Letrell Crittenden

Visiting Assistant Professor, African Americans in Journalism

A long-time media practitioner, scholar and educator, Letrell Crittenden is finishing his first year as a visiting professor in the Mass Communications Center of Excellence.

Raised in Chambersburg, Pa, Crittenden attended Lincoln University from 1996 to 1998. While here, he was a member of the honors program, and Interim Editor for the Lincolnian. He finished his undergraduate studies at Penn State University, earning a Bachelor of the Arts in Journalism in 2001. Crittenden has held multiple newsroom internships as an undergraduate. This included a stint at The New York Times, Washington D.C. bureau during the 2000 election cycle. He later served as a government and police reporter with the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. and The Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.

After receiving his Master's degree in Media Studies from Penn State in 2006, Crittenden enrolled at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His studies focused on the history of African Americans in Journalism, intra-racial issues within the black community and media representations of African Americans. He also has interests in Political Economy of Communication, Media Policy, and interviewing as a method.

He is currently ABD from the University. His dissertation focuses on the history of the National Association of Black Journalists.