About Jeff Neely

Jeff  Neely is a Ph.D. candidate in journalism at the University of Florida. His professional experience in reporting, editing and public relations provides a rich and diverse perspective for his students who face the quickly evolving field of journalism and mass communications.

His teaching and research interests include media ethics, online social networks, virtual worlds, youth journalism and community. He has taught journalism ethics and feature writing as the instructor of record at UF, earning overwhelmingly positive reviews from his students. He is also slated to teach a newspaper editing lab in the spring.

Jeff has already demonstrated himself as a productive scholar, with sole-authored and collaborative research producing five scholarly publications and nine conference presentations.

Prior to pursuing his doctoral studies, Jeff received a master’s degree in journalism and media studies from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, in 2006. He completed bachelor’s degrees in psychology and philosophy at the University of Florida in 1999.

As a working journalist, Jeff has written for TBO.com (the pioneering converged news Web site operation of The Tampa Tribune), the St. Pertersburg Times, the NASA Web site, Spaceport News (the Kennedy Space Center's biweekly newsletter) and other online and print publications. He also served as the managing editor for Focus, a community news magazine in the Tampa Bay area.

In addition to his work in journalism, Jeff has served youth in Florida's foster care system both as a public relations and resource development specialist, and through his hands-on work as a case manager. It is through his combined experience in journalism and social service that Jeff came to recognize the tremendous potential of empowering youth and giving them a voice in their communities - the focus of his dissertation.

Jeff is on track to defend his dissertation and graduate by spring 2011. He is excited to be starting a new job at the University of North Carolina Wilmington as an assistant professor of journalism beginning in fall 2011. In the meantime, he enjoys spending time with his wife and six-month-old daughter. They keep a family blog at newsfromtheneelys.blogspot.com.

To contact Jeff, e-mail him at jcneely@ufl.edu or call him at (813)758-3597.