Faculty & Staff
Kathryn
J. Olmstead
Associate Professor
410 Dunn Hall
Fax: (207) 581-1286
Email:
kathryn_olmstead@umit.maine.edu
M.A.,University of Wisconsin, 1967
Kathryn Olmstead teaches writing and
ethics courses in the print sequence of the department's journalism
program. A former newspaper editor, reporter and photographer, she is
also editor and publisher of a quarterly journal of rural culture called
Echoes with a circulation of 5,000 in the United States, Canada, and a
few countries overseas. Produced in Caribou, Maine, near the Canadian
border, the magazine explores the cultural ties that predate the border,
drawing material from New Brunswick, as well as various parts of the
United States, through an affiliation with the St. John River Society
based in Fredericton. As director of the Center for Student Journalism,
she coordinates programs to support the teaching and practice of student
journalism in Maine secondary schools. The center sponsors a statewide
conference for students and their advisers with workshops led by members
of the Maine Press Association, publishes a newsletter, encourages
regional roundtables that draw together student and professional
journalists, and sponsors a newspaper contest to recognize outstanding
student publications and writing. Her scholarship defined the concept of
cultural journalism, which provides a cutural context for news and is
exemplified in The Christian Science Monitor.
Publications on this theme include:
- Olmstead, K. J. (1991). Breaking the
cocoon: Cultural journalism in a global community. Journal of Popular
Culture, 25, 153-165.
- Olmstead, K. J. (1989). Touching the
past en route to the future: Cultural journalism in the curriculum of
rural schools. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools
Digest, No. 11-89.
- Olmstead, K. J. (1988). Expanding
cultural awareness: Wigginton on cultural journalism. English Journal,
77, No. 3, 32-35.
Mailing Address
Department of Communication and Journalism
5724 Dunn Hall, Room 410
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
