Chris Roberts, Ph.D.

 

Home                                                     Work

1631 Willow Creek Drive                          Room 4016, Carolina Coliseum

Columbia, SC 29212-1336                         Columbia, SC 29208

(803) 466-7044                                         (803) 777-4979

chrisrob@chrisrob.com                            c@sc.edu

 

Personal Web site: www.chrisrob.com/about

 

 

EDUCATION 

 

Ph.D, The University of South Carolina                                                                                 2007

• Dissertation: “Measuring the Relationship Between Journalistic Transparency and Credibility”

• Kappa Tau Alpha top graduate scholar, 2007

• Second place research presentation, language and communications division, USC Graduate School Honors Day, 2006.

• First place research presentation, language and communications division, USC Graduate School Honors Day, 2005.

• Recipient of Buchheit Family Fellowship for graduate students, September 2005

 

Master of Arts in journalism, The University of Alabama                                                      1990

• Thesis: “A Descriptive Study of the Perceived Moral Dimensions of Journalism/Mass Communication Education.”

• Editorial assistant, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 1988-89.

• College of Communication’s Graduate Research Assistant of the Year, 1989.

 

Bachelor of Arts in journalism, The University of Alabama                                                   1987

• Graduated cum laude; economics minor. Winner of Boone and Chevron scholarships.

• Transferred to Alabama after two years at Jacksonville State University.

 

Professional training includes:

• Advanced boot camp for statistics and mapping, National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., May 1997.

• Advanced structured query language and Active Server Pages, Knight Ridder newspapers, St. Paul, Minn., September 1999.

 

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE  

 

Assistant Professor, The University of South Carolina                                 January 2007-Present

• Promoted from instructor upon dissertation defense.

Adjunct instructor, The University of South Carolina                                       2001-January 2007

• Mass communication research for undergraduates, Spring 2002 and Fall 2005.

• Computer-assisted reporting, Spring-Fall 2001.

• Once-a-semester presentations on computer-assisted reporting to senior journalism majors.

Adjunct instructor, Samford University                                                                             1996-97

• Three semesters of sophomore reporting and writing.

Adjunct instructor/graduate assistant, The University of Alabama                                1987-1992

• Three semesters of introduction to media writing, Fall 1987-Summer 1998.

• Advanced editing, Spring 1992.


 

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS           

 

“A Review of the Book … You Won’t See Reviewed in JMCQ.” Ethical News: The Newsletter of the AEJMC Media Ethics Division, 11(1), 5 (Fall 2007).

 

“Personal Computers.” In August E. Grant and Jennifer H. Meadows, Editors, Communication Technology Update (10th ed.) Focal Press, 2006, 157-172.

 

Provided data analysis for “Hartsville Today: The first year of a small-town citizen-journalism site; A guide especially for small daily and non-daily newspapers, written by USC instructor Doug Fish and Hartsville Messenger Publisher Graham Osteen as part of a J-Lab initiative, July 2006.

 

 “Tearing down the walls (Cases and commentaries.)” Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 19(3&4), 303-306. (Fall 2004).

 

“Personal Computers.” In August E. Grant and Jennifer H. Meadows, Editors, Communication Technology Update (9th ed.) Focal Press, 2004, 155-167.

 

“Just a better mousetrap? Or real ethical issues.” Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 13(2), 126-127. (Spring 1998).

 

Review of the book Prodigal Press in Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 4(1), 136-140 (Winter 1989).

 

Two articles currently under review.

 

ACADEMIC CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS   

 

“Measuring the Relationship Between Journalistic Transparency and Credibility” Presented to Newspaper Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, August 2007, Washington, D.C. Co-winner of the division’s “top faculty research paper” award.

 

“An Explication of 11 Dimensions of Journalistic Message Transparency.” Presented to Media Ethics Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, August 2007, Washington, D.C.

 

“‘The Development of Character’ During the Destruction of a University: The Story of Thomas Pearce Bailey Jr.” Presented to the Southern History of Education Society annual meeting, March 2007, Columbia, S.C.

 

“Dimensions of journalistic messenger transparency.” Presented to the Media Ethics Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, August 2006, San Francisco.

 

“An appeal to newspaper authority in television political ads: A case study.” Presented to the Media Ethics Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, August 2005, San Antonio.

 

Gatekeeping Theory: An evolution.” Presented to the Communication Theory and Methodology Division at the annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication convention, August 2005, San Antonio.

 

“Biting the hand that feeds: Blogs and second-level agenda setting,” with co-researcher Bryan Murley. Presented at the national Media Convergence Conference, October 2005 in Provo, Utah. Awarded best graduate paper at conference.

 

“Convergence using open-source software.” Panel presentation at the national Media Convergence Conference, October 2005 in Provo, Utah.

