Jennifer Keller – Faculty Update – Western Journalism Alumni

Jennifer Keller, EdD

Associate Professor

Dr. Jennifer Keller Updates

Winter 2026 Update

Professionally, not much has changed during the past year. I continue to tweak my syllabi for the introductory PR course and case studies. Love how engaged my students are and am excited to see where they go from here. I am so appreciative of our many alumni who take time out of their busy schedules to talk to students in both those classes. A huge thank you!

Speaking of alumni, I had the great fortune to catch up with Sarah Kane when I was in Portland this February. She is an amazing nail artist with her own studio and the Calvin & Hobbes theme (and those Calvin snowmen!) she developed for me (after about 15 years of waiting) is tremendous. She is proof positive that the skills you develop here can enable you to follow any passion you choose to pursue.

Jennifer Keller with Sarah Kane in Portland, Ore., in February 2026.

On the personal side, I celebrated my 20^th wedding anniversary with Mark this October. Time flies! I also had a wonderful trip last July to visit my sister and nephews in Australia. I highly recommend Perth – particularly in their winter/our summer (unless you really enjoy 100+ temperatures). Please keep in touch and we’d love to see any of you in Bellingham.
Winter 2025 Update

Not much has changed during the past year. I’ve continued to fill in for Brian J. Bowe as chair when he is on leave, and will do so again this coming fall. I’m very much enjoying teaching more and this winter I finally am teaching PR Case Studies again. The students just finished their press conferences, which I am sure my PR alums remember fondly.

Speaking of alumni, a huge thank you to all of our alums who have come to speak to my introductory PR classes. It is definitely one of the favorite parts of that class for my students and really helps them understand the variety of careers and experiences they can have. Anyone who is interested in joining us (live or via Zoom) this spring or fall, please reach out!

On the personal side, not much has changed. The remodel of the new house is progressing slowly and we aim to move in by end of year. Excited to travel to Perth this summer to visit my sister and nephews. Please keep in touch and we’d love to see any of you in Bellingham.
Spring 2024 Update

After eight years as chair of the journalism department, it’s been nice to be teaching more courses again, including Mass Media Ethics. I stepped down in fall of 2022, although I did fill in as interim chair while Brian J. Bowe was away on professional leave this past fall.

The best part about teaching more is that in this year’s capstone class there are students who are taking their third class with me, which takes me back to those earlier cohorts. I’ve enjoyed “twisting the arms” of several PR alumni to talk to my introductory public relations students about their career paths. The students are so appreciative and it really opens their eyes to the many opportunities once you graduate. For many of them, that is the best part of the classroom. So, thank you to all my former students – it’s great to hear from you!

I continue to be very active on campus. I am still chair of the Western Coalition for Integrity and after a lengthy development, pilot, revision process, we are about to launch a proactive academic integrity training program for incoming students. The idea for this came out of interviews with then journalism students for my doctoral dissertation. So, thank you again! I have also been fortunate enough to present at conferences the past couple of years – on online learning and academic integrity last spring and about PR curricula this spring. It was particularly nice to present in San Antonio because Derek Moscato and Jenny Bettis were both there for the Borderlands conference. A little WWU meet up!

On the personal side, Mark and I had a lovely trip to France with my parents last June. We spent most of our time in Alsace-Lorraine, with a few days in Paris at the end. We are still working on our new house in anticipation of maybe moving in this fall, or winter, or…. This would be especially good news for Milo, since we bought the house to give him a bigger yard!
Winter 2022 Update

The biggest development for me, professionally, was finally completing my dissertation and receiving my doctorate in education innovation and leadership from Arizona State University. It was a long journey, but an invigorating one (and now I get to be Dr. Keller, although I’m not one who uses titles much). A huge shout out to alumni James Egaran, Hailey Palmer and Logan Portteus for the inspiration through their JOUR 450 investigation of academic dishonesty at Western. For my action research project, I developed a journalism specific Canvas course for our students as a resource on academic integrity. Now, I can’t prove anything — but we haven’t had a violation since it went live. Just sayin’.

This project also led me to take on the role of chair of the Western Coalition for Integrity. We are trying to develop proactive training for all students at Western — as well as resources for both faculty and students. I’m also in my eighth year as chair of the department, which means I have been chair for more than half my time (15 years!) at Western. I continue to enjoy teaching campaigns — even virtually. And I thought now would be a good time to blow up the intro class this quarter to focus more on social media and get rid of the out-of-date textbook.

