MA Journalism Faculty Journalism Faculty Bios
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C
Joe CappoJoe Cappo served for more than 40 years as a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times and Crain’s Chicago Business. He is also the former publisher of Advertising Age and Crain’s Chicago Business and the author of two books on communications. For 18 years he broadcast twice-a-day business commentaries on Chicago radio and was the host of the American Airlines inflight business channel for more than 10 years.
Joe is a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Headline Club-Society of Professional Journalists.
Mike Conklin
Mike Conklin was a writer at the Chicago Tribune for 35 years before joining the full-time faculty in 2005 at DePaul University, where he teaches writing, journalism, and Chicago history classes. For 12 years, he was a daily columnist for the Tribune with his work distributed to over 300 newspapers. His final seven years at the newspaper were spent as a general-assignment feature writer for the Tempo section, where his storytelling took readers across the streets of Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
In addition to working for the Tribune, his free-lance writing has been seen in a variety of publications ranging from the New York Times and History Magazine to Basketball Weekly and Soccer America. He also contributed articles to the Newberry Library’s Encyclopedia of Chicago History and The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. He has written three books, edited two others, and written chapters for journalism texts and other non-fiction books. From 1995 to 1999 he was a weekly TV commentator and correspondent for WFLD-TV and CLTV in Chicago.
Conklin has a BA from Cornell College (Ia.) He has an MA in Chicago Studies from Loyola University (Ill.), where he was a Chicago Teaching Fellow in the program. He has received Distinguished Alumni Awards from Cornell, Loyola, and most recently was cited at a DePaul recognition event honoring faculty “who make the university sparkle in the public eye.” He also taught as an adjunct at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
In addition to teaching at DePaul, he was advisor of the student-run DePaulia newspaper for two years and served on key Journalism committees related to Communication’s transition from Department to College status. His Special Topic classes have focused on political reporting, community journalism, and Chicago’s bid to get the 2016 Olympics.
D
Jim Disch
Jim Disch is the Director of Radio and Television for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Jim oversees an instructional television system that feeds educational video to 31 high schools in the Chicago area. His office is also responsible for producing several hours of weekly radio programming as well as TV programs for both cable and broadcast television.
Before joining the Archdiocese Communications Department, Jim was Director of News and Programming for CLTV, Chicagoland's 24-hour regional news channel. He managed a staff of more than 60 people during the cable news channel’s fledgling years and built the station’s reputation as a reliable source for live, continuous coverage of breaking news events.
CLTV became a model for convergence newsrooms, blending traditional television news approaches with heavy involvement of print reporters from the Chicago Tribune. Jim created several TV programs based on print and web content, including Good Eating, a weekly half-hour food program that won several national awards from the James Beard Foundation. In Jim’s last year at the helm of the CLTV newsroom, the station garnered six Emmy Awards, an incredible accomplishment for a cable station competing against network O & Os and large independent broadcast news operations.
Jim spent 25 years in news production and management positions at WGN-TV. He received several awards including an Emmy for a tornado documentary hosted by Meteorologist Tom Skilling.
Jim received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He is a board member, national trustee and the immediate past president of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. At the 2006 Emmy Awards presentation, Jim received the prestigious Governor’s Award for outstanding service to the television community.
E
Bruce Evensen
Bruce Evensen, the director of the MA in Journalism program, is a true Chicagoan and the program's most passionate Cubs fan. After receiving his BSJ and MSJ from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, he worked as a broadcast journalist, assignment editor, and bureau chief for eleven years in Rockford, Illinois, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Jerusalem, Israel. His most memorable stories were covering the Reagan White House, the invasion of Lebanon, and the Arab-Palestinian conflict.
Evensen has been a journalism professor at DePaul since 1988, the year he received his PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he specialized in journalism ethics and history. His books have analyzed the role of the press in creating the state of Israel; the rise of the sports section in American newspapers; the relationship of the press and religion in national life; and the impact that digital technologies are having on press practice and public attitudes toward the press.
Evensen's teaching and articles emphasize the social responsibility of the news media to serve citizens with news they need to know that makes democracy and self-governance possible. He sees the online landscape offering journalists unprecendented opportunities and challenges in the ongoing work of creating a more civil society.
J
Education
Indiana University, BA in Journalism, 1983
Indiana University, MA in Journalism, 2004Media Experience
Currently CNN- Freelance Corespondent/Adjunct Professor DePaul University, Chicago
2007-2008 WRTV–6 General Assignment Reporter/ Indiana University, Bloomington, IndianaPhilosophy of teaching
Teach students to deliver facts with accurate news writing techniques. Give them an overview of Media and the Law and an overview of AP Style. Guide interested students in the study and practice of journalism.
To give students a passion for the written word, an understanding of how to effectively use video and sound to enhance a story. To encourage them to search for their own writer's voice. To effectively teach both newspaper and broadcast style.
Utilizing the classroom as if were a newsroom with stories written on deadline.Professional Affiliations
National Association of Black JournalistsProfessional Development
Leadership Bartholomew County, Ruby Payne Diversity Training, Social Status of Black Men Training, Social Class and Status TrainingPersonal Interests
I love reading, writing and rollerblading. I love to watch sports.
