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Joyce Barrett joined the Department of Communication faculty in August 2007. She later was named the department’s first Journalist-in-Residence, beginning with the 2009 Fall Semester. Barrett teaches introductory and advanced courses in media and media writing.

Barrett has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and a master’s degree from George Mason University. Her 30-year career as a journalist includes six years as a reporter for the Myrtle Beach Sun News and several stints as a reporter and editor in Washington, DC. Much of Barrett’s career has been spent abroad, where she has extensive freelance experience.

In recent years, Barrett’s work has emphasized international journalism education and training. In addition to her previous service as a two-time Fulbright Fellow at the University of Belgrade in 2003 and at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso in 2008, Barrett has been a Knight International Press Fellow on two occasions at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. She has lectured and taught in numerous foreign countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Swaziland and Algeria.

In 2008, while studying the relationship between politics and media in the Republic of Georgia, Barrett was forced to evacuate Tbilisi as a result of the brief war between Georgia and Russia.