H. Leslie Steeves oversees academic programs and personnel at the School of Journalism and Communication. Much of Steeves’ current research centers on two areas and their intersection: communication and information technologies in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and gender and communication. She has published three books and many articles in these areas. Her present work also examines entertainment and tourism representations of Africa. She has had two Fulbright grants for teaching and research in Kenya and Ghana, and for the past 25 years she has directed an annual study-abroad program, Media in Ghana, for which she won the University of Oregon Thomas S. Herman Award in 2016. 

• PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1980
• MS, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1974
• BA, University of Vermont, 1971

Monographs/Documentary

Communication for Development:  Theory and Practice for Empowerment and Social Justice. by Srinivas R. Melkote & H. Leslie Steeves. Open access, 2023. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bgsu_books/5/

Communication for Development:  Theory and Practice for Empowerment and Social Justice. by Srinivas R. Melkote & H. Leslie Steeves, New Delhi, Sage, 2015. (537 p)

Emerging Gender, Media and Technology Scholarship in Africa. Ada: Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, Special Issue, ed. by Audrey Gadzeko Paula Gardner, and H. Leslie Steeves, V. 16, 2020. https://fembotcollective.manifoldapp.org/projects/ada-16-05ea0df0-6162-412e-b557-b79f5c37b5ee

Africa, Media and Globalization, Communication, Culture & Critique, Special Issue, ed. by H. Leslie Steeves, 9(1), 2016.   (174 pp.)

“Give a Laptop, Change the World:  The Story of the OLPC in Ghana,” 2014. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfVrTSq_iKc.

Gender Violence and the Press:  The St. Kizito Story, by H. Leslie Steeves. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1997 (190 p.).

Refereed Publications

Iwino, I, Fofie, I, & Steeves H.L. (2023). Gender and Digital Communication in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Feminist Political Economy of Enduring Inequities. In P. J. Creedon & L.A. Wackwitz (Eds.) Women in Mass Communication Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Routledge.

Steeves, H.L. (2021). Bridging identity, culture and nation: Applying Freire to study abroad in Ghana. Matrizes. 15(3): 143-167. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-8160.v15i3p143-167

Steeves, H.L (2021).  Memory, Media And Gender Violence In Kenya:  Revisiting the St. Kizito Secondary School Crime. In S. Eckert & I Bachmann (Eds.) Reflections on Feminist Communication and Media Scholarship. Routledge.

Melkote, S. & Steeves, H.L (2021).  Communication and Development: Participatory Action Research and Praxis for Social Justice. In S. Melkote & A. Singhal (Eds.), Handbook of Communication and Development. Edward Elgar Publishers.

Woldearegay, E. A., Amevor, E., and Steeves, H.L.  (2021).  Gender equity and maternal health promotion in sub-Saharan Africa:  Participatory and intersectionality Approaches,  In S. Melkote & A. Singhal (Eds.), Handbook of Communication and Development. Edward Elgar Publishers.

Pradeep Krishnatray, Pradeep, Melkote, Srinivas, and Steeves, H.L. (2021). Health communication research and practice for progressive social change: a case study of COVID-19. In S. Melkote & A. Singhal (Eds.), Handbook of Communication and Development. Edward Elgar Publishers.

Workneh, T. & Steeves, H.L. (2021). “Is it only Money? Deconstructing Sino-Ethiopian Telecommunications Partnership beyond Economic Discourses.” In Political Economy of Media Industries: Global Transformations and Challenges, Ed by Randy Nichols and Gabriela Martinez. New York: Routledge

Gadzekpo, A., Gardner, P., & Steeves, H.L. Emerging gender, media and technology scholarship in Africa: Opportunities and conundrums in African women’s navigating digital media. In Emerging Gender, Media and Technology Scholarship in Africa. Ada: Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, Special Issue, ed. by Audrey Gadzeko Paula Gardner, and H. Leslie Steeves, V. 16, 2020. https://fembotcollective.manifoldapp.org/projects/ada-16-05ea0df0-6162-412e-b557-b79f5c37b5ee

Workneh, T. & Steeves, H.L. (2019). Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown in Africa: cultural brokerage, “going native,” and colonial nostalgia, International Journal of Communication 13, pp. 5525–5547

Steeves, H.L. & Kwami, J. D. (2019). Social context in development communication: Reflecting on gender and communication technologies for development in Ghana. Asia Pacific Media Educator. 29(2), pp. 106-122.   https://doi.org/10.1177/1326365X19856139

Melkote, S. R. and Steeves, H.L. (2018). “Communication in International Development.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press. doi:doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.671.

“Interrogating Gender Divides in Technology for Education and Development: The Case of the One Laptop per Child Project in Ghana,” by H. Leslie Steeves and Janet D. Kwami. Studies in Comparative International Development, Special issue on “Globalization, Gender and Development.”  2017, pp. 1-19. DOI: 10:1007/S12116-017-9245-y

“Cartographies of Communication & Crtique:  Forging a Dialogue on Africa, Media and Globalization,” by H. Leslie Steeves.  Communication, Culture & Critique, 9(1). 2016, pp. 1-10.  

