Faculty Bio
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Patrick Harwood has been with the College of Charleston since 1992. His background includes more than 20 years of work in the broadcast journalism and public relations fields.

Mr. Harwood has served as a member of the Student Media Advisory Board at the College.  He has twice received awards from the College of Charleston's President and Provost for service to students. He has worked with broadcast students to produce two critically acclaimed documentaries: "The Last DJ: Media Ownership in Charleston" and "Media Matters: Emerging Technologies."  In his public relations classes, Harwood and his students have developed two websites that help promote College of Charleston faculty and students.  They are Focus on the Faculty (www.cofc.edu/~facfocus) and Cougar Volunteer Spirit (www.cofc.edu/~volunteerspirit).

During his radio and television career, Harwood worked as a news reporter, anchor, producer, editor and videographer. He won reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio-Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas. Harwood has worked at WRVQ-FM in Richmond, VA, WXEX-TV and WTVR-TV, Richmond, VA, WITN-TV, Washington, NC, KTAL-TV, Shreveport, LA, the Medill News Service, Washington, DC, and WCSC-TV, Charleston, SC.

From 1992 to 2002 Harwood worked in the College of Charleston's Office of College Relations as News Service Manager and Associate Director. There he promoted and publicized the College's policies and programs, as well as its faculty, staff, students and alumni. He served as a media liaison and college spokesperson. For three years he produced "College of Charleston Magazine," a public affairs radio program that featured College of Charleston faculty, staff and students.

In 1993, Harwood began teaching broadcast journalism courses at the College. He has also served formally and informally as an advisor to student media on campus. Harwood began teaching full-time in the Department of Communication in Fall 2002. Along with broadcast news courses, Harwood also teaches courses in Public Relations Mass Media, and Writing for the Mass Media.

He holds a B.S. in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio-Television News Directors Association and the Broadcast Education Association of America. His Web site, which includes course material and recent video and audio projects (vodcasts and podcasts), can be viewed at www.cofc.edu/~harwoodp

Fun Fact: To illustrate the variety of things TV news reporters get to do and cover, Harwood once did a live shot while sitting atop an elephant at the Louisiana State Fair.  He also covered the destruction of nuclear warheads at a Texas munitions plant. 

Sample Research Project:  In six weeks producing from scratch a nearly hour long television investigative report/documentary was a daunting task and once successfully completed a very satisfying achievement.  This was accomplished during a summer class called Investigative Television Reporting.  Harwood and a handful of students and produced a provocative program called “The Last DJ: Media Ownership in Charleston” that shed light on the effects, positive and negative, of growing media consolidation.  Viewing the in-depth expose with the students on the last day of class was as good as it gets, according to Harwood.