Master of Science in Public Relations - Faculty
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Kurt Brautigam, M.S. Kurt Brautigam, distinguished lecturer in public relations, joined the school in 2006 after a long professional career in communications and public relations. For eight years he was Mississippi Power Company's manager of external communications, conducting media relations for the company and acting as its official spokesman. Brautigam has also been responsible for public, media and community relations activities for South Mississippi Electric Power Association, Wesley Medical Center, and Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association. Professor Brautigam holds a master's degree in communications and a bachelor's degree in radio, television and film from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the current Coast chapter president of the Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM) and has served on numerous boards and committees for civic and charitable organizations. He has received November 26, 2007 Federation and has earned numerous other awards and recognition throughout his career, including the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award from PRAM (Coast chapter) in 2005. |
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Christopher Campbell, Ph.D Dr. Campbell, who has taught mass communication and journalism for more than 20 years, joined the school's faculty in 2005. He previously served as a faculty member and program administrator at Xavier University in New Orleans, the University of Idaho, Hampton University and Ithaca College. He is the author of Race, Myth and the News (Sage Publications, 1995) and has published a number of articles and book chapters about media and culture. He writes frequently about TV and cultural diversity for Television Quarterly. He has been a newspaper reporter, copy editor and local TV news assignment editor, and he taught high school English and journalism in St. Louis from 1977 to 1985. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from Webster University in St. Louis and a master's degree in mass communication from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He earned a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1993. |
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Dana Coleman Assistant Professor Dana Coleman is the major professor of instruction for the M.S. degree in Public Relations at the USM Gulf Park campus. Mrs. Coleman is A.B.D. and will confirm her Ph. D. in public relations in May 2008. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Nicholls State University and master’s degree in business administration from William Carey University. Mrs. Coleman has more than 16 years experience in public relations in various industries including agency, radio, print media, health care, retail, independent consultation and the utility industry. She has served as president of the Pine Belt Chapter of the Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM), president of the state PRAM, and in a public relations professional capacity for numerous community and charitable organizations. Mrs. Coleman has taught mass communications for the previous four years and is dedicated to providing both a theoretical and practical education to those students who wish to be successful in the field of public relations. |
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Phillip Gentile, Ph.D. Dr. Gentile’s areas of teaching expertise include film history and theory, film production and animation. His areas of scholarly interest include documentary film, postwar American avant-garde film and cinematic representation of masculinity. He is presently revising his doctoral dissertation, “Pugilistic Occasions: Cultural Constructions of Boxing.” His recent film Cursive was awarded Best Experimental Film at the 6 th Annual Crossroads Film Festival. Dr. Gentile earned a master’s degree and doctorate in visual and cultural studies at the University of Rochester, an MFA in film at Ohio University and a bachelor’s degree in social work at Youngstown State University. |
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S. M. Mazharul Haque, Ph.D. Dr. Haque, who has been teaching at the University of Southern Mississippi since 1984, obtained a master’s degree in International Affairs and a doctorate in mass communication from Ohio University at Athens. He was promoted to the rank of full professor in 1995. He served as the Director of Graduate Studies for four years. Dr. Haque teaches a number of graduate and undergraduate courses in the school, including Cultural-critical Theories in Mass Communication, International Communication, Process and Effects of Mass Communication, Introduction to Graduate Research, Media, Culture and Society, Media Law and Survey of Mass Media. Dr. Haque has published two books, What is News in India? A Content Analysis of the Elite Press, and Representation of the Cultural Revolution in Chinese Films by the Fifth Generation Filmmakers, which he coauthored with Dr. Ming-May Jessie Chen, a former doctoral student. Earlier, a monograph, Information Societies and the Developing World: A Synthesis of Theories, was published by the University of Georgia. He has also published many book chapters, book reviews, journal and encyclopedia articles. His work has been published in Journalism Quarterly, Journal of Asian Cinema, Asian Journal of Communication, Gazette, Media Asia and Odin. He has presented nearly sixty papers at national and international conferences and moderated dozens of panels at professional conferences. Dr. Haque has collaborated with several Asian scholars on research projects. He has delivered a series of lectures at a number of Asian Universities in China, Taiwan and Korea. Dr. Haque is a very active member of the graduate faculty. He has directed over thirty doctoral dissertations and served on over forty dissertation committees. In addition, he also directed dozens of independent study courses to enable graduate students to develop doctoral dissertation research projects and conference papers. Over half a dozen books have been published by doctoral students based on dissertation research that he directed. |
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Keith F. Johnson, Ph.D. Dr. Johnson joined the USM School of Mass Communication and Journalism
faculty in 2003. He received his doctorate in mass communications
from the University of Georgia, his master’s in advertising
from Michigan State University and his bachelor’s in advertising/public
relations from New Mexico State University. Professionally, he was
communications director for a chain of motion picture theaters. He
also worked in gubernatorial and senatorial campaigns and managed
a congressional campaign. Dr. Johnson left the industry to enter
education, serving as Director of Educational Services for the American
Advertising Federation in Washington, D.C., where he was director
of the National Student Advertising Competition and Alpha Delta Sigma
Honorary Society. He began teaching at his alma mater, serving as
head of advertising/public relations at New Mexico State. He
later taught at the University of Georgia, Louisiana State University
and Texas Tech University. Dr. Johnson publishes Where shall
I go to study advertising and public relations?, a national
research project which surveys all the known advertising and public
relations degree programs annually. Results are published in
an annual directory as well as on-line (http://www.whereshalligo.com).