“Discovery Channel’s Jungle Gold in Ghana: Hegemonic Globalization Sparks Resistance and Policy Change,” Senyo Ofori-Parku and H. Leslie Steeves. Media, Culture & Society, 2015, 1-17. DOI: 10.1177/0163443715613636

"The place and role of development communication in directed social change: A review of the field,” by Srinivas Melkote & H. Leslie Steeves. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 2015.  DOI: 10.1080/17447143.2015.1050030.

“Gender divides and African journalism practice,” by H. Leslie Steeves and Irene Awino. African Journalism Studies, 2015, 36(1), pp. 85-93.

“Intercultural Dialogue Through Immersive Learning: Media Internships in Ghana, West Africa,” by Ed Madison and H. Leslie Steeves.  In Global Citizenship in a Digital World, MILID Yearbook 2014.  Ed by Sherri Hope Culver and Paulette Kerr.  Nordicom, pp. 215-226, 2014.      

“Rejecting erasure tropes of Africa: The Amazing Race episodes in Ghana counter postcolonial critiques,” by Matthew Muspratt and H. Leslie Steeves, Communication, Culture and Critique, 5(4), pp. 533-540, 2012.

“ICT4D, Gender Divides, and Development:  The Case of Ghana,” by H. Leslie Steeves and Janet D. Kwami.  In Melkote, S., Ed., Development communication in directed social change:  A reappraisal of theories and approaches.  Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), pp. 199-217, 2012. 

“Toward a ‘Macro-Micro’ Analysis of Gender, Power and ICTs: 

A Response to Micky Lee’s Feminist Political Economic Critique of the Human Development Approach to New ICTs,” by Janet D. Kwami, Brenna Wolf-Monteiro, and H. Leslie Steeves.  International Communication Gazette, 73(6), pp. 539-549, 2011.

“The Amazing Race in Burkina Faso,”  by H. Leslie Steeves.  In Herman Wasserman, ed., Taking it to the Streets:  Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa, Routledge, 2010, pp. 153-173. 

"Feminism in the Post-Development Age,” by Luz Estella Porras and H. Leslie Steeves.  In Thomas McPhail, ed., Development Communication: Reframing the Role of the Media. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 141-158, 2009.   

“Commodifying Africa on U.S. Network Reality Television,”  by H. Leslie Steeves. Communication, Culture and Critique, 1(4), pp. 416-446, 2008.

“Gender and Development” and “Development and spirituality,” by H. Leslie Steeves. Entries in the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008, 2010. 

“The Global Context of Women in Communication,” by H. Leslie Steeves.  In P. J. Creedon and J. Cramer (Eds.).  Women in Mass Communication, 3^rd Edition.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage, 2007, pp. 191-206.

“Experiencing International Communication:  An Internship Program in Ghana, West Africa.” Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, Winter, 2006, 60(4), pp. 360-375.

“Trends in Feminist Scholarship in Journalism and Communication:  Finding Common Ground Between Scholars and Activists Globally,” by H. Leslie Steeves, In Ramona Rush, Carol Oukrup, and Pam Creedon, eds.,  Seeking Equity for Women in Journalism and Mass Communication Education: A 30-Year Update, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 289-312, 2004. 

"Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development," by Srinivas R. Melkote and H. Leslie Steeves.  In Charles Okigbo and Festus Eribo (eds), Development and Communication in Africa, New York:  Rowman and Littlefield, Inc., pp. 165-173, 2004.

“Advertising Ecotourism on the Internet: Commodifying Environment and Culture,” by Elizabeth James, H. Leslie Steeves, and Estella Porras.  New Media and Society, Dec 2004, V. 6, pp. 753 - 779..

“Development Communication as Marketing, Collective Resistance and Spiritual Awakening:  A Feminist Critique,” by H. Leslie Steeves.  In Bella Mody and William Gudykunst, eds.  Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication, 3rd Edition.   Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2002, pp. 519-536.

“Liberation, Feminism and Development Communication,” by H. Leslie Steeves.  Communication Theory, 2001, 11(4), pp. 397-414.

“Feminist Theory and Political Economy:  Toward a Friendly Alliance,” by H. Leslie Steeves and Janet Wasko, In Eileen Meehan and Ellen Riordan, eds., Sex and Money:  Intersections of Feminism and Political Economy in Media, University of Minnesota Press, 2002, pp. 16-29.    

“Gendered Agendas:  Dialogue and Impasse in Creating Social Change,” by H. Leslie Steeves.  In Redeveloping Communication for Social Change: Accounting for Power in Theory and Practice, ed. by Karin Wilkins.  Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, pp. 7-25.

“Women, Rural Information Delivery, Social Equity and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa,” by H. Leslie Steeves.  In Mass Communication, Democracy and Civil Society in Africa: International Perspectives, edited by Luke Uka Uche, Lagos, Nigeria: Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO, 1999, pp. 27-53.

