Adam J. Kuban

Adam J. Kuban, Assistant Professor of Journalism
Department of Journalism

Educational Background
Ph.D. Mass Communication, University of Utah, 2011 (anticipated)
Designation Higher Education Teaching Specialist, University of Utah, 2010
M.S. Journalism and Mass Communication, Iowa State University, 2007
Certification Community College Teaching, Iowa State University, 2006
B.S. Journalism/Mass Communication and Meteorology, Iowa State University, 2005


Professional Experience
Before coming to Ball State University, Kuban worked at the University of Utah, teaching journalism courses and conducting research. He was also the editor and publication manager of an e-magazine called Lessons. The magazine focused on postsecondary pedagogical issues with the goal of supporting and helping university instructors in their teaching missions. He was also a magazine reporter, writer and copy editor. Before the University of Utah, Kuban was a broadcast instructor, academic advisor, and research assistant at Iowa State University. He was a broadcast news reporter and weather assistant in 2004 for Independent News Network. He was a production crew member in 2003 for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

Research/ Creative/ Publication Interests
Kuban’s research/creative/publication interests include mass communication theory, qualitative research (interpretivist paradigm), journalism pedagogy (ethics), learning theory, knowledge construction and transfer, and electronic media.

Research/ Creative/ Publication Career Highlights
Kuban has a number of professional publications ranging in topic from social networks, education, journalism history, and use of qualitative research. He has many awards including the 2010 Ramona W. Cannon Award for Graduate Student Teaching Excellence in the College of Humanities at the University of Utah; Top-paper recognition in the Graduate Education Interest Group at the 2010 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Convention; a 3rd-place poster presentation at the 2010 Intermountain Graduate Research Symposium at Utah State; a 2007 Iowa State University Teaching Excellence Award; a 2005 Senior Class Council and the Iowa State University Alumni Association Senior Leadership Recognition Award; and a 2003 President's Leadership Initiative Awards at Iowa State University.

Thesis/ Creative Project Experience and Philosophy
Dissertation: Preparation for the profession: A qualitative examination of the triangulation
among journalism students, their educators, and the practitioners who hire them

Kuban’s primary research program reflects his passion for the nexus of learning theory, knowledge constructs and journalism pedagogy. He is interested in what journalism skills and concepts students learn in the classroom and how they transfer that knowledge into different settings, such as a career position. Additionally, he is intrigued by the role educators have in this process, particularly the strategies they use to facilitate and influence learning and transfer, and he is curious as to what knowledge and skills current practitioners value as imperative for professional competency. His predominant approach to studying this agenda involves qualitative methods, including interviews and direct observations as a part of case study research, although survey research also contributes data to obtain broader understandings and findings. A goal of this program is to inform and improve existent journalism curricula.

Underscoring this nexus is a secondary commitment to historical milestones in journalism education that reveals pioneering efforts to incorporate journalism skills and related conceptual ideas such as ethics and news judgment into academia. Such an exploration of historical precedent can help today’s educators understand and appreciate initial values of journalism education and how those may inform curricular decisions about current pedagogical issues. For endeavors associated with his secondary interests, Kuban evaluates primary and secondary sources to generate a verisimilitude of past events.