Department of Communication and Theatre Arts

Burton St. John III , Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in American Studies (emphasis in Public Relations and Journalism), Saint Louis University;

M.A. in Communications (emphasis in Mass Communications) and B.A. in English (emphasis in Creative Writing), Wichita State University

Courses:
Public Relations in Communications Industries, Communication Analysis and Criticism, Communication Theory, Public Speaking and Advanced Public Speaking, Public Relations Writing, Public Relations and Crisis Communications

Burton St. John III holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University (2005) and an M.A. in Communications (1993) and B.A. in English (1988), both from Wichita State University. He also completed journalism and public affairs studies at the Department of Defense’s Information School in Indianapolis in 1979.

St. John’s background features 15 years of public relations experience for the U.S. Postal Service. During that time, he served as a regional communications manager for an eight-state area where he oversaw strategy and tactics for media relations, special events, speechwriting, employee communications, congressional relations and crisis communications. He provided crisis communications counsel for the Postal Service in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax mailings and the re-opening of the contaminated Trenton, New Jersey mail facility.

His academic work has appeared or is forthcoming in Public Relations Review, The Communication Review and the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. He is a 2006 Page Legacy Scholar, receiving funding through the Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State University to study newsroom policies and ethics regarding the use of VNRs. In 2007, he received an ODU fellowship to study the archives of Edward Bernays and is currently developing a related piece on press reaction to the concept of propaganda as putting forth a minority voice. Additionally, St. John has been published in numerous newspapers across the country and his work has appeared in such trade publications as PR Week, Editor and Publisher, PRSA’s The Strategist and Tactics, PR Reporter and Public Relations Quarterly. He is a co-chair of research for the AEJMC's Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group.

His ongoing research interest area focuses on the strains between the journalism and public relations industries about propaganda and how that tension affects the quality of journalism's connections with communities. More specifically, he explores how this tension surfaces in journalism and public relations ethics, the conventions of journalism and the public journalism movement.