Christine C. Eschenfelder received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2014. Dr. Johanna Cleary served as her dissertation committee chair. Dr. Eschenfelder’s research focuses on newsroom diversity, women in television news, and broadcast journalism education. Dr. Eschenfelder first became a member of BEA in 2012 as a doctoral student at UF.
Dr. Eschenfelder began teaching at the Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism in the fall of 2015. The courses she teaches at MTSU include Media Ethics, Electronic News Writing, Broadcast Announcing and Performance, and Women in Broadcast Journalism. She serves as one of the faculty advisors for the student television newscast.
Dr. Eschenfelder is the 2017 recipient of the MTSU School of Journalism Edward Kimbrell Teaching Excellence in Journalism award. Dr. Eschenfelder was awarded a 2017 MTSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women Curriculum Integration Grant, which assisted in the creation of her MTSU class on women in broadcasting. She was also honored with a 2016 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Faculty Development Grant.
Dr. Eschenfelder brings to the classroom more than a dozen years of professional experience working in local television news as a reporter, anchor, assignment editor, and producer. She has been honored with several industry awards including the Edward R. Murrow award.
BEA’s New Faculty Research Grant (NFRG) seeks to promote scholarship through achievement by untenured broadcast and electronic media faculty. A cash grant of $1,000 will be awarded to Dr. Eschenfelder at BEA’s annual convention in Las Vegas, April 7-10. Initial funding for this grant was provided by Rebecca Hayden, winner of BEA’s Distinguished Education Service Award in 1993, and long-time editor/publisher of broadcast and media books at Wadsworth Publishing Co. The grant honors the memory of Sydney W. Head (1913-1991) and Harrison B. Summers (1894-1980), two key pioneers in broadcast education.
