Mary Jane Pardue

I am an associate professor of journalism at Missouri State University in Springfield and have more than 25 years of professional journalism experience. I worked at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the Nashville Banner in Nashville, Tenn., in a variety of positions including reporter, columnist, assistant city editor, wire editor, copy editor, assistant neighbors editor and business editor. I also have 20 years of teaching experience and taught at the University of Memphis, Florida Atlantic University, Western Kentucky University, Middle Tennessee State University, Palm Beach Community College and Volunteer State Community College before coming to Missouri State. I hold master's and a doctoral degrees in English from Middle Tennessee State University and a bachelor’s degree in Education/English from the University of Tennessee. My academic interests include the timely and accurate reporting of business news and the training of business journalists. I also have studied family owned newspapers and their survival strategies in a time of crisis at newspapers. I serve on the board of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and chair SABEW’s training committee. In that role, I organize monthly training sessions for more than 3,200 financial journalists in North America. I also have lead workshops to train journalists for the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at the American Press Institute. I have served on the SABEW Awards Committee, the Education Committee and the Task Force on Diversity. I am author of Who's Owns the Press: Investigating Public vs. Private Ownership of America's Newspapers, published in 2010 by Marion Street Press and have written articles for Newspaper Research Journal and The Business Journalist. I teach News Reporting and Writing, Feature Writing, Public Affairs Reporting, Business Reporting and Media Ethics.