 

 “Moving the Bottom Line: The relationship between profits and losses, and their prominence in earnings press releases,” Chris Roberts and Lindsey Morrow. Presented in March 2006 at the AEJMC Southeastern Colloquium, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Awarded top student paper in colloquium’s open division. Awarded best research presentation in the University of South Carolina Graduate School’s language and communications research division competition, April 2005.

 

“Journalism ethics codes and appellate courts.” Presented in March 2006 at the AEJMC Southeastern Colloquium, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

 

“Journalism’s quest for professionalism, 1900-1930.” Presented April 15, 1989, at the AEJMC Southeastern Colloquium, Chapel Hill, N.C.

 

ACADEMIC CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP           

 

Moderator, “Frontiers of Theory and Research,” Convergence and Society: Media Ownership, Control & Consolidation conference, October 2007, Columbia, S.C.

 

Moderator, “Celebrating the Law and Ethics of the First Amendment In and Out of the Classroom,” Media Ethics/Law and Policy divisions, annual meeting of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, August 2007, Washington, D.C.

 

Moderator, “Ethics, New Media, and Education ethics codes and appellate courts,” Convergence and Society: Ethics, Religion, and New Media conference, October 2006, Columbia, S.C.

 

PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS      

 

Professional presentations include:

 

• Three writing/editing workshops for USC for Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, and Columbia-area nonprofits, Fall 2007.

• “MySpace and Facebook Basics,” Richland County Public Library, Columbia, S.C., September 2007.

• Plagiarism speech to 200 high school students, Carolina Journalism Institute, June 2007

• Writing and plagiarism conference sessions for the Southern Interscholastic Press Association (March 2007) and South Carolina Scholastic Press Association (Spring 2007 and Fall 2006)

• “Social Networking and Public Relations,” South Carolina chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Columbia, S.C., October 2006.

• Editing workshop for The Daily Gamecock, the USC student newspaper, September 2006.

• “Journalism ethics,” South Carolina Press Association, Columbia, S.C., May 2006.

• “Media mistakes” panel, USC chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, January 2006.

• Business reporting, Society of Professional Journalists national convention, Tampa, Fla., September 2003

• Business reporting, National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Charlotte, N.C., March 2003.

• Business reporting, Investigative Reporters and Editors regional convention, Savannah, Ga., October 2002.

• Education reporting, National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Philadelphia, Penn., March 2002.

• “Computer-assisted reporting for small- and medium-sized newsrooms,” National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Lexington, Ky., September 2000.

• General-assignment reporting, National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting national convention, Boston, Mass., March 1999.


 

TEACHING AT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA      

 

Fall 2007

• Journalism 201, Survey of Mass Communications, 303 students. Teach twice-weekly lectures in the second-largest single section of a course at USC.

• Journalism 335, reporting, 16 students.

 

Summer 2007: Journalism 335, reporting, 10 students.

 

Spring 2007: Journalism 546, advanced editing. More than 20 students publish The Carolina Reporter as part of a senior semester capstone experience that also includes courses in reporting and visual communications. More than 20 contact hours per week to teach, assist students in publishing, and in grading their work.

 

Fall 2006

• Journalism 547, computer assisted reporting. Taught to 10 senior-semester students.

• Journalism 335, reporting. Lead instructor for weekly lectures in class of more than 25 students, and responsible for grading work of a dozen students.

• Journalism 304, mass communication research. The 36 students’ projects included a survey of Hartsville, S.C., residents and their views on the Hartsville Today citizen journalism site, and a survey to gauge reactions at seven U.S. universities to “racy” T-shirt sayings.

 

Summer 2006

• Journalism 335, reporting.

• Journalism 304, mass communication research. Class project was a pair of focus groups to help The State newspaper decide to change its “Weekend” entertainment section to tabloid from broadsheet.

 

Spring 2006: Journalism 304, mass communication research. Class project focused on student reaction to Facebook.com as it reached critical mass at the University of South Carolina. Data from the project was cited in a State newspaper story and by USC’s journalism school director in an AEJMC presentation.


ACADEMIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

 

• Professional Freedom and Responsibility officer, Media Ethics Division of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, since August 2007

 

• Commencement committee, University of South Carolina. Announcer and reader of graduates’ names, USC undergraduate commencements, since December 2006

 

• New Student Convocation announcer, USC, 2006 and 2007.

 

• Member, USC Journalism School doctoral admittance committee, 2008-.

 

• Member, USC Journalism School curriculum committee, 2006-08.

 

• Member, USC Journalism School new media task force, 2007.

 

• Emcee, South Carolina Press Association awards ceremonies, February 2007, Columbia, S.C.

 

• Judge for Georgia Press Association newspaper contest, Feb. 8, 2007.

 

• Judge for Texas Press Association newspaper contest, April 27, 2006.

