UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Communication and Media Studies

Former Faculty

Colleen A. Callahan

Served UWRF 1986-2009
Department Chair 2000-2009

Colleen Callahan taught photography, news writing, editing, news reporting, mass media and society, history of mass communications, and newsletter journalism until her retirement in 2009. Colleen served as department chair from 1999 through 2009 overseeing two successful program re-accreditations during her tenure.

She administered the annual campus-wide photography contest and exhibition, supervised the department's internship program and coordinated the Working Journalist seminars each semester. Colleen was also involved in the American Democracy Project. ADP is a multi-campus initiative sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the New York Times. It seeks to foster informed civic engagement in the United States. Additionally, Colleen was active in organizing the Coffee with the [New York] Times series that benefits both campus and the community.

Through a grant, she taught photography at the Hubbs Center for Lifelong Learning in St. Paul in 1999. She is currently working on a photo documentary of Wisconsin dairy farming. Colleen received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa in 1986. Previously she was a reporter/photographer for community newspapers in southeastern Iowa where she won several state awards for her writing and photography.

Contact Colleen Callahan

J. Michael Norman

Served UWRF 1973-2003
Department Chair 1980-1981, 1984-1999
Lecturer 2005-2007

Michael Norman retired from the journalism department in May, 2003. A faculty member since 1973, Michael was an associate professor of journalism and chair of the 2000 ACEJMC Accreditation Self-Study Committee. He also co-chaired the steering committee for the interdisciplinary Marketing Communications Major, for which he was one of the founders.

He was chair of the department from 1981-1999 and advised WRFW-FM from 1973 - 1981. He is also the co-author of seven collections of American ghost stories including: Haunted Wisconsin, Haunted Heartland, Haunted America, Historic Haunted America and Haunted Homeland. One of his most recent books contains over 100 stories from the United States and Canada, including a section on college campus ghosts (one of his college stories is about UW-RF theatre professor Jim Zimmerman's strange encounter with what may have been a ghost in Davis Theatre. His newest book (2009) is The Nearly Departed: Minnesota Ghost Stories and Legends published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Mike has a Master's Degree from Northern Illinois University.

Contact Michael Norman

Dr. Lorin Robinson

Served UWRF 1967-1993
Department Chair 1973-1980, 1981-1984
Lecturer 1993-2003

Dr. Lorin Robinson joined the UWRF Journalism faculty in 1967. He received his BS and MS Degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University and taught his first year at Madison University in Virginia. Some prior commercial radio experience was one factor in his being hired by UWRF. He was asked to develop a public radio station for the River Falls campus and, in l968, WRFW began broadcasting from the basement of North Hall. Robinson served as faculty manager in addition to teaching in the department. In 1973, he became Journalism chair with a long-term plan to prepare the department for ACEJ-MC accreditation, a goal that was achieved in 1982. During his 10-year tenure as department chair, Robinson completed a Ph.D in Speech Communication at the University of Minnesota. In 1982, Robinson became assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Following a sabbatical with KSTP-TV in 1984, he decided to leave the university to join 3M as a public relations and communications manager. He retired from 3M in 2008 and accepted a full-time teaching position in the Graduate College of Business at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. He and his wife, Linda, a UWRF Journalism grad, live in Afton, MN.

Contact Lorin Robinson 

Dr. M. Wayne Wolfe

Served UWRF 1950-1985
Department Chair 1963-1965

Dr. Walter Bunge

Served UWRF 1963-1973

Walter Bunge served as the Meletean (yearbook) advisor and department chair. He went on to Kansas State University, Manhattan, as director of the School of Journalism there and later to Ohio State University, Columbus, as professor and director of their School of Journalism.

Dr. Donald Brod

Served UWRF 1960-1969
Department Chair 1967-1969

Donald Brod came to UWRF with a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and three years at the Montezuma Valley Journal in Cortez, Colorado. He was on the River Falls faculty from 1960 to 1969.  He also served as sports information director his first year and was department chair his last two years (1967-69). Brod was faculty adviser of the Student Voice for five years and advised the Meletean (yearbook) for one year. WRFW-FM went on the air during his tenure as department chair. He completed his Ph.D. degree in mass communications from Minnesota during his stay at River Falls.

After leaving UWRF for Northern Illinois University, Brod served two separate terms there as department chair and was executive director of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, which was headquartered there. He retired from NIU as professor and chair and from his ISWNE duties in 1992 but continued his membership in the editors' organization. In fact, he was elected president of ISWNE for 2008-09.

Contact Donald Brod

Contact Us

Communication and Media Studies
715-425-3169 phone
715-425-0658 fax
journalism@uwrf.edu
310 North Hall

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