About Me (Leslie Cermak)

This is my second year as a graduate student in journalism, and I have found that although this journey has gotten no easier, it has gotten more fascinating, which almost makes me wish I could begin it again.

I graduated from Oklahoma City University with a B.A. in English in 2001. At that time, I thought that I only wanted to teach for the rest of my life. I found the perfect outlet for my embarrassing interest in English grammar and love of teaching at OU's Center for English as a Second Language. I loved working with some of the nicest and most dedicated students I have ever met. However, by 2005 I found it impossible to believe that the first job I applied for after graduation would be the same job I would retire from. I wanted to consider opportunities out of the classroom and in the newsroom as an editor.

My choice to study journalism may seem strange because I had never been interested in it before, but at OCU I had the opportunity to be the co-editor of the school's writing anthology and I interned one summer as a copy editor at a very small but local publishing company. Whenever I would grow tired of recycling the same lessons about grammar, I would think about how much I enjoyed those two experiences in college, and as I've gotten older, I've become more interested in the news and how that news is gathered and packaged for print.

For my entire first year as a graduate student, I thought I would never find a thesis topic, but last semester that I finally realized that I was most interested in the libertarian and social responsibility theories of the press and how these theories perhaps reflect how professors teach ethics or shape journalism students' perceptions of the press. Although I don't have a favorite scholar, much of the research I read last semester in Dr. Craig's ethics class about journalists' responsibilities and codes of ethics have helped shape my ideas, as have conversations about these theories with Dr. Gade. Ironically, my ideas for a thesis moved away from those concerning copy editing to those involving teaching.