Dr. Bill Cassidy is chair and professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of Mississippi.
Research Interests
Sports journalism with a focus on social and political issues; factors influencing media content such as sources and professional routines and research methods, with an emphasis on content analysis
Biography
Bill Cassidy, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Journalism in the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. Previously he was Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University where he received the 2023 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. Cassidy served as president of Kappa Tau Alpha, the national honor society in journalism and mass communication from 2022-2024 and was named a 2023-2024 fellow in the AEJMC Institute for Diverse Leadership in Journalism and Communication. He also received the Dorothy Bowles Public Service Award from AEJMC in 2020. Cassidy’s research focuses on sports journalism with an emphasis on coverage of LGBTQ+ athletes. He is the author of the books Sports Journalism and Women Athletes: Coverage of Coming Out Stories (2019, Palgrave Macmillan), Sports Journalism and Coming Out Stories: Jason Collins and Michael Sam (2017, Palgrave Macmillan), and co-author of Iran and the American Media: Press Coverage of the ‘Iran Deal’ in Context (2021, Palgrave Macmillan). His scholarship appears in academic journals such as Communication & Sport, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. He earned a B.A. in Journalism and Speech/Interpersonal Communication from the University of Tulsa; an M.A. in Mass Communication from the University of Houston; and a Ph.D. from the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
Courses Taught
- Jour 101 Media, News & Audience
- Jour 495 Journalism Practicum
- Jour 580 Topics in Journalism II
Education
Ph.D. Journalism, University of Oregon (2003)