Karen
S. Kastner is a non-tenure track assistant professor
for the KSU School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
She began teaching media writing, media information
gathering and newswriting in the news sequence in
August 2002.
Ms.
Kastner worked as a newspaper reporter and, finally,
as a newspaper editor in and around Youngstown,
Ohio, from 1977 through 1996. She took more than
her fair share of obituaries and her primary beats
included education, local government and high-profile
criminal cases-mostly death-penalty murder cases
and a few federal racketeering trials thrown in
for good measure. She also worked for a short
time as an assignment editor at a Youngstown television
station.
On
a part-time basis from 1989 through 1997, she
taught English composition and journalism at her
alma mater, Youngstown State University, and at
KSU's Salem Campus. She also served as yearbook
advisor at John Carroll University.
From
1996 through 2000, she worked in the fields of
advertising and public relations, most recently
as manager of internal communications for AK Steel
in Middletown, OH, where golf and golf outings
are king.
In
May 2000, she returned to KSU's English Department
to complete her doctorate. As a teaching fellow,
she served as the Wick Poetry Fellow and won a
Pringle Fellowship. Ms. Kastner is currently researching
her dissertation concerning portrayals of women
writers in 19th-century British literature as
various representatives of the English Department
implore her to start writing, for heaven's sake.
She
holds master's and bachelor's degrees in English
from YSU, where she worked on the campus newspaper,
the Jambar, and served on the Publications Committee,
which hired and fired editors of student publications.
In addition, she attended Oxford University, Oxford,
England, and had a thoroughly wonderful time.
See her for stories about trips abroad and to
China and Hong Kong.
Born
in Mt.Pleasant, Pa., (near Seven Springs ski resort),
and reared in Struthers, Ohio, (outside Youngstown),
she lives in Stow, but returns to Youngstown to
meet old friends from The Vindicator for spaghetti
at the Boulevard Tavern and to watch Disney movies,
play jacks and blow bubbles with her great-niece.
Ms.
Kastner golfs, plays tennis, watches movies and
reads widely in a seemingly endless effort to
avoid working on her dissertation.
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