University of Texas Professor to present on April 16 about broadband deployment and use

Dr. Sharon Strover
Dr. Sharon Strover

Dr. Sharon Strover will present an Eppes-Summers lecture on Wednesday, April 16, in the Shores Building, Room 206, from 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.  This presentation will be webcast at webcast.cci.fsu.edu.  She will also be available later that afternoon for additional conversations.

The title of her presentation is “From Dial-Up to Fiber-to-the-Home: The Forgotten Rural Challenge.”  Strover has a national and international reputation for her research in broadband deployment and use — especially in rural areas.

Strover is a Philip G. Warner Regents Professor and former Chair of the Radio-TV-Film Department at the University of Texas’ Moody College of Communication in Austin.  Currently, she teaches communications and telecommunications courses and directs the Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute.

Strover has published numerous articles in academic journals and is the author or co-editor of three books.  She also recently co-edited with our own Steve McDowell a special issue of Government Information Quarter (find it here: sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0740624X/31/1)

Her recent research projects examine (1) the individual and group use of so-called “second screens” including laptop computers, smart phones, and other devices – and how the industry is adjusting its content and distribution strategies to those uses; (2) policy responses to the digital divide, internationally as well as domestically; (3) the economic benefits of broadband, particularly in rural areas.

Strover also directs a Digital Media program as part of a broader collaboration effort between the University of Texas at Austin and the government of Portugal, a multi-year project that includes developing doctoral programs in digital media and sponsoring research in immersive technologies.

She has worked with several international, national and regional government agencies and nonprofits on communications policy issues, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, U.S. Federal Communication Commission, the government of Portugal, the Benton Foundation, the Center for Rural Strategies, the European Union, The Appalachian Regional Commission, the Office of Technology Assessment, the Rural Policy Institute, the Ford Foundation, and the European Union.

For more information or questions about this event, contact Dr. Marcia Mardis at mmardis@fsu.edu or Dr. Chuck McClure at cmcclure@lis.fsu.edu

Find the event informational flyer below as an image or view HERE as a PDF.

April 16 Sharon Strover Presentation Poster