Journalism Faculty

Jon Hughes, Director of Journalism Program & Professor of Journalism

Jon Hughes is an award-winning reporter, author and photojournalist. He has been on the staffs of three daily and two alternative newspapers in addition to writing and producing radio dramas and a television documentary on Cuba. Hughes is the author, editor, or major contributor to 11 books. More than 1,200 of his photographs have been published and his images have been exhibited internationally. Hughes has a BS in Social Science (Political Science and Economics) and an MA in Journalism from Ball State University.

Elissa Sonnenberg, Assistant Director of Journalism Program & Field Service Assistant Professor of Journalism

Elissa Sonnenberg is an award-winning writer and editor with 20 years of professional experience most recently at Cincinnati Magazine where she oversaw custom publications. Her writing is regularly published nationally. Sonnenberg has a BA in English with a Writing Certificate in Journalism from UC and a MSEd from Northwestern University. Photo courtesy of CityBeat.

Sean Hughes, Field Service Assistant Professor of Journalism

Sean Hughes has over 15 years of professional photojournalism and design experience, primarily as the Art Director for both CityBeat newspaper and The Sondheim Review national magazine. During that time he amassed a collection of work in design, art direction and photography for a variety of multimedia photo shows, websites, intranet development, corporate image packages, books, cd's, posters, magazines and more.


As Art Director at CityBeat, Hughes was responsible for staff management, project management, color and pagination workflow development, photo editing, web site design and development, digital graphic design, client reviews and special publication development. He also took the lead on three subtle redesigns and two major redesigns of the newspaper. While at CityBeat he won over 20 local, state and national awards for photography, web and graphic design from Ohio and Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalists, Cleveland Press Club, Association of Alternative Newspapers (AAN) and AWN, including two-time Ohio SPJ’s Designer of the Year (2004 and 2006).

Pama Mitchell, Field Service Assistant Professor of Journalism & Communication

Pama Mitchell has professional experience that includes 12 years as director of polling for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, producer and writer for Public Television, manager of surveys for CBS News, and an extensive writing background in newspapers and magazines. Mitchell has a BA from the University of Maryland in English and journalism, an MA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in film studies and a Ph.D. in mass communication research from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Leonard Penix, Director of Student Media and Field Service Associate Professor of Journalism

Leonard Penix advises The News Record, the student newspaper. He has more than 30 years of daily newspaper experience, including 28 years at The Cincinnati Post most recently as editor of the online edition, page designer and copy editor. Penix also is a lawyer with experience spanning 21 years in corporate and media law. He has two BA degrees from Michigan State University, one in English and the other in journalism and a doctorate in law from Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University.

Mike Sheehy , Assistant Professor of English & Journalism

Mike Sheehy serves as the News/Editoral Track adviser and has worked professionally in the print (newspapers and a magazine) and electronic (radio) media. Most recently, he was the deputy managing editor of the Journal-News, Hamilton, OH. Prior to that he was city editor and political writer. Sheehy has a BA (Political Science) from Otterbein College, and an MS (Journalism) from Ohio University. He completed his Ph.D. in mass communication at Ohio University in 2006. His journalism and mass communication research has been published in the Newspaper Research Journal and presented at national and international conferences.

 

James Wilson , Professor of English & Journalism

James Wilson serves as a Magazine/Narrative Nonfiction Track adviser and has a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of New Mexico. He has worked as a feature writer for newspapers in northern New Mexico and as an editor at Prairie Schooner and Saltillo magazines. He has published creative nonfiction in both literary and consumer magazines. His books include: Vietnam in Prose and Film (1983), John Reed for the Masses (1987), The Hawthorne and Melville Friendship (1990) and Embodied Rhetorics: Disability in Language and Culture (2001). His current project, Paternity, mixes creative nonfiction and photography. Wilson maintains two blogs: wilsonjc.wordpress.com, for Weather Reports from the Autism Front; and santafemysterynovel.blogspot.com, for Death Comes to Zuñi.

Jenny Wohlfarth, Field Service Assistant Professor of Journalism

Jenny Wohlfarth serves as a Magazine/Narrative Nonfiction Track adviser and has 12 years of professional experience as a magazine writer/editor. She continues to actively contribute to a variety of consumer and trade magazines. She has worked full-time for five award-winning national magazines, most recently as executive editor of I.D. (International Design) Magazine and managing editor of HOW Magazine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in writing from the University of Evansville (Indiana) and an MA in English (editing and publishing concentration) from UC.

Affiliated Faculty

Marjorie Fox, associate professor of electronic media (Electronic Media Division, College Conservatory of Music), worked at WMAQ-TV in Chicago as a news writer and producer. She helped cover major stories during the 1970s and 1980s, including Chicago politics, the crash of a DC-10, and the Tylenol murders.  Her career started at WEEK-TV, Peoria, IL, where she was a reporter and anchor.  She recently wrote scripts for some of the video exhibits at Cincinnati’s Underground Freedom Center. Fox teaches broadcast journalism and supervises production of the student television news program, Uptown. Fox has a BA from Hanover College and an MS from Northwestern University.

Maribeth S. Metzler, assistant professor of communication and director of the Public Relations Program in the Department of Communication, has a Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Metzler’s professional experience includes technical writing and environmental public relations. She has been a hazardous waste site safety officer and trainer and environmental consultant. Her research interests include environmental and risk communication, the social implications of organizations and communication ethics.

Jane Alden Stevens, professor of fine arts (photography), has a BA (19th Century European Studies) from St. Lawrence University and an MFA (Photography) from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has had individual shows in Germany and the U. S., including Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Blue Sky Gallery and A.R.C. Gallery. Her group shows in the U.S. include the Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Eye Gallery in San Francisco, CA. She has been involved in international group shows in Brazil, Finland, Belgium, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Germany. Stevens’ work is in permanent collections at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House in Rochester, N; The Center for Photography as an Art Form in Bombay, India; the Cincinnati Art Museum; and the Museu da Imagem e do Som in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is author of “Tears of Stone: World War I Remembered” (2004).

Adjunct Faculty

  • Bruce Crippen, photojournalist
  • Alex Coolidge, business reporter, The Cincinnati Enquirer
  • Kathy Doane, former senior editor, Cincinnati Magazine
  • Rosalind Florez, magistrate, Hamilton County
  • Melvin Grier, photojournalist
  • Doug Henry, news journalist
  • Ben Kaufman, journalist
  • Jim Knippenberg, reporter, The Cincinnati Enquirer
  • Polk Laffoon, news journalist
  • Lew Moores, journalist
  • Terrence Stern-Enzi, writer and reviewer
  • Robert White, journalist
  • Kathy Y. Wilson, senior editor, Cincinnati Magazine