Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication has welcomed three new full-time faculty members for the 2016-2017 academic year.
Dianne Finch, assistant professor in the journalism sequence, will be teaching Storytelling Across Platforms and Business of Publishing this fall. She most recently taught at Elon University in North Carolina.
Finch is a data journalism expert, and her research is focused on data journalism and the environment. She has reported on health and science, census trends, business and technology and the environment for the Associated Press, Bloomberg News and New Hampshire Public Radio. In 2008, she was selected as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Knight Science Journalism Fellow, and after her fellowship, was hired to establish a digital media training program for other fellows. She has been teaching ever since.
“I’m pleased to join a university that understands the need for students to embrace the latest journalism trends and demands,” she said.
Scott Hallgren, assistant professor in the digital media production sequence, will be teaching Audio Set-Up and Mixing and Location Sound Recording this fall. He most recently taught at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville.
Hallgren has an extensive list of film, TV and music video work as a sound editor, boom operator and composer, including the Emmy-nominated civil rights documentary "We Shall Not Be Moved: the Nashville Sit-Ins" (2011) which also won both a Silver Telly and Golden CINE Award; the multiple award-winning "Gracie: diary of a coma patient," and "Sith'd", Best Comedy at the 2006 Comic-Con. During his time at Watkins, he worked and taught with Los Angeles film editor Robert Gordon, whose credits include "The Return of the Living Dead" and "Toy Story."
In a previous life, Hallgren was a touring and studio musician for artists such as: Donna Summer, Sir Elton John, Aaron Neville, Andrae Crouch, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Skaggs, Eddy Arnold, Brian Littrell (of Backstreet Boys), David Foster, Larry Gatlin, Mindy McReady, Steve Wariner and Marc Antony.
Cheryl Ann Lambert, Ph.D., assistant professor in the public relations sequence, is teaching Strategic Writing and Messaging in Public Relations and Public Relations Case Studies this fall. She most recently taught at Boston University.
Lambert’s research interests include health messaging and representations of public relations in contemporary and historical contexts. Her research has been shaped by seven years in corporate public relations at Sears, Roebuck and Co. and five years as an editor for a Chilton Publishing Company trade magazine.
Lambert is the lead author of a book chapter coming out this year called "Public relations representations in popular culture: A 'Scandal' on primetime television". The co-authors are Jessalynn Strauss and Natalie Tindall.
“It is exciting JMC recognizes the distinct advantages of faculty whose expertise covers a range of experience and education,” she said.