David Pierson

David Pierson has been on the faculty since 2001. He received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Penn State University in 2001. In 1993, he completed a Master of Science in Radio-Television-Film from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980. He has spent much of his early career working on film, video, and multimedia presentations for a number of audio-visual production companies and contractors in Northern Texas and Louisiana. David primarily teaches media writing, theory/criticism, and production courses including Introduction to Media Studies, Writing for the Media, Media Criticism and Aesthetics, Film Genres, Introduction to Video Production, Field Video Production, and Advanced Field Video Production.

David’s current research interests are the rhetorical, discursive, and aesthetic dimensions of broadcast and cable television programming. He is also interested in television’s representation of history. He has published and presented research on such television programs and series as Breaking Bad, Combat!, C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation, Discovery Channel’s nature and science programming, The Fugitive, Mad Men, Seinfeld, and Turner Network Television’s made-for-TV westerns.

His recent publications include articles in The Journal of Popular Culture and Film and History Journal, as well as book chapters on Turner Network Television’s made-for-TV westerns, American situation comedies, and critical pedagogy and mass advertising. He has also presented papers and served as panel chairs at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Broadcast Education Association, Film and History League, and American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association annual conventions.

David is the recipient of the 2013-14 Faculty Senate Scholarship Award,. He was also the recipient of the 2007 James E. Murphy Memorial Top Faculty Paper Award in the Critical and Cultural Studies Division of the AEJMC. He has twice won the First Place Open Paper Award and once won the First Place Debut Paper Award in the Production, Aesthetics and Criticism Division of the Broadcast Education Association annual conventions.

David’s free-time pursuits include playing golf, cooking, and touring New England.