Welcome to my online portfolio!

I am in my fifth year as a Ph.D. student in Mass Communications at Penn
State University. I have recently passed my comprehensive examinations
and have begun research on my dissertation which is analysis of the interaction between international activist use of social media and the interaction it has with transnational advocacy networks and foreign policy. Specifically I'm looking at how advocacy networks use information from Cuban bloggers to influence U.S. policy.


But my research interests go beyond my dissertation. I study international communications, media law, media freedom, international law and foreign policy. As an attorney, I also study First Amendment theory, hate speech and the effect of 24/7 news on criminal defendants' Sixth Amendment rights.

Currently I teach COMM 419 (World Media Systems), a comparative look at press systems. I use freedom of the press as my baseline comparison and concentrate on the relative barriers to press freedom which include political parallelism, violence against journalists, corruption and legal restrictions.

I have also taught International Communications (online and
traditional) since September of 2009. It's a fascinating subject and I
like to teach from a variety of perspectives including foreign policy,
international law, and political economy. Please see my teaching folder to view sample syllabi and lessons, hear an interactive lecture and view my teaching philosophy.