Spangler, Lynn C. 1951-

(Lynn Carol Spangler)

PERSONAL:

Born September 19, 1951, in Wyandotte, MI; daughter of William Lewis (an automotive gauge inspector) and Vernice (a homemaker) Spangler; married Richard Wollmann (a video producer), January 25, 1991. Education: Wayne State University, B.A., 1973, M.A., 1976, Ph.D., 1983. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Raised Methodist."

ADDRESSES:

Home—New Paltz, NY. Office—Department of Communication and Media, State University of New York College at New Paltz, 75 S. Menhaime, New Paltz, NY 12561. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Wayne County Community College, Detroit, MI, instructor in communication, 1976-80; Northern Michigan University, Marquette, instructor in communication, 1980-83; State University of New York College at New Paltz, assistant professor, 1983-95, associate professor, 1995-2004, professor of communication and media studies, 2005—, department chair, 1999-2003, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences, 2003—. Wayne State University, instructor, 1979-80; speaker at other institutions, including Mansfield University; conference presenter.

MEMBER:

Broadcast Education Association, National Communication Association.

WRITINGS:

(And director and narrator) Surviving Vietnam: The John Wolfe Story (documentary television special), WTZA-TV, 1989.

(And director and narrator) Recipe for Success: John Novi and American Cuisine (documentary television special), WHAI-TV, 1993.

(And producer, director, and narrator) The Life and Legend of Sojourner Truth (documentary television special), syndicated by Continental Program Marketing, 2001.

Television Women from Lucy to "Friends": Fifty Years of Sitcoms and Feminism, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 2003.

Writer of informational and training videotapes; contributor to local campus media programs. Contributor to books, including Men, Masculinity, and the Media, edited by Steve Craig, Sage Publications (Newbury Park, CA), 1992; and Outsiders Looking In: A Communication Perspective on the Hill/Thomas Hearings, edited by Paul Siegel, Hampton Press (Cresskill, NJ), 1996; also contributor to reference books. Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Communication and Media Arts, Journal of Popular Culture, and Feedback.

SIDELIGHTS:

Lynn C. Spangler told CA: "While I do believe that television has the capacity to affect viewers negatively, I prefer the development of critical viewers to censorship as a remedy. Most of what I have published is television criticism that explores programs in relationship to our culture, inviting readers to consider the role of television in our lives and our history.

"My book, Television Women from Lucy to "Friends": Fifty Years of Sitcoms and Feminism, is the culmination of several years of research on the historical and cultural context of sitcoms as well as the content itself. The fundamental premise of the book is that television images matter; they can affect who we think we are and how we treat other people so we need to think critically about them. The book is an exploration with a feminist lens of the images of women in sitcoms and a recognition of the multiplicity of meanings viewers (readers) can make from these texts. With the fiftieth anniversary of I Love Lucy in 2001 and reports of the precarious nature of women's rights around the world after 9/11, reflecting on how one of the most popular genres on television may have influenced our views of women and ourselves seems important as we progress in the twenty-first century. I am happy to say two published peer reviews of this book are quite positive. I continue to explore in my research and writing the potential meanings of images on television and to encourage viewers to be thoughtful about them.

"I also produce television documentaries. After working on numerous local productions early in my career, I wrote, produced, directed, and narrated The Life and Legend of Sojourner Truth. I find people's stories very interesting and inspiring, whether they are just local figures or nationally known. Sojourner Truth was a remarkable woman born into slavery in New York State who traveled the country speaking for the abolishment of slavery and for women's rights. Perhaps most known for her 1851 speech, in which she reportedly repeated ‘and ain't I a woman?’ several times, the fact that she may not have said this at all raises interesting questions about our need for heroes and myths and what the truth about anyone really is."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journal of American Culture, Volume 27, number 2, 2004, Margaret J. Tally, review of Television Women from Lucy to "Friends": Fifty Years of Sitcoms and Feminism, pp. 253-255.

Television Quarterly, spring, 2004, Mary Ann Watson, review of Television Women from Lucy to "Friends."