Her background includes working in newspaper, public relations and radio. She has taught many courses but has a focus on race and gender mass communication courses. Her research is centered around media influence of race and social class. She has written and presented over 100 research papers in this topic, and has contributed chapters to books. As an active member of AEJMC, she has served on many committees throughout her professional career. She is a recipient of the Barry Bingham Fellowship, and Professor of the Year Award from the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.