Associate Professor
Sequence Head, Media Management

RTVC 261
cooperr@ohio.edu

• Leadership Development for the Media Industries
• Audience Theory and Research
• Attributes for Career Success

Roger credits his mother for his love of media and his father for loving what he does for a living. He grew up in a small Arkansas town with an inexplicable interest in the business of media and followed that passion to his present position as Director of the School of Media Arts and Studies. Along the way, Roger worked professionally as a sportswriter (five years) and as a creative director at an advertising agency (two years). He spent a year in Japan as a Fulbright Scholar, followed by six years as a consultant for Japan's National Association of Commercial Broadcasters. He has also taught and/or presented research in Australia, Qatar, Singapore, and the Ukraine. Roger came to Ohio University in 2004 following 12 years at Texas Christian University and became School Director in 2005.

Roger's current research focuses on uses of media in post-convergent environments. Articles co-authored with Tang Tang appear in recent issues of Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media and Journal of Sports Media. Roger also focuses on the attributes that lead to career success in the creative industries. He published an article on the topic in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator in 2010 and has presented papers at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) and Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conferences. Roger has also published research in Communication Theory, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, and Media Management Review.

Roger is fascinated with stand-up and improv comedy (watching, not performing). He considers Richard Pryor to be a true genius, has watched each episode of Seinfeld at least 643 times (only a slight exaggeration), and considers a 1976 Tonight Show appearance by Steve Martin to be a transformative event. He created the course, Leadership and Humor, as part of his 2011 University Professor Award, and served on a panel about the famed Second City Comedy Theatre at the 2008 AEJMC conference in Chicago.

Education
Ph.D. (Mass Communication), Indiana University
M.S. (Mass Communication), Arkansas State University
B.S. (Radio-Television), Arkansas State University