Celebrating faculty: Kathleen Parrish

What is your area of expertise?

My area of expertise is journalistic storytelling, with a focus on helping students develop strong reporting and writing skills across platforms including text, podcasts and other audio formats. I’m especially interested in amplifying underrepresented voices and telling important stories that might otherwise go unheard. I’ve recently been exploring the ethical use of generative AI in reporting, particularly how it can be used as a research tool in investigative journalism. I also study how the field is transforming due to digital technology, social media, the spread of misinformation and growing constraints on press freedom.

In addition to journalism, I teach humor writing and stand-up, with a focus on using comedy as a vehicle for truth-telling and social commentary.

How do students benefit from your scholarship?

Because my work is grounded in real-world journalism, students benefit from hands-on learning. I build my courses around current events, community engagement and storytelling that is relevant to students’ lives. Whether students are writing a news story on campus development, a feature on local housing issues or producing a podcast for prospective students, they’re developing the kind of practical, critical and cross-disciplinary skills that prepare them for a changing media landscape.

What will you be teaching in the fall?

In the fall, I’ll be teaching ENG 231: Journalistic Writing, ENG 202: Writing for the Ear, where students learn to write audio stories and produce their own podcasts; and an FYS on silence, where students explore the absence of sound in many of its iterations.