K
Marla Krause
Marla Krause is the Long Term Teaching Professional in the College of Communication where she teaches and also serves as the Faculty Advisor to the award-winning student newspaper, the DePaulia.
Marla comes to DePaul after a 22-year career as an editor at the Chicago Tribune where she was the first woman in the Sports Department where she rose to the rank of Sports News Editor. Marla's other assignments at the Tribune included Front Page Editor, Associate Metro Editor, Associate Editor Sunday magazine, WomanNews Editor and Health Editor.
Marla is a lifelong Chicagoan who has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a master's degree in social science from the University of Chicago where she specialized in urban affairs.
Part of a sports-crazed family, Marla lives in Wilmette with her husband and two sons when they come home from college with their dirty laundry.
L
Edmund LawlerEdmund Lawler has taught journalism at DePaul since 1993. A full-time member of the faculty from 1996 to 2006, he was faculty advisor to The DePaulia. He is currently a member of DePaul's University Relations staff, and he teaches a graduate class on business journalism.
He is the author or co-author of six business books. His latest book "Lessons in Wine Service from Charlie Trotter," was published in 2008 by Ten Speed Press. He also writes a column on advertising for B to B magazine, a Crain publication.
Prior to DePaul, Lawler was a journalist for daily newspapers in Phoenix, Tucson, Indianapolis and Santa Barbara and was a reporter for the Chicago bureau of the Associated Press and the late, great City News Bureau of Chicago.
He has master's degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor's in journalism from Drake University.
M
John Mullin
A native of Philadelphia, John Mullin earned his B.A. in History from the University of Dayton and then his Masters of Education, with a specialty in History/Political Science, from Xavier University. Prior to joining the DePaul faculty, John taught Journalism courses in Graduate programs at National-Louis University.
John is perhaps best known nationally for his coverage of the Chicago Bears since the closing days of the Mike Ditka era for the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald newspapers. He has won numerous writing awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors and Pro Football Writers of America in addition to an Emmy award for his "Bears Insider" segment on the FOX-TV Bears pregame show.
John's work has been nationally syndicated and he is the author of four books: The Rise and Self-Destruction of the Greatest Football Team in History – The Chicago Bears and Super Bowl XX; Tennis and Kids – The Family Connection (with Jim Fannin); The 100 Best Chicago Sports Arguments; and Tales from the Chicago Bears Sidelines. John also was involved in the beginnings of on-line reporting as the Chicago correspondent for the venerable Sporting News and has continued his television/radio and on-line work with occasional blog entries in his capacity as a Tribune reporter.
Not all roads have involved Sports. John won a Peter Lisagor nomination and second place for the multi-part "Foreign Investment in the Suburbs" series while a Business Writer and Columnist for the Daily Herald. Previously he was Director of Creative Services (Editorial, Design, Audio-Visual, Speechwriting) for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange after serving as Managing Editor for a trade magazine in the commercial recycling industry.
John was the editor/writer of two monthly publications for CNA Insurance Company after beginning his writing career with two years as a freelance writer. Those years were marked by work as an independent for magazines and specialty publications.
John is a devout bicyclist who has toured much of Illinois and parts of the West and Midwest. Most recently, using blog, video and recorded interviews, he and a small contingent chronicled sustainable energy, agriculture, tourism and other local highlights on a week-long cycling tour of Illinois. His passions also include music and he performs professionally with his guitar and wife Kathleen as part of the trios "JoBreen" and "Kat and the Fret Boys" in the Chicago area. A former tennis club professional, his favorite candy is "Peeps" (the older, the better), his favorite mode of transportation is trains, and he is proficient with a jackhammer and at servicing diesel locomotives.
P
Erik Peterson Education: I have a B.S. in Mass Communication from Florida State University, a M.A. in Mass Communication from the University of Central Florida, and I am an ABD Doctoral Candidate in Mass Communication at Florida State. This alphabet soup means I am finishing my dissertation in order to earn my Ph.D.
Experience: Before returning to school to earn my M.A., I worked at three local television news stations in Florida. I began as a sports intern at WTWC in Tallahassee. Over the course of two and a half years, I worked my way from intern to Production Assistant to full-time Videographer to Producer. While in Tallahassee, I covered the recount of Election 2000, the implementation and development of new educational standards with the Florida FCAT, a racial bombing at Florida A&M (part of first crew on the scene), and a flurry of sporting events, including: two national championship football games, two College World Series, and Bowden Bowl I (the first collegiate football game pitting the coaching abilities of father versus son), among the highlights.
From Tallahassee, I moved south to Orlando to take a job as a Producer at Central Florida News 13, a 24-hour local cable news channel that is a sister-station of CLTV. After one year, I was promoted to Senior Producer, a position I held until I resigned a year later. I have two primary memories from my time at CFN 13. The first is from a day most of us will never forget --- September 11th. I was the Producer on shift at the time of the attacks. I was in the control room running our coverage of this terrible day from 8:30 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening. It was the defining story of our times. On a much lighter note, I also had the pleasure of shooting, editing, writing, and producing a seven-part series on Spring Training baseball in Central Florida.
