I believe I have made significant contributions to OSU's teaching mission and growing national reputation as a school that prepares students to be outstanding professional communicators. Based on assessments of how students have progressed in my courses, I have been an effective and productive teacher. For example, students in my public affairs reporting course have excelled in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program the recent years, placing third in the in-depth reporting category, sixth in the television news competition and 14th in the sports writing category. One student was among four finalists in the student division of the 2005 IRE Awards and won first place in the SPJ Region 8 Mark of Excellence Award competition.
 
Students consistently review my courses favorably, with scores for the overall quality of the course and overall quality of the instructor frequently ranking in the upper range of the scale. They typically describe me as a tough but fair professor. That they have "learned a lot" in my courses is both a frequent comment and expressed in their numerical evaluations. Many of them realize that I am pushing them to do their best because I want them to succeed after graduation. For example, one student wrote: "Senat works very hard for his students. He expects a lot, but he prepares [us] for the exam and for professional experiences. I like the fact that I have to come to class every day prepared." A recent graduating senior wrote in an e-mail, "You may be the hardest bastard of a professor I've ever had, but I have learned more from your three classes than in any others." I took it as a compliment. A number of students have said I was the "best teacher" they had encountered not only in the School of Journalism but also at OSU. One wrote, "It's no secret that Dr. Senat is the instructor everyone wants for as many classes as possible."
 
My most important contributions to our school's overall curriculum have been the revisions to our basic writing course and the implementations of a mandatory language exam and a policy that better protects our curricular policies. I have taught eight courses, including two I created, at OSU. My current courses are media law, public affairs reporting and censorship.

• Young legs, old heads and cheap labor: Positives and pitfalls of using students on investigative projects, 2006 IRE Conference, Fort Worth, June 17, 2006.
   
  
• The Future of Journalism Academics, SPJ Region 8 Conference, Oklahoma City, April 29, 2006.

• It's Not "Who" But "How" You Know: Teaching the Methods as Well as the Substance in Media Law, Teaching Panel, Law Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 9. 2002.

• Mass Communication Law: This senior-level course, taught each semester, is required for all students majoring in advertising, public relations, broadcast or print journalism. Knowledge of media law is essential for a successful career in mass communication, not only to recognize the many legal pitfalls that face professional communicators but also to understand the legal framework that is shaping the convergence of old media industries and the emergence of new ones. Students explore the major principles of media law by examining the important court decisions and statutory enactments in each area of communication law. We analyze how they have developed and how they are applied today. Our discussions, readings and assignments provide students with a context for analyzing legal and regulatory situations that might occur during their careers. Students also are expected to understand how the law is made, including the delicate balancing of social values that often takes place, and to articulate the First Amendment rights of the public and press and how they might be applied to emerging media.
   
  
• Public Affairs Reporting: This senior-level course, taught each fall, is required for all students majoring in news-editorial or in broadcast journalism. They learn reporting techniques and strategies that go beyond just asking who, what, where, when, how and why. They are taught how to best report what really is happening - not what others want them to believe is happening. The assignments hone their ability to locate, understand and use the great number of sources and documents that are familiar to experienced reporters. They familiarize themselves with government officials, institutions and procedures. They are taught how to communicate the story concisely and clearly. They put into practice what they are taught in the course by covering real beats and writing in-depth stories.
   
  
• Censorship: In this senior-level elective, which I created, students critically examine historical and contemporary occurrences of censorship from legal, philosophical, political, religious and sociological perspectives. We explore the definition of censorship, the common elements found in all forms of censorship, the rationalizations and justifications for censorship, and the consequences and unintended results of censorship. By the end of the course, students should be better equipped to make reasoned decisions when the issue of censorship confronts them.
   