 

• Guest lecturer, Dakar Academy, Dakar, Senegal, May 23 and Nov.21, 2007.

 

• Speaker at workshops for staffers of The Daily Gamecock, USC’s student-run newspaper, 2006, 2007.

 

• Chairman of media committee for “The Ripple Effect” fund-raising campaign for Riverland Hills Baptist Church, Columbia, SC, 2006-2007. Prepared 12-minute DVD, calendar and other printed materials. Media chairman of seven church capital campaigns since 1990 that have raised more than $20 million.

 


 

JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE         

 

Editor and reporter, The State, Columbia, S.C.                                    June 1998-December 2005

• Assistant business editor since February 2002. Assigned and edited stories for the six-writer staff, selected wire stories, developed graphics, coordinated page design, and performed other duties focused on Sunday and other advance sections.

• Investigations editor, 2000-2002. Edited and reported long-range projects.

• Database editor, 1998-present. Introduced full-time database reporting to newspaper. Wrote and edited data-driven stories, acquired data, and built the newsroom’s intranet site. Proficient in Microsoft Office, HTML, PHP, SQL, SPSS, ArcView, Adobe Premiere and other applications.

 

Editor/reporter/columnist, The Birmingham (Ala.) News                                            1989-1998

• Weekend city editor, with supervision of reporters and photographers, 1991-1998.

• Technology columnist syndicated weekly through the Newhouse News Service, 1995-1998. Creator and editor of the paper’s weekly “My.Tech” computer section.

• Reporter with an emphasis on computer-assisted reporting. Covered business, government, politics.

• Tuscaloosa correspondent and intern, 1987.

 

Book design                                                                                                                    1989-1995

• Designer of 10 books that sold more than 100,000 copies during the 1990s. Books include the first two editions of Doing Ethics in Journalism, Century of Champions: The Centennial History of Alabama Football, Where Tradition Began: The Centennial History of Auburn Football, Shoals to Sand Dunes: Your Alabama Travel Guide, and The Complete Alabama Fisherman.

 

Correspondent, The Anniston (Ala.) Star                                                                        1980-1989

• From age 15 to 22 covered college, professional and prep sports for this 35,000-circulation daily newspaper.

 

Sports Editor, The Jacksonville (Ala.) News                                                                  1980-1985

• From age 14 to 19 wrote, designed and edited the sports section of a 3,000-circulation weekly.

 

Announcer, WHMA AM-FM, Anniston, Ala.                                                                 1980-1983

• Disc jockey, fill-in news reporter, sports color commentary for a 100,000-watt FM/25,000 AM station.

 

Other experience

• Since joining USC, freelance database and editing assignments for The State; columnist for Home Furnishings Business magazine.

• Correspondent, Newsweek On-Campus magazine. Coverage of University of Alabama campus for Newsweek’s college magazine, published eight times a year with a circulation of more than 3.5 million. 1987-1988, when magazine folded.

• Copy Editor, The Crimson White, The University of Alabama’s 15,000-circulation student newspaper. Edited stories, wrote headlines and a weekly column, 1985-1987. Chief copy editor, 1986-1987.


 

JOURNALISM AWARDS     

 

Society of American Business Editor and Writers

• Co-author of a best spot news story for mid-sized newspapers, 2004.

• Sunday editor of The State’s business section that won “Best in Business” awards for its circulation categories in 2002, 2003, and 2005.

 

South Carolina Press Association

• Editor of “South Carolina’s Deadly Roads,” an eight-day series that won first place in both public service and best series categories, 2001.

• Edited, wrote and/or handled computer-assisted reporting work for stories that won first, second and third place in “enterprise reporting” category, 2000.

• Shared first-place award for spot-news reporting, 2005.

 

Alabama Associated Press

• “Freedom of Information” award for project on criminal sentencing patterns, Birmingham News, 1996.

• Winner of 10 awards for writing and best weekly sports page, including three first-place, Jacksonville News, 1980-85.

 

Southern Journalism Awards

• Honorable mention (as lead reporter and researcher) for “$673 a Second,” which used computer-assisted reporting techniques to reveal the federal government’s spending habits in Alabama, 1995.

 

MEMBERSHIPS / ORGANIZATIONS         

 

• Editorial advisory board, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, January 1991-November 2007

• Reviewer for Newspaper Research Journal, Fall 2007

• Member, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

• Member, Society of American Business Editor and Writers

• Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors

• Member, Kappa Tau Alpha journalism society, The University of South Carolina

President of Alabama Scholastic Press Association, 1982-83

 

THESIS/DISSERTATION COMMITTEES   

 

• Doctoral dissertation for Van Madray, 2007-.

• Master’s thesis for Heidi Campbell, 2007-.

• Undergraduate honor’s college thesis for Robyn Torkewitz, 2006-2007.