Thomas L. McPhail

Thomas L. McPhail

During my career in higher education, I have participated in a broad range of undertakings. At each of the universities, I have been fortunate to pursue the synthesis of teacher, author, researcher, and administrator. My current position is Professor and Chair of Media Studies and Fellow in the Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri-St.Louis (UMSL). I joined UMSL in 1990.

After graduating from Purdue University with a Ph.D, I had the good fortune to begin my academic career at the University of Toronto with Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan became a friend and was an excellent mentor. I also served on UNESCO's McLuhan Award Committee in the 1980s. During this era I also served on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. This involved attending several General Conferences which were held in Paris and elsewhere. Also in 1978 I worked in the Communication and Culture Divisions at UNESCO in Paris.

I published a third edition of my book, GLOBAL COMMUNICATION:

Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends withWiley-Blackwell Publishers in 2010. It is widely used in Europe, Asia, and North America. It has been translated into Arabic and Chinese.. The current edition is the largest selling single authored book in this area in the world. The book continues to develop electronic colonialism theory, which first appeared in 1981 in my SAGE publication titled ELECTRONIC COLONIALISM: The Future of International Broadcasting and Communication. The eminent scholar Everett Rogers wrote the Forward. A fully revised second edition came out in 1987. More details about the theory are explained in Wikipedia under electronic colonialism theory. The book devotes significant attention to UNESCO and international issues and trends.

In 2009 I published DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION: Reframing the Role of the Media with Wiley Publishers. It covers major topics such as the history of modernization theory, the growing digital divide, the UN System, and NGOs.

I remain active in several international organizations where global issues are discussed and I also present papers on global communication trends.

Frequently I am quoted as a media analyst in USA TODAY, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Newhouse Newspapers, NPR, CBC, New York Times, AP, UPI, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Canada's Financial Times, FOX, NBC, and other media outlets. Most of the topics have an international cache or feature recent phenomena such as blogging.

In November 2009, I was selected to review a new journalism and media degree program which is being offered in Doha, Qatar by Northwestern University. Northwestern is one of six American universities with branch campuses in Qatar's Education City. Interesting also is the fact that the Arabic television network Al Jazeera network is located in Doha as well.

I am married to Brenda McPhail and have four children, Colleen, Rebecca, Tara, and Ryan.