On the personal side, I finally got to see my parents after nearly three years, which was amazing. And Mark and I got a dog — a very large golden retriever named Milo who just turned 1. And, since the house is still a project (of course) we thought what could be better than to take on a new one? So, we bought a house that needs LOTS of work — but this time we won’t move in until it’s done. Otherwise, all is the same as it can be in these crazy times.
Winter 2021 Update

A very short update as it feels like things have been moving at a glacial pace since last winter. The biggest change has been teaching the PR Campaigns class online both spring and fall. Fortunately, my students are wonderfully adaptive and the course lends itself to being more asynchronous. But to my PR alumni who remember it, the experience is definitely different without the in-person presentations (and room set up) and field trip.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Keller

One thing that has helped me is that I’ve been working on my doctorate in education for the past three years – in an entirely online program through Arizona State University. So I have experience from the student side on what has worked – an not worked. That dual role of teacher/student in an online environment led to a book chapter I co-wrote with one of my colleagues from my doctoral program. The book, Tertiary Online Teaching and Learning, (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-15-8928-7) was just published this winter. Also, fingers crossed, I’ll be wrapping up my doctorate in May.

No fun holidays or vacations to share. I’ve been mainly at home, with my co-workers Jake and Elwood supervising my every move. In hopes of better things to come, here’s a photo from the last time the PR campaigns course was taught in-person (Fall ’19). Just so we all remember that one can have fun and learn at the same time. This is Halloween with my project manager, Mia Steben (who graduated spring ’20).
Winter 2020 Update

I continue to enjoy teaching the capstone PR class and am always amazed by the campaigns our students develop. It is exciting to realize that over the last several years the students have assisted approximately two dozen different local organizations through their efforts in this class alone. I’m also nearly halfway through my second term as chair (at the end of this academic year) and it is energizing getting to meet with students in all our tracks as they prepare for graduation.

Of course, I’m also kept busy by my doctoral program. This quarter/semester has been the most challenging with three courses – including an advanced quantitative methods and an advanced qualitative methods course. So I have truly been able to empathize with my students with regards to homework, tests and papers. Luckily, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After this quarter I will solely be focused on my action research project – to develop online educational materials that I hope will help reduce the number of academic dishonesty violations in our department. I look forward to working with some of my colleagues on developing the materials and anecdotes. And, fingers crossed, one year from now (in March 2021) I will defend my dissertation.

On the personal side, the house is still a project (that will never change) and I’m trying to fit in travels around my work at Western and my studies at ASU. We also adopted to tuxedo kittens last fall – Jake and Elwood – and they keep us entertained (and provided much-needed assistance – and snuggles – during homework or grading sessions).
Winter 2019 Update

I am still serving as chair of our department and primarily teaching our senior PR courses. This winter, however, I am getting a chance to teach the Principles of PR course. It’s been a while (five years) and I always love being there at the beginning when students start to decide whether PR is for them. It is reinvigorating to be teaching the class, although I look forward to the love campaigns course in the spring.

Probably the biggest change for me is that I decided to go back to school (again) last spring. In March 2018, I began an online doctorate in education (Ed.D.) program through Arizona State University. I’m really excited about the program because it is hands-on and practical, with each of us working to try to improve something within our own organization. I got my inspiration from some of our fantastic senior news-editorial students: Logan Portteus, Hailey Palmer and James Egaran. For their Advanced Reporting course they wrote a fantastic series of articles about academic dishonesty issues at Western. Based on their initial findings, my goal is to develop online educational materials to help reduce the number of academic dishonesty violations in our department. Too many result from a lack of information and I’d like to figure out (with the help of my fellow faculty and students) how we might fill in that knowledge gap. One year down, two more to go.

On the personal side, the house is still a project (of course) and I’m trying to fit in travels around my work at Western and my studies at ASU. Next up – Austin in March and then Scotland/London in August (with, I hope, a Chicago visit in between).
Winter 2018 Update

This year I am celebrating my 10th anniversary at Western. I first joined the department back in September 2007. Sometimes it seems like it has been twice that long and sometimes it feels like no time has passed.

I am still serving as chair of our department and teaching our senior PR courses. One great thing about having been here a decade is that I now get to work with some of you through my PR campaigns class. This year I have three former PR students as clients. In fact, one of my former students has now participated in Jour 440 in three different ways—as a student (and part of the “winning” agency), a project manager for the class, and on the client side.

I began a couple of research projects this past year and look forward to focusing on that side of my professional life more in the spring. I will be on professional leave for the quarter, leaving the department in the able hands of John Harris as interim chair. I continue to serve on far too many committees but at least one of them this year is a search for another new faculty member.

On the personal side, I continue to work on the house (a never-ending project), travel to see my family and catch up with as many JKid alumni as I can. My favorite thing about my job has always been my students and getting to see you all grow and mature during your time here. Even more so following your new adventures and careers. We have such a terrific group of journalism department alumni and I am very proud of all my #JKids. After 10 years there are far too many too count but I feel much more enriched as a person. So thank you.