Jean Folkerts
Professor of Honors and of Media and Public Affairs

Phone: (202)-994-6227
Fax: (202) 994-5806
E-mail: jfolk@gwu.edu
Office: MPA Building, Suite 400

Expertise

History of Journalism and Mass Communication, Media and Culture, American Studies, Media and Politics.

Courses Taught

Selected Works

Jean Folkerts and Stephen Lacy, Media in Your Life: The Role of Mass Media in Society, 3rd ed. (Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon Publishing Co., 2004). Complete package, including text, CD-ROM, and content for website [http://www.abacon.com/Folkerts].

Jean Folkerts and Dwight Teeter, Voices of A Nation: A History of Mass Media in the United States, 4th ed. (Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon Publishing Co., 2002).

Jean Folkerts, "The Challenge of Writing the Historical Essay," How To Publish Your Communications Research: an Insider's Guide, Alison Alexander and W. James Potter, eds. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing Company 2001), pp. 131-150.

Jean Folkerts, "Press Freedom Issues in North America," World Editors' Forum (Paris, France: World Association of Newspapers, 2000). Published in The Hamilton Spectator (March 5, 2000); as "The Internet, Hate Speech, Campaign Reform, Media Mergers and the Protection of Journalists: Press Freedom Issues in North America at the End of the Twentieth Century," Panorama (January 5, 2000); as "Das Internet, Medienfusionen und der Schutz von Journalisten," Frankfurter Rundschaj, (March 5, 2000); "Amerique du Nord: internet, campagnes electorales, et protection des journalists," Ile Majricien, (April 29,2000).

Media Voices: An Historical Perspective, Jean Folkerts, ed. (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1992).

Jean Folkerts, "News from the Nation's Heartland," in The Future of News, Philip Cook, et.al. ed., (Washington, D.C.: Wilson Center for International Scholars series, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992).

Background

Jean Folkerts is a professor of Honors and of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University. Her affiliation with Media and Public Affairs dates to 1990, when she arrived at GW as an Associate Professor. Since then, she has served as Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs (1996-2001), Interim Dean of Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (2001-2002), and Associate Vice President of Special Academic Initiatives (2003-2005).

In 2001, Folkerts was named Teacher of the Year for excellence in the teaching of media history by the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. She also was recognized among the 2001 Kansans of Distinction by The Topeka Capital-Journal for excellence in media and journalism.

Before entering the university world, Folkerts was a general assignment reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal; editor of Perspective, a magazine published by The Menninger Foundation, a distinguished psychiatric research and hospital institute; and assistant press secretary to a Governor of Kansas. She also wrote free-lance articles for magazines as varied as Chicago Today and Modern Bride.

Folkerts was editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, from 1992 to 2001 and continues as a member of the Editorial Board. She also has served on the Editorial Boards of Journalism Monographs and Journalism History . She was a member of the Professional Freedom and Responsibility Committee, AEJMC, in 1991 and also served as newsletter editor, research chair and head of the History Division. She was on the executive board of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication from 1998-2001. She frequently speaks about the history of the first amendment to international journalists visiting through USIA programs.

Folkerts holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Kansas and a bachelor's and master's degrees from Kansas State University. She was director of Student Publications at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas; she taught at the University of Texas at Austin and was an associate professor and director of the Department of Communications at Mount Vernon College before moving to GW in 1990.

Education

Ph.D., American Studies, University of Kansas, 1981
M.Phil., American Studies, University of Kansas, 1979
M.S., Journalism and Mass Communication, Kansas State University, 1973
B.A., Journalism, Kansas State University, 1967