Murrow College announces seven hires for the start of fall classes

A photo of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication building
Edward R. Murrow College of Communication

The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University announces the addition of seven members to its faculty.

Matthew Loveless joins the Journalism and Media Production department as a clinical assistant professor and will teach broadcast news classes including the class that produces Murrow News 8. A graduate of Murrow, Loveless returns to campus with 15 years of experience in local television as a news reporter, anchor and sports director.

Yen‑I Lee, Ben Pingel, Chelsea Newman and Justin Barnes join Murrow College’s Strategic Communication department.

Lee, an assistant professor, will teach health communication, as well as public relations management and campaign design. Published in prominent journals including International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Health Communication and the Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, her research in health communication and strategic public relations focuses on the role of messaging content, technology use, visual attention, emotions and cultural psychology in the context of health crisis and risk information.

Pingel, a clinical assistant professor, joins the team with more than a decade of industry experience in marketing, advertising and visual design. He will teach courses in advertising and public relations, as well as spend time on research in family media and communication, visual communication and intergenerational communication.

Newman is a clinical assistant professor with a focus in health communication. She has more than 14 years of strategic communication experience including strategic campaign planning, promotional development, project management, formal teaching and presentation skills, multimedia content creation, digital advertising, public relations, research assessment and technical writing critique.

Justin Barnes, a former client-facing PR professional at New York City’s Ruder Finn Inc., is an instructor teaching classes on advertising and media planning. Prior to joining Murrow College, Barnes was a faculty member in the sport management program at WSU and in the School of Journalism and Mass Media at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

Traci Gillig and Teena Edwards are now part of the Murrow College Department of Communication and Society.

Gillig, an assistant professor of communication, will teach classes on organizing for social change and gender in media. Her research interests include health communication, media effects, gender, social identity and community-based participatory research. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Sex Roles, Human Communication Research and the International Journal of Communication, and major news outlets including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post and Newsweek.

Teena Edwards is an instructor teaching 10 sections of public speaking in the digital age. She has a master’s degree in education.

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