David E. Sumner

David E. Sumner, Professor of Journalism
Department of Journalism

Educational Background
Ph.D. Mass Communication, University of Tennessee.
S.T.M. University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
M.Div. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
B.A. Sociology and economics, Stetson University, 1969

Professional Experience
Prior to coming to Ball State University in 1990, he was a feature writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel in Knoxville while teaching and completing his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee. Before that, he was the director of communications and editor of Interchange for the Diocese of Southern Ohio in Cincinnati from 1981 to 1986.

Research/Creative/Publication Interests
His research interests lie in magazine journalism, writing techniques, media history and media management, and economics.

Research/Creative/Publication Career Highlights
His most recent book is The Magazine Century: American Magazines since 1900 (Peter Lang Pub. 2010). He is co-author of Magazines: A Complete Guide to the Industry (Peter Lang Pub. 2006) and Feature and Magazine Writing: Action, Angle and Anecdotes (Wiley, 2009). He is currently working on the third edition of Feature and Magazine Writing, which will be published in 2012. He was named Educator of the Year by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication magazine division in 2007 and a Distinguished Alumni by the University of Tennessee College of Communications in 2008.

Thesis/Creative Project Experience and Philosophy
Sumner is interested in working with projects involving media history or content analysis and survey methodologies with newspaper or magazines. He has some expertise in quantitative techniques. He has also been an adviser or committee member with projects involving creative nonfiction and literary journalism.