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    Associate Professor Gretchen Hoak

    Gretchen Hoak

    School of Media and Journalism
    Associate Professor
    Office Location:
    Franklin Hall
    Office Hours:
    Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment. Email me at gdworzni@kent.edu
    Contact Information
    Email:
    gdworzni@kent.edu
    Phone:
    330-672-8725

    Biography

    Dr. Gretchen Hoak is an Assistant Professor of Journalism in the School of Media and Journalism at .

    Before entering academia, she spent 10 years as a local television news reporter and anchor. She is an advisor to the student-run campus television station, TV2, and teaches both beginning and upper-level reporting and news broadcasting courses. Her research agenda focuses on the psychological and emotional effects that covering traumatic news stories can have on journalists, such as post-traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, depression, and emotional labor. She regularly presents her work at AEJMC and ICA conferences, and her research has been published in several academic journals including Journalism, Journalism Studies, Journalism Practice, and Newspaper Research Journal.

    Before coming to in 2015, she spent 9 years on the faculty at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. There she served as Chair of the Department of Journalism and Digital Media and helped create a curriculum that was recognized by Nieman Reports as the first truly converged multimedia journalism program in Ohio.

    Dr. Hoak earned her B.A. in Radio/TV Broadcasting from Ashland University in 1998, an MA in Mass Communication from The University of Akron in 2004, and a PhD in Media Effects from in 2008.

    More information about her work can be viewed on . You can also find her online at .

    Education

    Ashland University, BA in Radio/Television Broadcasting
    The University of Akron, MA in Mass Communication
    , PhD in Media Effects

    Awards/Achievements

    • Newspaper Research Journal - Most Outstanding Research Article / Spring 2020 2nd Place
    • Open Paper Competition - Mass Communication & Society division of AEJMC / August 2020 2nd Place
    • Open Paper Competition - Mass Communication & Society division of AEJMC / August 2019
    • Top Paper Award for the Research Division of BEA / April 2017

    News Stories

    • “Covering the carnage: Journalists risk own mental, physical health in reporting from Dayton, El Paso”
    School of Media and Journalism
    College of Communication & Information

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    550 Hilltop Dr., , Kent, OH 44242


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    800 E. Summit St.
    Kent, OH 44242

    Contact Us

    330-672-2572 mdj@kent.edu
    Contact Us
    • 330-672-3000
    • info@kent.edu

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