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Staff Profiles

Amy Forbes

BA, MA Communication (UP), MA Media Studies (New School for Social Research, New York USA as a Fulbright scholar), PhD Philippine Studies- Communication, Culture and Society (UP)

Amy worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 15 years in Manila, Philippines. She was Associate Professor in communication and film at De La Salle University prior to joining Monash in 2004. Currently, she teaches Newsroom Practices and Theory, News Feature Writing, TV News Production and International Journalism.

In 2000, Amy became a Salzburg Seminar Fellow. She attended Session 383 "Media in the Age of Globalization" in Salzburg, Austria with over 40 other journalists from around the world.
Amy currently writes a regular column for The Philippines Times based in Melbourne.

Andrea Baker

RN (QLD), RM (UK), BA (Swinburne); Grad Dip (La Trobe); PhD near completion,(Monash)
Teaching: Andrea Baker joined Monash Journalism in July 2001. Before working at Monash, she lectured in 'Radio Production' and 'Writing Across the Media', at the Council for Adult Education (CAE), Swinburne and La Trobe Universities.
At Monash University, Andrea teaches Broadcast Journalism related subjects (JRN 2905, JRN 2907, JRN 3902); and is responsible for the media internship program. In recent years she has conducted international studies tours to media and journalism outlets in New York City (North America); UK and Europe. In 2006, her teaching of JRN 2905, 2907 and 3902 units was selected to be part of the Faculty of Arts, Vice-Chancellor's Showcase of Excellence in Teaching.
Research: Andrea is near completion of a PhD which examines Australian and North American tertiary students' consumption of net-radio. She has given conference papers at various local, national and international conferences and conducted research field trips to Durban, South Africa (Sept, 2001); Barcelona, Spain (July, 2002); New York City, USA (April- July, 2005 & June-July 2006); Cairo, Egypt (July, 2006), Paris, France (July 2007). She has published widely and given media commentary on ABC Radio National's Media Report and ABC TV Media Watch about her research. Since 2001, she has been an active member of International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).
Industry: Andrea has worked in the Australian media for over 17 years. On Community radio, Andrea was the Executive Producer of ‘Women on the Line', Community Radio's National Women's News and Current affairs program and won international, national and local radio awards for her reportage of ‘Native Title' and ‘Republican Debate'. At ABC Radio Andrea was a producer of the 3LO's drive time and produced radio documentaries for over 6 Radio National programs, including ‘Background Briefing' where she won a national award for her report on ATSIC. Her radio pieces have broadcast on SBS, BBC and public radio in USA and Canada. Andrea continues to work part time in the industry and is an active member of the Australian Journalism Union- the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA).
Andrea was a seminal member in establishing Community TV in Melbourne, Victoria. In recent years she has moved in film making and is an active member of the Australian Film Institute (AFI). Andrea has a producer of an independent feature documentary for television and produced a short film for Tropfest 2002. In 2006 Andrea co- produced a 12- minute film about the Journalism field trip to New York City; and in 2007 produced a 22- minute film about the field trip to UK and Europe. She continues to write news and feature articles for various local, national and international newspapers, magazines and journals.

Elizabeth Hart

BA Swinburne, Dip Ed Monash, M.Jour Wollongong, PhD in progress

Elizabeth Hart worked in regional press for ten years as a journalist and subeditor. In 1998 her editorial column won the Country Press Association Shakespeare Award for Excellence in Editorial Writing. She is currently completing a PhD on the education and training of regional and rural press journalists. Elizabeth taught non fiction writing and editing at TAFE and lectured in journalism at James Cook University before moving to Monash in 2001. Elizabeth teaches JRN1903 News Feature Writing, JRN2909/3909 Media Law, and JRN2910/3910 Journalism Ethics.

Usha Manchanda

BCom. (Accounting) Bombay - India , Postgrad Dip. (Journalism) Bombay - India , Master of Commerce (Applied Economics) Bombay - India , MA (Journalism) Michigan State - USA , Ph.D. (Journalism) The University of Queensland , Australia .

Usha has more than 20 years experience in journalism practice and journalism education. She has worked as a Journalist for a news agency, a newspaper and as a television correspondent. Some of the issues she has covered included terrorism in Kashmir, economic reforms in India, foreign investment, power crisis in India, infant mortality rate in the USA and issues affecting Michigan taxpayers. Usha has taught Journalism subjects such as Press Photography, Television Journalism, Documentary Making, News Writing, Investigative Journalism, Online Journalism, and International Media Systems at The University of Queensland, Curtin University of Technology and Monash University .

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