Reginald Owens

Reginald Owens is head of the Journalism Department and director of the news bureau at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. He is an associate professor and holds the F. Jay Taylor Endowed Chair of Journalism. He teaches news writing, media and culture, advertising, public relations and civic journalism. He also works with The Tech Talk student newspaper and Lagniappe student yearbook. Research interests include the social history of the African-American press, race and diversity in the media, and African-American tourism.

Owens began his professional career as a police reporter at the Houston Post in 1972. He later worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Houston in public relations and advertising.

Before coming to Louisiana Tech in 1997, Owens taught at Grambling State University and was publication director for The Gramblinite student newspaper. Owens also has taught in Houston at Texas Southern University, and in Austin at Huston-Tillotson College and Austin Community College. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas-Austin, Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation and Zambia Institute for Mass Communication in Lusaka, Zambia.

During summer sabbaticals, he has worked in the newsrooms of The Mobile (Ala.) Register, The Tennessean in Nashville, The Times Picayune in New Orleans, The Philadelphia Tribune, and in Austin, Texas, at The American-Statesman and Nokoa Observer. He has written tourism articles for Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine and website, and the website of Louisianatravel.com. He worked as reporter and managing editor for The (Houston) Informer and Texas Freedman.

Owens has been recognized for journalism excellence by the Louisiana Press Women Association, National Federation of Press Women, Texas Gulf Coast Press Association and National Newspaper Publishers Association. He was named Journalism Educator of the Year in 1997 by the Youth Journalism Congress at Tennessee State University, Nashville, and in 1996, Journalism Education of the Year by the Southeast Journalism Conference. He received the 2001 Merv Aubespin Award for Contributions to Mass Communication Education from the Black College Communication Association. He is a career mentor and training instructor for the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute Multimedia Scholars program. He has worked Black College Wire, a news service for black college newspapers and black college students.

Owens is on the board of directors of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and the Shreveport Journalism Foundation. He is a member of the Friends of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum Committee and the Grambling Chamber of Commerce.

He received a Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Texas-Austin, a master’s in advertising from the University of Illinois-Urbana and a bachelor’s in journalism from Louisiana Tech.

His interest in journalism began at the school newspaper at Grambling High School, where he served as reporter, advertising manager and editor.

Finally, meet Monica Flippin Wynn