He serves as advisor to Golden Eagle Advertising, the USM Chapter
of the American Advertising Federation, and also advises the team
in the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). |
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Kim LeDuff, Ph.D. Dr. Kim LeDuff, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, joined the USM faculty in 2005. She holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from Indiana University. She holds a master’s in journalism from the University of Maryland-College Park and a bachelor’s in mass communication from Xavier University in New Orleans. Her professional experience includes working as a host and voice-over talent for the Grade One Assessment training video sponsored by the office of the Governor of Indiana. She has worked in promotions production at a UPN station in Maryland and as a production assistant at the University of Maryland Flagship Channel. She has also worked as National Account Executive and voice-over talent at the New Orleans Convention and Visitor’s Channel and in the research department at B-97 FM in New Orleans. Dr. LeDuff teaches broadcast journalism courses. Her primary research interests include images and representations of minority groups on television. |
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Scott Dixon McDowell Scott Dixon McDowell joined the faculty of the Radio, Television
and Film Department at The University of Southern Mississippi in
1989. He served as chair of the department from 1996 until 2001,
when the RTF department was merged with journalism to form the School
of Mass Communication and Journalism. Mr. McDowell has been teaching
film production and screenwriting for eighteen years. He has produced
a number of short films and authored several screenplays, including In
Morning Calm, which won the MGM/UA Screenwriting Competition
and was later optioned by Falcon Productions in Hollywood. His research
has been devoted to studying the work of Academy Award- and Pulitzer
Prize-winning screenwriter and dramatist Horton Foote. Mr. McDowell
has written and presented papers about Foote’s work at conferences
throughout the United States. He wrote a chapter for Horton Foote:
A Case Book, which was published in 1998. He is currently in
post-production on a feature length documentary about Foote, which
includes original interview material with Matthew Broderick, Arthur
Penn, Robert Duvall, the late Alan J. Pakula and many others. Mr.
McDowell was instrumental in the formation of the Mississippi Film
and Video Alliance, a non-profit organization whose mission is to
foster indigenous film and video production in Mississippi. He currently
serves on the board of the organization. Mr. McDowell has also served
on the advisory boards for the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration
and the Mississippi Film Enterprise Zone. |
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Gene Wiggins, Ph.D. Dr. Wiggins earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from The University of Southern Mississippi and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Prior to completing his doctorate, Dr. Wiggins worked as a professional journalist for The Jackson Daily News and for The Hattiesburg American. He also served as a public information officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was director of the USM School of Communication from 1981 to 2001. His primary specialty is communication law and he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in this area. He has authored numerous publications, including books, book chapters and journal articles in the area of mass communication law. Dr. Wiggins teaches graduate courses in public relations case studies and law and undergraduate courses in media writing, and law. |
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Fei Xue, Ph.D. Dr. Xue joined The University of Southern Mississippi in the fall of 2004. He received his doctorate in mass communication from The University of Alabama and his master’s degree in mass communication and bachelor’s in journalism from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in advertising. His research specialties are advertising and consumer psychology, international advertising and social effects of advertising. He has published in a variety of marketing and advertising journals, such as Journal of Advertising, Advances in International Marketing, and International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising. He has also published several book chapters about international advertising. |
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