Symposium Presenter Biographies

Rebecca Phillips, Vice President of Social Networking, Beliefnet

Beliefnet Web Site: Beliefnet.com
E-Mail: rphillips@beliefnetstaff.com

Rebecca Phillips is Vice President of Social Networking at Beliefnet.com, the award-winning religion and spirituality website recently acquired by News Corp. She directs Beliefnet's social networking department and community website, community.beliefnet.com, which launched in October 2007. Rebecca has worked at Beliefnet since February, 2000 and has also held positions as the site’s Assistant Managing Editor and Director of Content Strategy. She has previously worked at Dow Jones Newswires and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, The Dallas Morning News, ABCNews.com, Jbooks.com, and the Forward, and is anthologized in "The Hadassah Jewish Family Book of Health and Wellness."

Professor Paul Martin Lester, Department of Communications, California State University-Fullerton

E-Mail: lester@fullerton.edu

Paul Martin Lester is a tenured, full professor of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. After an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and employment as a photojournalist for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Lester received a Master's from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in mass communications. He is the author or editor of several books including: Visual Journalism: A Guide for New Media Professionals (with Christopher R. Harris), Images that Injure Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media 2nd Edition (with Susan D. Ross), Visual Communication Images with Messages 4th Edition, Desktop Computing Workbook, Photojournalism An Ethical Approach, and The Ethics of Photojournalism. In addition, Lester has published numerous articles in major communications' journals. He wrote a monthly column, "Ethics Matters" with Deni Elliott for News Photographer magazine for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). He has given keynote speeches, panel discussions, presentations and workshops throughout the United States and in Australia, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Lester's areas of expertise include photojournalism practice, mass media and professional ethics, desktop and World Wide Web publishing, visual communications, and new communications technologies. In 1990 he received a President's Medal from NPPA for his work in editing and producing The Ethics of Photojournalism, a white paper report that discussed ethical issues that still and video photojournalists face. In 2004 he received with Deni Elliott the Morris Berman citation from NPPA for their monthly column and work in revising the ethics code. In 2006 Lester was named incoming editor of Visual Communication Quarterly, "an international, peer-reviewed journal of theory, research, practical criticism, and creative work in all areas of visual communication."

Professor Chi-Ren Shyu, Department of Computer Science, School of Engineering, University of Missouri-Columbia

Lab Link: http://medbio.cecs.missouri.edu
Faculty Web Page: http://www.cs.missouri.edu/index.php/Chi-Ren-Shyu.html
E-Mail: shyuc@missouri.edu

Chi-Ren Shyu received his MSEE and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 1994 and 1999, respectively. After one year of post-doctor training at Purdue, he joined the Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia in October 2000. Currently he is an Associate Professor of the Computer Science Department and holds the Shumaker Endowed Professorship for Informatics.

Professor Shyu is also affiliated with several institutions as an adjunct faculty of MU Sinclair School of Nursing, MU School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, and University of Utah Biomedical Informatics Department. During his tenure at Mizzou, he received several awards including six Departmental Teaching Awards, the College of Engineering Junior Faculty Research Award, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award in 2005.

He is the founding director of the Medical and Biological Digital Library Research Lab where a crew of students is working on several research projects in the areas of biomedical informatics, geospatial informatics, data mining and computer vision. Project sponsors for his research include the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Cancer Institute, U.S. Department of Education, University of Missouri Research Board, University of Missouri-Columbia Research Council, and other organizations both for-profit and not-for-profit. Professor Shyu is a senior member of IEEE and a member of ACM, AMIA, and AAAS.

Professor Patricia Fry, School of Law, University of Missouri-Columbia

Faculty Web Page: http://law.missouri.edu/faculty/fryp.html
E-Mail: FryP@missouri.edu

Professor Fry joined the law faculty in the fall of 2000. She served on the faculty of the University of North Dakota School of Law for the preceding 15 years. Professor Fry was hired as part of the Mission Enhancement Program in the area of Electronic Commerce and is part of The Center for the Digital Globe. She represents Missouri in the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and currently serves that organization as a member of the Study Committee on Electronic Payment Systems.

Professor Fry chaired the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and has served on drafting committees to revise UCC Articles 2, 2A and 7, as well as the drafting committee for the Uniform Information Transactions Act. In addition, she represents NCCUSL on the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code.

She is a member of the American Law Institute and of the American Bar Association Business Law Section, where she serves on the Uniform Commercial Code Committee and Cyberspace Law Committee.

Professor Fry has published widely in the field of commercial law and electronic commerce and has taught courses in Sales and Leases, Modern Payment Systems, Secured Transactions and Electronic Commerce.

Professor Wayne M. Wanta, School of Journalism; Director, Center for the Digital Globe, University of Missouri-Columbia

Center Web Site: http://cdig.missouri.edu
Faculty Web Page: http://journalism.missouri.edu/faculty/wayne-wanta.html
E-Mail: wantaw@missouri.edu

Wayne Wanta is a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri and the executive director of the university’s Center for the Digital Globe. He has taught a variety of classes, ranging from graduate courses in mass communication theory and research methods to undergraduate courses in reporting, newspaper editing and news design.

Wanta has been very active with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Wanta was elected vice president of AEJMC in 2006 and served as the organization’s president in 2007. Previously with AEJMC, Wanta served as the head of the Communication Theory and Methodology Division and was twice elected to the Standing Committee for Teaching Standards, twice serving as its chair. Wanta also has been involved with the Newspaper, Visual Communication and Mass Communication and Society divisions and has presented 29 papers at AEJMC conventions in 10 different divisions. In 1995, Wanta was awarded the Krieghbaum Under-40 award from AEJMC for outsanding achievement in research, teaching and public service.

Wanta has been an active researcher in political communication and media effects. Much of his research examines the agenda-setting function of the news media. Wanta also has conducted research in visual communication, sports journalism, Internet use and effects and political advertising. Among his research accomplishments are one scholarly book, seven book chapters, more than 40 journal articles and more than 60 conference papers. Wanta has co-authored articles and papers with 60 different co-authors. He currently serves on the editorial board for six academic journals.

He received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Texas. He also holds a master’s degree from the University of Texas and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. Before entering the academic field, Wanta worked for eight years at several newspapers, including the Dallas Times Herald, Austin American-Statesman, Albuquerque Journal, Charleston (S.C.) Post Courier and Wisconsin State Journal. During his newspaper career, Wanta worked as a copy editor, page designer and feature writer. Before joining the Missouri faculty, Wanta taught at the University of Florida, the University of Oregon and Southern Illinois University.