Danna L. Walker, Ph.D.
Voice/text: 240-498-6193
Email: drdannaw@gmail.com
Professor Walker is a teacher of journalism and media studies, and a communication researcher who takes a critical and historical approach to studying media and their influence. Her research has uncovered the pivotal role women have taken in the beginnings of the technological revolution in the news media.She has also researched the coverage of women-centered events by the news media, as well as the application of feminist theories in communication.
She has written and taught online, and is heavily involved in studying and teaching online journalism. She has received training in online journalism at the Newsplex Converged Media Workshop at the University of South Carolina and has been teaching students about blogging and participatory culture and media since 2004. She is also a working journalist, blogger, and social networker.
Professor Walker has had articles published in academic publications, on Web sites, and in the mainstream media. She has been a reporter, writer and editor in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities for an international wire service and for CBS News. As a journalist, she has covered the U.S. Congress and other government agencies.
Her award-winning doctoral dissertation focused on women in journalism and the dissident feminist press. She used primary source material to paint a portrait of the founding of the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press and the decades-long efforts by women to change social structures through media, including via new technology.
Panels, Speeches, and New Media
Professor Walker has appeared on major communication conference panels on such topics as women’s voices in political blogging and new media (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, 2008), the impact internationally of news coverage of women (International Communication Association, Montreal, 2008), feminist and student-centered teaching (International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany, 2006), the importance of the historical perspective in journalism teaching (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco, 2006), and the life of WIFP founder Donna Allen (Library of Congress lecture series 2003).
At American University, she teaches Reporting, Understanding Media, How the News Media Shape History, and Dissident Media, and she recently developed the course, Critical Meanings in Media, for the General Education program. She has featured guest speakers such as CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer, former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, and Ken Sands, executive director of innovation at Congressional Quarterly, in her classes.
She has also helped develop distance education courses at AU, and she serves as the steward of the quotation archives of the Rev. James B. Simpson, author of Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, now under the auspices of American University and at www.profundity.net.
In fall 2008, her class participated in Professor David Johnson’s crowd source project between AU, NPR and cbsnews.com for the presidential inauguration and election, which won second place in the AEJMC Best of the Web competition in 2009.
She has been an innovator in incorporating online journalism into her classes at AU. As adviser to the student newspaper, she has worked closely with the newspaper staff in enhancing the publication’s online presence. As the James B. Simpson Fellow, she has developed a quotations web site, www.profundity.net, containing newsworthy political quotations on a breaking news basis. She has also helped facilitate intellectual discussion on the effects of the digital revolution in news through her role as producer of American Forum, the AU School of Communication’s panel series, which is regularly aired on WAMU 88.5 and periodically on C-SPAN.
Current Projects
Researcher – Global News Project, “Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media,” International Women’s Media Foundation, 2009-2010.
Married to the Media: A History of Women and News, Marquette Books, publication expected 2011.
Study – “The Longest Day: An Experiment in Deprivation for Digital Natives,” undergraduate survey of 24-hour e-media fast.
Historical Study – “Frenay’s Combat: Emerging Voice of the French Resistance,” co-author with Nick Clayton.
www.profundity.net – Political quotes web site under auspices of James B. Simpson Fellowship.
www.dannawalker.org – Ongoing Web site for classroom/academic use.
Teaching
Professor Walker is known for her innovative teaching techniques emphasizing subject-centered learning and her sense of humor in the classroom. Her experiment in assigning millennial students to give up digital media for 24 hours and write about their experience gained national attention after she wrote about it in The Washington Post Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/3aeozy. She has received high teaching evaluations, and continuously incorporates the latest developments in digital media in her classes. A sense of her classroom content and style can be found in some of her class blogs:
–www.doggedpursuit.blogspot.com
Recent Grants
Research grant for book, tentatively titled, Married to the Media: A History of Women and News, awarded Summer 2008 from the James R. Dougherty, Jr., Foundation, Inc.
Academic and Select Mainstream Publications and Media Contributions
Walker, Danna, moderator broadcast: American Forum: Are Media Making Us Dumber? Intellect, Ignorance and Influence in the Digital Age, March 30, 2009, http://wamu.org/programs/special/09/american_forum_media_in_the_digital_age.php.
Walker, Danna; Barnett, Barbara; Geertsema, Margaretha, “Inverting the Inverted Pyramid: Are Feminism and Journalism Compatible in the College Classroom? A Series of Essays,” Feminist Teacher. (Accepted for publication.)
Walker, Danna (2008) “People’s Movements, People’s Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements,” Review, Journalism History; Fall, Vol. 34 Issue 3, p179-179.
Walker, Danna (2007) Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Review, Fall 2008: “Caryl Rivers, Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women.”
Encyclopedia of Celebrity Culture (from 1950-present), edited by Sam G. Riley, Greenwood Press, two encyclopedia entries, “Celebrity Psychoanalysis,” “Celebrity Product Lines,” in press.