I left the news business when I became unsatisfied with my superiors and the kinds of stories we were being asked to cover. It was at this time that I went to UCF to begin my Master's program. I would later take a job as an Associate Producer at WFTV in Orlando for summer work during my studies at UCF.
Academic focus: I have several areas of interest for research. One area is a focus on cognitive aspects of processing television news and how much people remember from news based on different source (broadcast) and audience (viewer) variables. I have also studies enjoyment, particularly as it relates to the consumption of sports television. I have published papers in the journal Media Psychology and the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media.
My main focus in teaching has nothing to do with content. My primary goal as a teacher is help students learn how to learn, since that is the most important thing I believe anyone can learn from higher education. I try to accomplish this goal through mixing lectures with exercises that focus on developing critical thinking skills and putting theory into practice. I will be teaching courses in broadcast journalism (writing and reporting), sports producing, and hopefully media effects and media literacy.
Personal
I grew up in St. Charles, which is in the far west suburbs of Chicago. My entire family still lives out in the suburbs. I lived in Florida from 1995 until the summer of 2008.
I am a huge sports nut, particularly baseball. I will put my passion for the Cubs up against anyone --- including Dr. Evensen! I am a fan of all Chicago teams and of course my Florida State Seminoles. I am also a big movie buff.
Most of all, I am looking forward to seeing what we all can build here at DePaul University.
Lisa Pecot-Hébert is currently an assistant professor whose teaching specialty is broadcast journalism. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Sciences (print journalism emphasis) from the University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!) and her Master of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism and Public Affairs from American University in Washington D.C. Lisa joined the faculty in 2006 and completed her doctoral work from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Communication in May, 2007. Lisa also holds a graduate certificate from the University of Georgia’s Department of Women and Gender Studies. Her research area looks at the relationship between gender, body image, and the media.
Undergraduate courses taught include Introduction to Mass Communication, Introduction to Journalism, Writing for Broadcast, Broadcast Journalism, TV News I and TV News II, Gender, Body Image and the Media. Graduate courses taught include Multicultural Media Representations, Advanced TV News and Newscast Practicum.
Although Lisa teaches the two core broadcast MA courses, she has also worked as a print reporter (The Dallas Morning News and The New Orleans Tribune) and is an American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) fellow. Lisa also worked in the public relations field for six years, as well as a talk show host in New Orleans, a producer for a local talk show in New Orleans and as a production assistant and script reader for Orbit Entertainment, an affiliate of Paramount Studios. Lisa is a native of Los Angeles, California.
Scott Powers joined the Chicago Tribune in 2000 and was named entertainment editor in 2002. He oversees the Sunday Arts & Entertainment section as well as daily arts and entertainment coverage throughout the newspaper and online products. Prior to the Tribune, Powers was arts editor at The Boston Globe and entertainment editor and assistant managing editor for features at the Chicago Sun-Times. His other newspaper jobs include serving as Sunday editor at the Cleveland Press and news editor at the Troy (NY) Times-Record. Powers has worked in magazines: as a founding associate editor for Northern Ohio Live, founding editor of Signals, a business technology magazine published by Ameritech (now part of SBC) and editorial director for Hill & Knowlton’s custom publishing unit. He has an undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree from Kent State University where he wrote his thesis on arts criticism. Powers has been an adjunct lecturer at the DePaul University and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he taught graduate courses in arts reporting and criticism. He has also taught online journalism at DePaul University.
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Dr. Lou Rutigliano Dr. Lou Rutigliano received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, where he specialized in online journalism - specifically how the Internet is changing the way mainstream journalists work, and the opportunities it presents for independent, alternative, and citizen media to challenge and improve the coverage of the mass media. He developed new courses in this topic while at UT-Austin and launched a group weblog with more than 300 members that was nominated for an award by the SXSW Interactive conference and later recognized by Austin media for its efforts to help Katrina evacuees. Prior to school he worked as a newspaper reporter for daily newspapers in North Carolina and Texas, and a weekly paper in Los Angeles. He received his Bachelors in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Masters from UT-Austin, and is a native of New York.
W
Laura S. Washington
Laura S. Washington, the Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor at DePaul University, is an award-winning journalist who has served as a contributing columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times since 2001. She is also a senior editor for In These Times and a regular commentator on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio.
At DePaul, she specializes in a variety of media issues, including journalism ethics, the coverage of race and ethnicity, urban affairs, investigative reporting, and social justice issues.
She is the former editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter, and served as deputy press secretary to Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor. Washington earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
She has received more than two dozen awards, including two Emmys, the Peter Lisagor Award for outstanding journalism and the Studs Terkel Award for Community Journalism. Newsweek magazine named Washington one of the nation’s “100 People to Watch” in the 21st Century. Newsweek said: “her style of investigative journalism has made (The Chicago Reporter) a powerful and award-winning voice.”
Washington has followed the career of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama since his days as a community organizer in Chicago. She has been widely featured in the national media, including Time and Newsweek magazines, The New York Times, NBC Nightly News and The Lehrer News Hour. She speaks frequently to local and national audiences.