Melita Garza

Associate Professor
Journalism
MOUS 221

melita.garza@tcu.edu | 817-257-7453

Education

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

M.B.A., University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

B.A., Harvard University

Courses Taught

JOUR 10103 – Media Literacy
JOUR 20003 – Diversity and the Media
JOUR 30853 – Historical Development of Mass Media
JOUR 40443 – Issues in Coverage of Business and the Economy
JOUR 40453 – Business Journalism

Areas of Focus

Dr. Garza’s areas of expertise include journalism history, diversity, businesses and economic news, English- and Spanish-language news, the media and civil rights, and literary journalism.

  • They Came to Toil: Newspaper Representations of Mexicans and Immigrants in the Great Depression, University of Texas Press (January 2018)
  • Journalism History, “Sword & Cross in San Antonio: Reviving the Spanish Conquest in Depression Era News Coverage”
  • American Journalism, “Pine Straw in an Evil Wind: A study of James Boyd, The Pilot of Southern Pines, N.C., 1941-1944
  • “Immigrants and Immigration: Reporting the New America,” in eds. Maria-Len Rios, and Earnest Perry, Cross Cultural Journalism: Communicating Strategically About Diversity
  • American Journalism.“Framing Mexicans in Great Depression Editorials: Riff-Raff to Heroes”
  • Howard Journal of Communications, “Legacy Media as Twitter Sheriff: Reframing Reaction to Sebastien De La Cruz’s Anthem Singing at the 2013 NBA Finals”
  • Journalism History. “The Mediated Jorge Washington: Father of Our Countries” (in press)
  • “Hola, America! Newsstand 2000,” in eds. Everette E. Dennis, and Edward C. Pease, The Media in Black & White
  • “The 1890 Census,” in ed. Stevenson Swanson, Chicago Days: 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City

Dr. Garza is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years professional experience in national and international media. She has worked at the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg News in New York, the McKinsey Quarterly in London, and the Milwaukee Journal. She began her career as a reporter trainee at the Los Angeles Times.

  • Fellow, Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University
  • Margaret Blanchard Prize for the outstanding dissertation in mass media history
  • Pulitzer Prize nominee
  • Latino/Latin American Research (LARA) Award, AEJMC and Florida International University
  • Joseph McKerns Research Award (AJHA)
  • Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business Journalism Grant
  • Fellow, Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, AEJMC and Florida International University
  • Chicago Headline Club, Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Peter Lisagor Award for the business story “Jobs in Manufacturing No Longer Build Futures”
  • Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), First Place Award Spot Enterprise Reporting for “Problems at Tire Plant Alleged”
  • Archdiocese of Chicago, Cardinal’s Communication Award for Professional Excellence
  • Presstime, publication of the Newspaper Association of America, profiled as one of “20 under 40” top journalists in the U.S. newspaper industry
  • Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
  • American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA)
  • Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW)
  • Immigration and Ethnic History Society (IEHS)
  • Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS)
  • National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ)
  • Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
  • Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA)