John M. Coward

John Coward

Associate Professor of CommunicationOliphant Hall 131
918-631-2542
john-coward@utulsa.edu

John M. Coward is Associate Professor of the Faculty of Communication at The University of Tulsa. A former newspaper reporter and editor in East Tennessee, he earned a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas at Austin. He has published scholarly articles, book chapters, and book reviews on Native American representations in nineteenth and twentieth century media. His widely praised first book, The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity in the Press, 1820-90, was published in 1999 by the University of Illinois Press. His second book, The Indian Wars, compiled news stories and editorials on 15 Indian-white battles and massacres. It was published in 2005 as part of The Greenwood Library of American War Reporting. He has made presentations on his research at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the UCLA School of Law. In 2008, Coward lectured at a National Endowment for the Humanities workshop at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center on Native American imagery in the illustrated press, which is the topic of his current research.

Education and Degrees Earned

  • B.S. in journalism, East Tennessee State University, 1972
  • M.S. in communication, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 1981
  • Ph.D. in communication, University of Texas at Austin, 1989

Previous Teaching Experience

  • 1980-84  Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA
  • 1989-90  University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

Previous Relevant Work Experience

  • 1976-77  Reporter
    • Sevier County (TN) News-Record
  • 1977-79  Editor
    • Gatlinburg Press (TN)

Professional Affiliations

  • Chair, History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), 2008-09
  • Member, Western History Association

Courses Taught at TU

  • Documentary Workshop (COM 4113)
  • First Seminar (FS 1973)
  • History and Philosophy of Free Expression (COM 3873)
  • Media History (COM 3863)
  • Native Americans and the Popular Imagination (COM 2723)
  • News Gathering (COM 3413)

Awards & Recognition

  • Alumni Hall of Fame Award, Department of Communication, East Tennessee State University, April 2006.
  • Best American Journalism Article Award, American Journalism Historians Association, October 2004, for "Selling the Southwestern Indian: Ideology and Image in Arizona Highways, 1925-1940," American Journalism, 20:2 (Spring 2003), 13-31.
  • Finalist, Best Western Nonfiction—Historical, Western Writers of America Awards Competition, June 15, 2000, for The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity in the Press, 1820-1890, University of Illinois Press, 1999.
  • Library Journal Best Reference Sources 2005 and Booklist Editors' Choice 2005 for The Indian Wars, Volume 4 of The Greenwood Library of American War Reporting, Greenwood Press, 2005.

Publications

  • My brand new book
    "text"
  • Promoting the Progressive Indian: Lee Harkins and The American Indian Magazine
    American Journalism, 14:1 (Winter 1997), 10-23.
  • Selling the Southwestern Indian: Ideology and Image in Arizona Highways, 1925-1940
    American Journalism, 20:2 (Spring 2003), 13-31.
  • The Indian Wars
    Volume 4 of The Greenwood Library of American War Reporting, Greenwood Press, 2005.
  • The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity in the Press, 1820-1890
    University of Illinois Press, 1999.