ABOUT ME
In my eleventh year teaching media law and First Amendment history, two sections per semester.
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Also developed and teach a First Year Seminar called "Talking About Freedom," a history of race relations in America through the lens of the law.
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Service to the university has included serving on a hand-picked working group that recently redesigned the school's Honors Scholar Program.
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Service also includes presenting an annual series called "Free Speech on Campus" with nationally known speakers such as Greg Lukianoff (at right).
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Student mentoring includes being faculty adviser to Lambda Pi Eta, the communications honors society.
Alex Jones
Introducing Greg Lukianoff at HPU's inaugural First Amendment Day in 2016.
BOOK & CHAPTERS
Smith, D.C. (2013). A Theory of Shield Laws: Journalists, Their Sources and Popular Constitutionalism. El Paso, Texas: LFB Scholarly Publishing.
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Smith, D.C. & Derigan Silver (2018). “Access to the Courts.” In W. Wat Hopkins (Ed.), Communication and the Law, 2018 Edition (337-86). Northport, Alabama: Vision Press.
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Smith, D.C. (2012). “Foreword.” In Anqi Li, Uses of History in the Courts and in the Press During California’s Battle Over Proposition 8 (i-v). New York: Edwin Mellen Press.
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REFEREED ARTICLES
Smith, D.C. (2014, January). The Real Story Behind the Nation’s First Shield Law: Maryland, 1894-1897. Communication Law and Policy, 19(1), 3-53.
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Smith, D.C. (2012, Winter/Spring). Journalist Privilege in 1929: The Quest for a Federal Shield Law Begins. Journal of Media Law and Ethics, 3(1/2), 136-170.
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Smith, D.C. (2009, April). Price v. Time Revisited: The Need for Medium-Neutral Shield Laws in an Age of Strict Construction. Communication Law and Policy, 14(2), 235-272.
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COURSES TAUGHT
Communication Law and Ethics
News Writing
Feature Writing
Opinion Writing
First Year Seminar
ACADEMIC AWARDS
Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award, from AEJMC, August 2012. Dissertation title: “Legislating the First Amendment: Statutory Shield Laws as Non-Judicial Precedents.”
Second Place Faculty Award, from AEJMC Law Division, national convention, August 2012.
John B. Adams Award for Excellence in Mass Communication Law, from UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, April 2010.
Minnie S. and Eli A. Rubinstein Research Award, from UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, April 2010.
Top Student Paper Award, from AEJMC Law Division, national convention, August 2009.
Top Student Paper Award, from AEJMC Law Division, regional convention, March 2009.
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PROFESSIONAL HONORS
Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the U.S.
Invited to participate in a “global round table” on the role of journalism in the wake of the 9-11 attacks; three-day conference with American and European journalists convened in April 2003 in Brussels.
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Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the U.S.
Invited to host annual visits by 10 “future leaders of Europe” participating in GMF’s Memorial Fellows program, from 1999 to 2004.
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Fellow, French-American Foundation
Spent two weeks in France in 1998 evaluating an exchange program for nonprofit administrators; resulted in a report for the foundation.
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Fellow, Journalists in Europe Foundation
One of 25 journalists in 10-month program in Paris in 1995-96; included studying E.U. affairs, writing for the quarterly magazine Europe and traveling extensively on reporting assignments.
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Fellow, French-American Foundation
One of three in the FAF’s two-month journalist exchange program in 1993 in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
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Fellow, Knight Center for Specialized Journalism
One of 19 at the center’s first session on nonprofit financial reporting, in 1993, at University of Maryland-College Park.
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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Association for Education in Journalism
and Mass Communication (Law, History, LGBT)
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Law and Society Association
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American Journalism Historians Association
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American Civil Liberties Union
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Gabby Vigorito
First Amendment Day 2016 opened with a screening of "Brainwashing 101," a documentary about disputes over freedom of speech on college campuses. It was followed by a lively discussion.
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