  
• Media Style and Structure: I redesigned and taught for three semesters the basic writing course required for all students majoring in advertising, public relations, broadcast or print journalism. This sophomore-level course is a prerequisite to basic reporting and other writing courses in the four sequences. As a foundation course in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting, I designed JB 2003 to teach students basic writing skills vital to any career in journalism and mass communication. My primary goal was to help them become careful, disciplined writers. To write clearly and concisely, however, they must understand the rules of grammar and the meaning of words. Therefore, the course begins by emphasizing language skills in the lectures and labs. They also are taught the basic strategies of information gathering, including how to glean accurate and useful background information from traditional and online sources. They sharpen their ability to think critically as they research, analyze and write about an important person, issue and organization. Students also are introduced to the fundamental writing styles and structures required in different media. From this course, students gain confidence in their mastery of the fundamental writing skills upon which other JB courses will build.
   
  
• Law and Ethics for Advertising and Public Relations: In this senior-level elective, which I created, students exam in detail the rights and responsibilities of public relations and advertising professionals. Public relations and advertising practitioners confront a myriad of legal and ethical issues in their careers. Numerous federal and state statutes and regulations affect how they do their jobs. Their actions have ethical and legal consequences for themselves, their employers and their clients. The class readings and discussions provide students a context for analyzing the legal and ethical situations likely to occur during their careers.
   
  
• Internet Communications: This elective, which I redesigned, introduces students to the history of the Internet, how it works and the nature of communication on it. Our classes examined how to use several components of the Internet, including electronic mail, listserv and the World Wide Web. Most of the course is devoted to a project in which each student plans, designs and creates an effective Web site for a real organization. This requires students to assess the communication goals for the Web site. They also are expected to learn how to: Create Web pages by using HTML; Create and manage a Web site by using Dreamweaver; and Use color, graphics and other elements to attract and retain visitors to the site.
   
  
• Advanced (Investigative) Reporting and Writing: Students build upon the reporting philosophies and skills taught in the public affairs reporting course. They learn to correctly estimate the nature, scope and importance of an investigative story, and then to report and write it in a professional way. They conduct original research and analysis of a subject of reasonable importance to the reader or viewer that some other people or organizations wish to keep secret.

Graduate Assistant, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Spring 1998

I taught a section of the undergraduate media law course using my own syllabus, lecture notes and exams. My student evaluation scores were the second highest for a theory course in the journalism school that semester, ranking behind only an honors course in censorship.

Graduate Assistant, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fall 1997

I assisted Dr. Ruth Walden with her undergraduate and graduate media law courses. I graded all of the undergraduate exams and assignments. I also created and maintained a media law Internet resources home page for both courses and administered e-mail discussion lists I created for both classes.

Graduate Assistant, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fall 1995-Spring 1997

Each semester, I assisted professor Chuck Stone with his censorship course, which had an enrollment of about 65 students. I lectured on the Communications Decency Act, First Amendment protection for the Internet, and First Amendment rights of college students. I also graded all the assignments, worked with students outside of class, and oversaw the e-mail discussion list I developed for the course. Our goal was to get students to reach beyond their gut reactions to sensitive issues and to, instead, make reasoned judgments based on research.

Instructor and Newspaper Adviser, Journalism & Communications Department, Elon College, NC, Fall 1993-Summer 1995

I taught courses in advanced reporting, reporting and newswriting, and editing and layout. I designed and taught the writing and information gathering course, a new screening class required of all journalism and communication students. Each year, I outscored the department and college in every category on my annual student evaluations. According to those evaluations, I was a demanding but fair teacher.

As adviser to The Pendulum, the student-produced weekly newspaper, I served as a writing and reporting coach, teaching the necessity for accurate and factual reporting that presents all sides of a story. I advised students on public access, libel, ethics and newspaper management. I also oversaw the newspaper's $30,000 annual budget.

As adviser to the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, I organized and moderated its first Freedom of Information Panel, which focused on a new state law that codified public access to law enforcement criminal investigative records.

I taught a section of the beginning newswriting course. Students learned basic writing and information-gathering skills. As executive editor of The Daily Helmsman, I served as a writing and reporting coach and advised students on public access, libel and ethics. As the teaching assistant for the beginning editing course, I administered the in-class assignments, graded papers and conducted some lectures.

Guest Lecturer, Memphis State University, 1990-93

I taught classes on open meetings and records laws to media law, public affairs and beginning reporting students. I developed a handout to help students identify key points in the sunshine laws of any state.