Mr. John B. Carpenter
Assistant Professor of JournalismEmail: jocarpenter@bryan.edu
Phone: 423.618.3753
Box: 7807
I graduated from Bryan in 1986 with a B.A. in History/Secondary Education Certification. Along the way I also spent six semesters on the Triangle, student newspaper staff, the last two semesters as editor. I planned on teaching high school history, but the sovereign God of the universe had a different path prepared.
While I was falling in love with Bryan College, I was also falling in love with Dayton. After deciding that Dayton was the perfect place on earth in which to live, I joined the staff of The Herald-News here in 1987. I was promoted to editor two and a half years later and served in that capacity through 2008.
Beginning in 1999 I had the privilege of picking up the mantle of my college mentor, Betty Brynoff. I began teaching the journalism courses at Bryan as an adjunct faculty member and served as faculty advisor to Triangle.
I resigned as editor of The Herald-News in 2008 and began my own public relations and marketing firm. Though the consulting work was lucrative, I found myself spending more and more time with my students at the college. In the fall of 2010 I was offered my dream job: to teach journalism at Bryan full-time and to begin building the foundation for a journalism major.
My wife, Karin, and I have four children, Jay, Andrew, Katherine and Matthew and live on a small hobby farm in Dayton with a dog, a cat and a flock of chickens.
Academic Degrees
- M.S. Communications/Journalism Management concentration, University of Tennessee
- B.A. History/Tennessee Secondary School Teacher Certification, Bryan College
Academic Honors
- Who’s Who Among American Teachers. 2006
Publications
- Master’s Thesis: “A Study of Attitudes Toward Mentoring and Its Perceived Benefits Among Tennessee Newspaper Editors.”
- Thousands of news stories, editorials and features for The Herald-News (Dayton, Tenn.), the Chattanooga Free Press, Chattanooga Times, Tennessee Press, Bryan Life, World magazine and Chattanoogan.com.
- My writing is featured in a textbook about feature writing using the Internet titled FeatureWriting.Net by Dr. Michael Ray Smith, Epistelogic Publishing, 2005.
Professional Awards
Tennessee Press Association Press Contest — Five First Place awards for Editorials, Four First Place awards for Public Service and First Place awards for Makeup and Appearance, Best News Photo and Best Feature Photo
Professional Associations
- Association of Christian Collegiate Media
- College Media Advisors
- Evangelical Press Association
Volunteer Activities
- Deacon, Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA)
- President, Rhea County Council of Community Services Inc.
- Member, Rhea County Adult Literacy Council
- Chair, Rhea County United Way Allocation Panel
Topics of Expertise
- Community Journalism
- Multimedia Journalism
- Photojournalism
- Mass Media Law
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Public Relations
