Caroline E. Sawyer, PhD

I’m an award-winning producer, an associate professor of Communication Studies, and the director of the Sand Shark Center for Innovative Media.

I earned my PhD in communication from the University of Memphis, my Master of Arts from Austin Peay State University, and my Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University. My teaching experience includes working at several universities in Tennessee and California. In addition to my educational background, I worked professionally as a corporate communication consultant for several public and private corporations advising on media production, website design, social media campaigns, and public & investor relations.

In and out of the classroom, I embrace experiential learning, or learning by doing (Kolb 1984). I’m a hand-on person and a hands-on instructor. My courses consist of learning theory and applying that theory into practical projects that help students build skills and their resume. One such opportunity is a show that I produce called, By The River. By The River, an Emmy nominated show, is a collaborative TV show between USCB & SCETV that is nationally distributed to public media television via American Public Television. Students have the opportunity to work on this show as camera operators, production assistants, associate producers, digital producers, and social media producers.

As the director of the Sand Shark Center for Innovative Media, I oversee the Innovative Media Lab, student media productions, some of the university athletic livestream productions, and work on collaborative community media projects.