SMITH, Michael Ray 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born February 21, 1955, in Washington, DC; son of William Osbie (a business owner) and Ceedie Rae (a business owner; maiden name, Phelphs) Smith; married Barbara Jean Wojcik (an educator), May 18, 1980; children: Shannon Michelle, Taylor Rae Anne. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of Maryland, B.A., 1977; Shippensburg University, M.A., 1986; Regent University, Ph.D., 1999. Politics: Republican. Religion: Baptist. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, running, basketball, golf, weights.

ADDRESSES:

Home—85 Burkot Rd., Lillington, NC 27546. Office—Chair, Department of Mass Communication, Campbell University, 180 Main St., Buies Creek, NC 27506; fax: 910-893-1924. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Public Opinion, Chambersburg, PA, reporter, 1981-86; Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., York, PA, general assignment and political reporter, 1986-87; Gordon College, Barnesville, GA, teacher of journalism, mass communications, and English, 1988-89; Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA, assistant professor of mass communication, 1989-96; Taylor University, Fort Wayne, IN, associate professor of communication arts and director of journalism studies, 1996-99; Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, associate professor of journalism and department chair, 1999-2002; Regent University, Washington Graduate Center, Alexandria, VA, associate professor, 2002—. Judge of writing contests; speaker at writers' conferences and other gatherings. Volunteer at local hospital.

MEMBER:

National Press Club, Association of Christian Collegiate Media, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (founder and chair of People with Disabilities Committee, 1990-91), Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Disabled Journalists of America (member of board of directors), College Media Advisers Association, Kappa Tau Alpha, Phi Delta Gamma.

WRITINGS:

Worship in Franklin County: Sketches of Faith from the Mid-1700s to the Civil War, Shippensburg University Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1991.

Yesterday's Waynesboro: A Pictorial History, News-Chronicle Co. (Shippensburg, PA), 1994.

The Jesus Newspaper: The Christian Experiment of 1900 and Its Lessons for Today, University Press of America (Blue Ridge Summit, PA), 2002.

Contributor to books, including The Disabled, the Media, and the Information Age, edited by Jack A. Nelson, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1994; Inkings Forever: C. S. Lewis and Friends, Taylor University (Fort Wayne, IN), 1998; and Media and Religion in American History, edited by David Sloan, Vision Press (Birmingham, AL), 1999. Contributor to periodicals, including American Journalism, Journal of Mediated Communication, Newspaper Research Journal, Disability Studies Quarterly, News Computing Journal, Editor & Publisher, and Journalism Educator. Member of editorial board, Proteus, 1991—.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A book of feature-writing ideas; research comparing the topics of mainstream news magazines and Christian news magazines.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Ray Smith told CA: "Writers send us messages in bottles. A curious person finds a bottle washed up in the turbulent surf and spills out the scrawl onto a sandy beach. The words last but a moment; they are soon washed out to sea again. Perhaps the best hope for a line to last from wave to wave is for the words to become a narrative.

"Art tends to triumph over argument, so it may be best to take a page from the best worsdsmiths of the ages and tell a good narrative and retreat."