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About Joan Van TasselJoseph SchmitzMary Murphy

Joan Van Tassel, Ph.D. (Annenberg School for Communications/USC, 1988) is an educator, author, and journalist. She’s written seven research-based books about the information, telecommunication, and entertainment industries, including Managing Media: Making, Marketing, & Moving Digital Content.

Dr. Van Tassel taught journalism at the National University, Pepperdine University, and UCLA Extension School. She produced news, documentaries, and TV movies for CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS. Her work won numerous awards, including the Cable Industry Book Award, an Emmy nomination, the Kenny Rogers/UN Prize, Los Angeles and San Diego Press Club Award, and New Media Institute Standard of Excellence.

Mary Murphy is an Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. A Press Club award-winning journalist in print, TV, and online, she was on the staffs of Esquire, New York, New West, ​and ​TV Guide magazines, ​and the ​St. Louis Post-Dispatch​ and the​ Los Angeles Times. She was an on-air correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.

Currently, she writes a blog for TheWrap.com and other digital publications. She co-authored Blood Cold, an investigation of the Robert Blake case, and is working on another book about Hollywood.

Murphy sits on the Boards of Directors of the Broadcast Television Critics Association and Fordham/Marymount University​.​

Joseph Schmitz, Ph.D. (Annenberg School for Communications/USC, 1990), is an educator, researcher, and author. Joe developed and tested the Social Influence Model of Communication Technology. He chaired the International Communication Association’s Communication and Technology Division. Schmitz was the co-principal investigator and primary research methodologist for National Science Foundation, Technology Opportunity, and US-EU Trans-Atlantic grants. He helped develop the City of Santa Monica’s innovative Public Electronic Network.

Schmitz taught research methods and organizational communication at Pepperdine University, The University of Southern California, Tulsa University, and Western Illinois University. Joe collaborated with students to frame important questions and guide their discoveries toward logical, fact-based empirical answers.