USF Student Debate Blogger Profiles

Daniel Beaulieu – @thebeedazzler
Daniel Beaulieu is a graduate student in the Mass Communications department of the University of South Florida. Prior to that he attended Central Connecticut State University where he received a bachelor's degree in English. Daniel is currently working on writing a book about 1990s New York rap music and aspires to work in sports journalism.

Eddie Burch – @meburch34
Eddie Burch is a first semester graduate student in the Mass Communication Strategic Communication Management track. He earned his bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and History from Jacksonville State University. In the 15 years since he has worked as a Sports Anchor in Florence, Ala., a News Photojournalist in Fort Myers and Tampa and for the past nine years he has worked for the JWB Children's Services Council where he is the Communications and Outreach Specialist.

Ashleigh Gallant – @smashlyAshleigh
Ashleigh received her bachelor's degree in Marketing from USF in 2009 and is currently working towards a graduate degree in Strategic Communications. As an avid personal tweeter and social media user, Ashleigh is also the director of social media in the USF College of The Arts as their Director of Marketing and Communications.

Katie Gavin – @Katie_Gavin
Katie Gavin is a graduate student in the School of Mass Communications. She graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in English and communications. After graduating, she accepted an internship with the Make-A-Wish-Foundation of America and worked as a Program Services and Public Relations intern. She hopes to graduate this fall with a master's degree in strategic communication management and would like to pursue a career in advertising.

Chris Joy – @thetweetsofjoy
Chris moved from Alaska to Tampa to pursue a Masters in Strategic Communication at USF. He has a bachelor's in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Chris worked for the Anchorage NBC affiliate (KTUU) as a web writer and two radio stations while in school. He found a passion for storytelling as a videographer, writer and editor - so he moved into TV full time and worked as a reporter and producer. While at KTUU he also worked for a grant-funded program to teach digital media production and journalism to Alaska Native students. He eventually left the newsroom to manage the program and produce short documentaries. Chris is currently working to fund a feature length documentary chronicling his upcoming year-long trip around the world.

Christopher Kneifer – @ChristopherKnei
Christopher graduated last May with a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Social Science, (ISS), from USF Tampa. He is now working exclusively toward obtaining a master's degree in Mass Communications (Advertising/ Marketing) via the Strategic Communication track.

Steven Lynch – @Slynch2255
Steven Lynch is currently attending the University of South Florida and pursuing his master's degree in Strategic Communication. He is in his second year of the program and hopes to finish after the fall of 2012. Steven graduated with his Bachelor of Art in Mass Communication from Bellevue University in Bellevue, Neb. During his years of secondary education, he was a part of several different collegiate baseball teams across the nation, and was an Academic All-American for three years. Steven hopes to find a career in the Sports Entertainment field doing a combination of Marketing, Public Relations and Advertising. Steven's working background does include Marketing/Community Relations for the Tampa Bay Rays and doing Public Relations/Marketing/Coaching at a baseball training facility in Clearwater, Fla. Currently, Steven is working for a Promotional Product company in Largo, Fla., and is the Manager of Inventory Quality Assurance.

Roland Massa – @Rolandmassa73
Roland Massa is a graduate student at USF pursuing his master's degree in Mass Communications. He holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from James Madison University, and is currently working in the Advertising Solutions department at Nielsen Media Research in Oldsmar, Fla. Roland worked for 13 years in transportation and logistics before deciding to transition back into communications. Prior to working at Nielsen, Roland did online marketing for a software company for several months. Roland hails from the Washington, DC, area and has been living in Florida for 11 years now.

Kristofer Stubbs – @Kris_Stubbs
Kris Stubbs is currently an Academic Advisor in the College of Business at USF. In his spare time, Kris works as a freelance PR agent helping businesses with their online development and marketing campaigns. He is currently the Social Media Chair for the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts and in February will be starting an internship with the marketing department of Audi USA assisting with their social media division. Kris' goal is to use his experience in online marketing and education to assist companies in their online development. Kris' areas of expertise are in marketing (digital & social media), student-development, academic coaching, career development, public relations, and event planning. Kris is a graduate of Duke University (BA) and the University of South Florida (M.Ed).

Kelli Burns – @KelliSBurns
Kelli S. Burns is an associate professor in the School of Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. Previously, she was with Elon University for four years and Middle Tennessee State University for one year. Kelli received a PhD in mass communication from the University of Florida where she was a presidential fellow; her master's degree in mass communication from MTSU; and her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Vanderbilt University. Kelli's career experience includes positions in market research and marketing communications. She is the author of the 2009 book, Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster our Fascination with Popular Culture. Kelli's research has been published in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of New Communications Research, Newspaper Research Journal, the International Journal of Interactive Marketing and Advertising, and the Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising.