I am Professor Emeritus in the School of Communication at The University of Hartford. I served as Director of the School from 1999 to 2004. I grew up in Los Gatos, California and obtained my bachelor's and master's degrees in an interdisciplinary (psychology, communication and literature) communication studies program at San Jose State University. I was a reporter for the underground newspaper Red Eye. I was awarded a Ph.D. in Communication Research at The University of Iowa in 1977, with a combined emphasis in psychology and psycholinguistics.

My early research addressed such topics as how children understand and respond to advertising, the development of thinking and language in children, and how adults process television programs. I have published research articles in professional journals in communication and psychology and have contributed chapters to ten books. In 1992, I was awarded a fellowship in media literacy at The Annenberg School of Communication at The University of Pennsylvania. My project involved research on how to increase media literacy in inner-city Philadelphia elementary school students.

My professional consulting work includes survey research for two P.B.S. TV programs for children ("Mundo Real" and "The New Voice"), a one-year position at Eric Marder Associates in New York where he worked with C.B.S. soap operas "Guiding Light" and "As The World Turns"

At University of Hartford, I teach courses in "Media and Society" "Processes and Effects of Media," Fundamentals of Journalism" "Investigative Reporting" "Online Journalism" and a variety of other journalism courses.

In the spring of 2006, I was awarded a fellowship from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, where I trained in Washington, D.C. and served as a full-time reporter for the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, CT. I wrote features and metro news articles. In the winter of 2008, I was a fellow at the Donald Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University. I was awarded an NEH Recognition Award for innovative teaching for a "Business Journalism" course in September of 2009. I received the Roy Larsen Award for Excellence in teaching in 2015, the highest teaching award in the university.
I have written letters for and coached over 50 graduate, undergraduate and high school students seeking advanced degrees from both foreign and domestic universities. I have served on several university admission committees.
As a tutor, I try to be patient and helpful. My attitude is that I am working for you, the client.
I know that students learn in different modes. I can work with visual learners and virtually any learning style. Let's get started!