Reprint: The Longest Day, from The Washington Post, 1/8/07 for journalism essay writing text, contract
Walker, Danna (2007) “They Had a Satellite and They Knew How to Use It: How Donna Allen Led Women to the Forefront of the Technological Revolution in Communication,” Spring 2007, Vol. 24, No. 2, American Journalism
Walker, Danna (2007) “The Longest Day,” The Washington Post Magazine http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080101720.html
Walker, Danna (2007) “Tell Me More” – National Public Radio broadcast: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12346287
Byerly, Carolyn M., Walker, Danna L. (2007) “Ignoring International Women’s Day: A Case Study of U.S. News Coverage, 2005”; Media Report to Women, August 2007. http://www.mediareporttowomen.com/current.htm
Byerly, Carolyn M. and Walker, Danna L. (2007) “An Invisible Celebration of International Women’s Day in U.S. Media,” Sciences de la Société (journal published in France), special issue on International Women’s Day news, No. 70, 2007, pp. 165-178.
Walker, Danna (2007). “Stunning Media Changes In 2006 Have College Journalism Educators’ Heads Spinning,” January, Public Eye for CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/01/04/publiceye/entry2331965.shtml
(Reprised in March 2007 issue of Business Monthly)
Walker, Danna (2006). “Open Letter to My College Professors,” January, Inside Higher Education: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/01/06/walker
Walker, Danna (2006). “How I became controversial at AJHA,” American Journalism Historians Association Intelligencer, Winter, Vol. 23, No. 2 (reprint)
Walker, Danna (2005). “How I became controversial at AJHA,” Women’s Words, AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women newsletter, Summer.
Walker, Danna (2004): “Donna Allen: Activist, Researcher, Educator, Journalist,” Media Report to Women, Spring 2004.
Walker, Danna (2001): “Feminist Scholarship at the 2001 AEJMC Convention,” Inter/Sections, ECCR European Consortium for Communications Research, Winter 2001.
Walker, Danna (1998): “Third Wave Feminism,” Clio, Newsletter of the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Fall 1998.
Education
Ph.D. in Mass Communication, University of Maryland, College Park, Md.; Dissertation: “Reason and Radicalism: The History of Donna Allen and Women’s Activism in Media.” 12/2003.
Master of Liberal Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Northeast Louisiana University, Monroe, La.
Academic Experience
James B. Simpson Fellow – American University, present, including teaching journalism and online project; created course: Meanings in Media.
Adviser to The Eagle, AU campus newspaper: www.theeagleonline.com, 2007 – present
SOC Producer, American Forum, panel discussion and broadcast by American University School of Communication and WAMU 88.5, public radio station: “Youthquake ‘08” (Sept. 8, 2008), “Politics and Pundits” (Nov. 8, 2008), “Washington Watchdogs: An Endangered Species? (Feb. 17, 2009), “Are Media Making Us Dumber?Intellect, Ignorance and Influence in the Digital Age,” HOST, March 30, 2008. Instrumental in putting broadcast on iTunesU and Facebook.
Adjunct Associate Professor in Residence/ James B. Simpson Fellow – American University, 2006-2007.
Assistant Professor – American University, including courses on Dissident Media, How the News Media Shape History, Media Writing, and Interviewing, 2005-2006. Created course: Media Democracy.
Professorial Lecturer – George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, Journalism 111, Fall 2004, 2004-2005.
Adjunct Assistant Professor — Writing for the Mass Media, Journalism 201, University of Maryland University College Distance Education, 2002-2005.
Guest Lecturer – Journalism 201, University of Maryland, 2/04
Guest Lecturer – Ph.D. seminar, University of Maryland, 10/2002.
Guest Lecturer, News Writing, Journalism 201, University of Maryland, 10/94.
Adjunct Professor, Broadcast News Writing, Journalism 360, University of Maryland, 8/94-1/95.
Guest Lecturer, News Reporting, Journalism 101, University of Maryland, 10/92.
Professional Experience
Assignment editor, CBS News-Washington, 1/94-2006
Producer, CBS News Face the Nation, 2001.
Free-lance writer, CBS.com, Discovery.com, The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times Section II, The Washington Post Travel Section, Work/Life Today, Grassroots Financial Newsletter, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Ryan’s Hope: An Adoptive Father’s Story — book proposal.
Writer, CBS News Nightwatch, 10/89-1/94.
Writer/Producer, CNN Washington, 7/89-10/89.
Reporter, international affairs, United Press International, Capitol Hill,Washington, D.C., 87-89.
– Washington desk editor, United Press International, 84-87.
– National desk editor, United Press International World Headquarters, New York City, 83-84.
– Broadcast writer, United Press International Broadcast Hub, Chicago.
