Robert Thompson (professor)

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Robert J. Thompson was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, in August, 1959. He grew up in Westmont, which is about twenty miles west of Chicago. He lived there until he left to study at the University of Chicago.

Thompson is the Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. Considered an expert in Television History, Popular Culture, Media Criticism, and TV Programming, Thompson is sought out by all manner of media professionals, authors, and journalists for fresh insight in quotable soundbites which Jocelyn Noveck of the Associated Press dubbed "Thompson-isms".^[1]

He holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. and Ph.D. in radio, television and film from Northwestern University. His academic and scholarly achievements include a one-time presidency of the national Popular Culture Association, and reception of two Stephen H. Coltrin Awards for Excellence in Communication Theory from the International Radio and Television Society.^[2]

He was a key participant and moderator at the Televisuality Symposium at the Syracuse University School of Architecture on April 11, 2008.

[edit] Publications

Thompson has authored, co-authored, or edited six books and textbooks: Television Studies: Textual Analysis with Gary Burns (1989), Making Television: Authorship and the Production Process with Gary Burns (1990), Adventures on Prime Time: The Television Programs of Stephen J. Cannell (1990), Prime Time, Prime Movers (1992), Television's Second Golden Age (1997), and Television in the Antenna Age: A Concise History (2004).^[3]