Sue Ellen Christian
Assoc. Prof. of Journalism
School of Communication
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5318
sueellen.christian@wmich.edu
269-387-3110
Sue Ellen Christian is an associate professor of journalism at Western Michigan University in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. A practicing journalist, Christian has been a staff writer for the Chicago
Tribune, the Detroit News and the Los Angeles Times. She won several writing and reporting awards
while at the Tribune, where her beats included politics as well as health and medicine. As an
educator, Christian teaches news writing and reporting and organizes annual community reporting
projects, one of which received a Michigan Scholastic Press Association award. Christian’s scholarly
work focuses on service learning and journalism pedagogy and her work has appeared in The Quill,
The Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, and Reflections: A Journal of Writing, Service-
Learning, and Community Literacy. Her chapter on civic journalism and service-learning was
published in spring 2007 in "Communication Activism" edited by Frey and Carragee.