– State desk editor, United Press International, Dallas, Texas.
– Reporter, city hall, police beat, Monroe Morning World, Gannett Newspapers, Monroe, La.
Academic Panels and Speeches
Panelist, Women and Technology: From Satellites to the Second Self, Panel Politics & Gender in the Age of Interactive Mass Media, International Communication Association, Montreal, Canada, Sunday, May 25, 2008
Moderator, Female Identities, Online and Offline, Friday, Aug. 8, 2008, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 8, 2008, Chicago.
Panelist, Women’s Voices in Political Commentary: Traditional Media Spaces and Cyberspace, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 5-8, 2008, Chicago
Panelist, Tribute to Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award Winner, Maurine Beasley, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 5-8, 2008, Chicago
Panelist, George Washington Law School, “Women, Media and Politics,” March 2008.
Keynote speaker, U.S. State Department International Visitor Program, Women as Leaders—Africa, Monday, Sept. 10, 2007.
Featured Commission on the Status of Women Panel: Inverting the Inverted Pyramid – Feminist Pedagogy in Journalism Education; Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., Aug. 10, 2007.
International Visitor Leadership Program, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. State Department; featured speaker, Women as Business and Economic Leaders, Aug. 3, 2007.
American Society for Public Administration Conference: Public Administration and the Fourth Estate: Should Civil Servants Talk to Journalists?; invited panelist, Washington, D.C., April 2007.
“Professors Are People, Too” – invited speaker for McDowell Lecture Series, American University, February, 2007.
History Division and Graduate Education Interest Group Teaching Panel: Media History and the Future of Journalism; Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco, Calif. Aug. 2, 2006.
International Symposium on Women & News: Exploring Research and Social Change Agendas, Feminist Scholarship Division, International Communication Association; Dresden, Germany. June 18, 2006.
Colloquium on News Coverage of International Women’s Day, Sept., 2005, research panelist, Howard University, June 2005.
Luncheon speaker, Donna Allen Memorial Luncheon, American Journalism Historians Association Annual Convention, Cleveland, Ohio, Fall 2004.
Women’s Work: The Influences of Ideas on Women’s Movements, sponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women and the History Division, AEJMC Convention, Toronto, August 2004.
University of Maryland University College Writer’s Conference, presentation on Teaching Writing: A Coaching Approach, Adelphi, Md., July 2004.
Women of Vision: Eleanor Roosevelt and Donna Allen – presentation on the life of Donna Allen as a woman of vision with Dr. Maurine Beasley, professor of communication at the University of Maryland, for the Library of Congress lecture series, March 2003.
One Hundred and Fifty Years Later: A Tribute to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, participant at the national convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, sponsored by the History Division and the Committee on the Status of Women, 8/98. TOPIC: Third Wave Feminism
Conference Papers
Ignoring International Women’s Day 2005: A Qualitative Analysis of U.S. News Coverage; co-authored with Dr. Carolyn Byerly. Feminist Scholarship Division, International Communication Association; Dresden, Germany, June 20, 2006
“They Had a Satellite and They Knew How to Use It: How Women Harnessed the Skies to Communicate Without The Media,” presented to the History Division poster session of the national convention of the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Kansas City, August 2003.
“Heavy News Media Users Emotional Responses to Internet Images of Emotion, Power, and Role in the Public Sphere” (co-authored with Dr. John Newhagen, Dr. John Cordes). Presented to the Information Systems Division of the International Communication Association, May, 1999, San Francisco, CA.
“Newspaper Coverage of the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women: A Feminist/Cultural Perspective.” Presented at the 3rd Annual Mid-Atlantic Graduate Communication Conference, Rutgers University, 3/97.
“Making the Case for Feminist Theories in the Mass Communication Academy: A Research Proposal.” Presented at the 4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Graduate Communication Conference, Penn State University, 5/99.
“CNN and Global Television News: War, Technology, Power, and Feminisms on Your Cable TV Dial.” Presented at the 4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Graduate Communication Conference, Penn State University, 5/99.
Awards and Honors
James B. Simpson Fellowship – American University, Sept. 2006 – present
Distance Education teaching grant, American University, Awarded January 2006.
Teaching fellow, Indiana University Teaching Fellows Workshop, June 2005
Special notification of excellence in student evaluations, University of Maryland University College, July 2004.
American Journalism Historians Association Margaret A. Blanchard Dissertation Prize, honorable mention, October 2004.
Professional Development Grant, University of Maryland University College, March 2004
Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award nominee, University of Maryland University College, 2001, 2003, 2004
AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women Mary Gardner Research Award. 8/2001.
Prof. Thomas J. Aylward Journalism Scholarship, University of Maryland. 11/99.
API writer’s workshop delegate.
Study delegate to Israel.
UPI Desk Writing Award – Chicago, Washington.
Selected Memberships
Online News Association
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
International Communication Association