conducted in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of these were sponsored by the Voice of America Office of International Media Training, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, IREX, US State Department, Internews, and other agencies. He conducts annual workshops for students at the University of Zagreb in Croatia and serves as a consultant for BTV in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Dr. Swan has also conducted several workshops in Africa and Asia for broadcast managers and journalists. He has traveled to Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, Tanzania, Angola, and Rwanda to do workshops. In Asia, Swan has worked extensively in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. He has also conducted workshops in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname.

Dr. Swan has also conducted several more than a dozen workshops for visiting groups of international broadcast managers in Washington D.C. and at the University of Tennessee including groups from Slovakia, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Kosovo, Bosnia, Latvia, and Serbia.

Dr. Swan is the author of a forthcoming book, Broadcast Management for Eastern Europe, published by the International Broadcasting Bureau in Prague. He has written more than 60 articles distributed to affiliates of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He is also the author of a forthcoming book, The Changing World of Electronic Media, in 2007. His teaching interests include broadcast journalism, broadcast management, and international broadcasting.

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Suzie Allard, PhD

Assistant Professor

School of Information Sciences

424 Communications Bldg.

(865) 974-1369

Email: sallard(at)utk.edu

http://www.sis.utk.edu/~sallard/

Dr. Allard is interested in Digital Libraries, Science/Health Communication, and International/Intercultural Communication. She is currently co-leading IEEE funded research in the use and communication of information among hi-tech engineers in the US, India, and China. Dr. Allard is also involved in developing an Intercultural Leadership Toolkit for the Information Age in partnership with colleagues at the University of Puerto Rico. She has been involved in teaching, research, and professional activities in Asia, primarily in China, Korea and India. Dr. Allard has particular expertise in India working with Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and with the International School of Information Management at Mysore University, in Mysore. Dr. Allard sits on the Board of Directors of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations and of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.