Christopher Burnett

Welcome!

Courses::Papers and Publications::Education::Professional Associations::Career Summary

Courses ::

• JOUR30 -- Basic News Reporting
• JOUR135 -- Reporting Public Issues
• COMM-JOUR55 Mass Communication and Society

Papers and Publications ::

*Chief author of paper titled “Political Action Committees and Environmental Voting: A Statistical Analysis of U.S. Senate Votes,” presented at 1997 Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Tucson, Arizona, March 13, 1997.

*Author of paper titled “Kingdon’s Agenda-Setting Model and State Ballot Initiatives on Trapping and Land Board Reform,” presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Los Angeles, California, March 19, 1998.

*Author of paper titled “The News Media: Organizational and Management Theory and the Media’s Impact on Policy,” presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the Western Social Science Association, Denver, Colorado, April 16, 1998.

*Author of paper titled “The Baumgartner-Jones Policy Change Model and State Ballot Initiatives on Wildlife Issues in California and Colorado,” presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the Western Social Science Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 12, 2002.

*Author of paper titled “Policy Change on Wildlife Issues in Colorado and Ohio: A Comparative Case Study,” presented at the 2003 meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Denver, Colorado, March 28, 2003.

*Chief author of paper titled “Sodomy In the Lone Star State: A Content Analysis of Texas Newspaper Coverage of Lawrence v. Texas,” published on the Web site of the Annenberg School of Journalism, University of Southern California, June 2003, and presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Honolulu, Hawaii, January 11, 2004.

*Chief author of paper titled “Sodomy in the Lone Star State: Texas Media Coverage of Gay Rights, Pre- and Post- Lawrence v. Texas,” presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August 5, 2004.

*Author of "Hard Times for Ohio Coal," award-winning magazine article on the Clean Air Act and its impact on Ohio's coal industry. Published in the Capitol Magazine of the Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 12, 1984.

*Author of "Congress Kids," article on the post-reform Congress and impacts being made by young Ohio congressmen. Published in the Capitol Magazine of the Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 24, 1985.

*Author of unpublished manuscripts titled “Federalism in Action: The Safe Drinking Water Act” (1996), “The Federal Election Commission and Life-Cycle Theory” (1996), “Clean Air Legislation in Great Britain and the United States: The Role of the Media in Setting the Agenda” (1996), "The 1872 Mining Act: The Inevitability of Reform" (1995), "People for the West: Learning from the Environmental Movement" (1995).

Education ::

Ph.D. in Political Science - Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. 2003. Specialized in American politics, public administration, and environmental policy.

M.A. in Journalism - Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 1976. Specialized in state government issues.

B.A. in Politics and Government, and Journalism - Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. 1974. Minor, Secondary Education.

Professional Associations ::

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication -- Research Chair, Association Interest Group

Society of Professional Journalists. CSUS Chapter Advisor

Career Summary ::

California State University at Sacramento – Sacramento, California. 2004 -

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

*Teach classes in Public Affairs Reporting, Newswriting,, and Media Communication and Society

*Serve as faculty advisor to Democracy Now, a student organization promoting involvement in the political process. Also do career and academic advising.

*Serve as faculty advisor to Society of Professional Journalists club on CSUS campus

*Research chair, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

*Freelance writer, Frontiers Newsmagazine,, Los Angeles, California, and other publications.

California State University at Long Beach – Long Beach, California. 2001-Present

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM AND NEWS/EDITORIAL ADVISER, 49ER PUBLICATIONS

*Taught classes in Politics and the Media, Investigative Reporting, and Student Publications Management

*Served as faculty adviser to the Daily 49er and University Magazine, student-run publications of the Journalism Department.

*Served on the board of directors of the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and as first vice president and chair of the scholarship committee. Served as adviser to the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

*Served as a faculty academic adviser and on departmental curriculum revision task force.

Colorado State University -- Fort Collins, Colorado. 1999-2001

JOURNALISM INSTRUCTOR

*Taught classes in Public Affairs Reporting, Media History, Communications Law, Public Relations Practices, Online Journalism, and Introduction to Mass Communications.

*Served as a faculty advisor to 40 undergraduates and on faculty committees dealing with student internships and professional ties. Served as a liaison to the Colorado Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

*Worked as a reporter at the Sacramento Bee in California in the Summer of 2000 as part of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Institute for Journalism Excellence Program. One of 25 educators selected for program.

Ph.D. candidate, Colorado State University -- Fort Collins, Colorado. 1994-2003

GRADUATE STUDENT IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

Subfields: American politics, public administration, environmental politics and policy.

*Wrote dissertation on wildlife ballot initiatives in California, Colorado and Ohio.

*As a graduate teaching assistant from 1996-1998, taught a class in American National Government and assisted in classes in State and Local Government, Civil Liberties and the Constitution, and American National Government.

*In 1995-1996, worked full time as a public relations specialist in Colorado State's Public Relations Department, as assistant city editor of the Fort Collins Coloradoan and as the editor of Inside Fort Collins, a weekly alternative newspaper.

The Pueblo Chieftain -- Pueblo, Colorado. 1993-1994

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT AND POLITICAL REPORTER

*Covered 1994 state and congressional races in Southern Colorado.

*Wrote education stories on charter schools, assessment testing, education reform.

*In general assignment responsibilities also covered county and city government, police beats.

Ohio Wesleyan University -- Delaware, Ohio. 1993

JOURNALISM INSTRUCTOR

*Taught courses titled Fundamentals of Journalism, Editing, and News Writing and Reporting as a temporary instructor.

State of Ohio -- Columbus, Ohio. 1989-1992

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AND CAMPAIGN PRESS ASSISTANT

*Provided media consulting assistance to Ohio House candidates in 1992 election.

*Coordinated public relations effort for State Treasurer and Senate Democrats, wrote speeches, press releases and news columns, organized meetings.

Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch -- Washington, D.C., McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. and Thomson Newspapers, Washington, D.C., 1979-1989

WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

*Wrote Sunday political column, covered stories on U.S. Supreme Court and Ohio congressional delegation (1982-1989).

*Covered presidential nominating conventions in 1984 and 1988 for the Dispatch.

*Participated in 1988-1989 Freedom (Gannett) Foundation fellowship program for promising regional reporters.

*Expanded congressional coverage to include the offices of all Ohio members, highlighted by publication in the Dispatch Sunday magazine of a major profile series assessing the clout of Ohio's congressional delegation.

*Reported on Clean Air policy debate for Coal Week, a McGraw-Hill Publication, and traveled to Canada in 1984 for the Dispatch to write a series on the acid rain debate.

George Washington University -- Washington, D.C. 1978-1980

GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT

*Taught undergraduate American government classes while completing MA degree in political science. Also was a research assistant in energy politics.

The Flint (MI) Journal, Port Huron (MI) Times Herald and Utica(New York) Newspapers. 1974-1975, 1976-1978

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER

*Covered suburban government and wrote feature stories.

* In Flint, provided extensive coverage of Open Meetings Act violations and a controversy between business and environmental interests involving the creation of a nature preserve in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

Ohio Legislative Service Commission -- Columbus, Ohio. 1975

LEGISLATIVE INTERN

*Was legislative intern assigned to work for House Democratic Caucus. Wrote news releases, answered constituent mail, and did legislative research.