"The Role of Radio in the Rwandan Genocide,” by Christine Kellow and H. Leslie Steeves, Journal of Communication, 48(3), 107-128, 1998.  (Republished in Critical Readings: Violence and the Media, eds by Kay Weaver and Cynthia Carter, Open University Press, 2006, pp. 112127.) 

"Sharing Information in Kenya:  A Case Study of Communication and Information Policy Considerations and Consequences for Rural Women,"  by H. Leslie Steeves.  Gazette, spring, 1996, 56, pp. 157--181.  

"Gender and Mass Communication in a Global Context,” by H. Leslie Steeves. In Women in Mass Communication, Second Edition, edited by Pam Creedon, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993, pp. 32-60.

“Creating Imagined Communities:  Development Communication and the Challenge of Feminism” by H. Leslie Steeves.  Journal of Communication, Summer, 1993, 43(3):  218-229.    (Also published in Defining Media Studies:  Reflections on the Future of the Field, Ed. by Mark R. Levy and Michael Gurevitch, NY:  Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 226-237.)         

"Feminism and Communication in Development:  Ideology, Law, Ethics, Practice," by H. Leslie Steeves and Rebecca A. Arbogast.  In Progress in Communication Sciences, Vol. 11, edited by Brenda Dervin and Usha Hariharan, Norwood, NJ:  Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1993, pp. 229-277.

"Women, Rural Information Delivery, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," by H. Leslie Steeves, Michigan State University, Working Paper Series on Women in International Development, Working Paper #212, 1991.

"Women and Agricultural Extension in Sub-Saharan Africa," by H. Leslie Steeves, Development Communication Report, 1990, No. 70, pp. 4-5.

"The Context of Employed Women's Media Use," by H. Leslie Steeves, Samuel L. Becker, and Hyeon C. Choi, Women's Studies in Communication, fall, 1988, 11(2), pp. 21-46.

"What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies?"  by H. Leslie Steeves, Women's Studies in Communication, Spring, 1988, 10, pp. 78-85.

"Feminist Theories and Media Studies" by H. Leslie Steeves, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, June, 1987, 4(2), pp. 95-135.

"Class and Gender in Prime-Time Television Entertainment:  Observations from a Socialist Feminist Perspective," by H. Leslie Steeves and Marilyn Crafton Smith, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Winter, 1987, 11(1), pp. 43-63. 

Faber, Steven Reese and H. Leslie Steeves, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Fall, 1985, 29(4): 445-450.

"Developing Coorientation Measures for Small Groups," by H. Leslie Steeves, Communication Monographs, June, 1984, 51(2):185-192.

"Assertive Response to on the Job Sex Discrimination as a Possible Predictor of Newspaper Reading Behavior," by Margaret Andreasen and H. Leslie Steeves, Newspaper Research Journal, Summer, 1984, 5(4):27-39.

"Employed Women's Assertiveness and Openness to New Ideas as Expressed in Magazine Usage and Information Needs," by Margaret Andreasen and H. Leslie Steeves, Journalism Quarterly, Fall, 1983, 60(3):449-457.

"Methods Coursework in Mass Communication Ph.D. Programs," by H. Leslie Steeves, Myung Kang and Kuan-Hsing Chen, Journalism Educator, Autumn, 1983, 38(3): 3-5.

• International Communication Association, Teresa Award for the Advancement of Feminist Scholarship, 2017
• University of Oregon Thomas S. Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy, 2016
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, University of Oregon, 2013
• Fulbright Scholar, University of Ghana, 1996
• Fulbright Scholar, University of Nairobi, 1991

• African studies
• Development communication
• Feminist media studies
• Media and globalization

• Media in Ghana
• Communication in Developing Countries
• International Communication
• Media Theory
• Feminist Media Studies
• Gender, Diversity, Media

Graduate Advising

Over 70 doctoral student advisees or committees and over 100 master’s and undergraduate honor’s student advisees/committees.

Other Mentoring

• AEJMC, Commission on the Status of Women, junior faculty mentoring, approximately 2008-2015.
• ICA 2017. Pre-conference at Stanford University. Knowledge exchange and mutual mentoring, African media studies research.
• ICA Regional Conferences in Africa:
• Nairobi, Kenya 2016, Oct. 19-21. Served on organizing committee. Participated in mentoring sessions.
• Entebbe, Uganda  2017, Oct. 24-26. Research and Publication Workshop. Presented and participated. The entire conference was devoted to mentoring research and publication.
• Accra, Ghana 2018, Nov. 6-9. Participated in mentoring sessions.
• Cape Town, South Africa 2023, Nov. 16-18. Participated in pre-conference knowledge exchange workshop, Nov. 15. 

Past/Current Editorial Boards/Selected External Review      

• Media & Communications Review, Accra, Ghana-based
• Annals of the International Communication Association
• Journal of Creative Communication
• African Journalism Studies
• Feminist Media Studies series, University of Illinois Press
• InterNationality: A Journal of Critical Global Studies
• Communication, Culture & Critique (including consulting editor)
• Journal of Communication
• Communication Theory
• Journal of Public Relations Research
• Ablex Communication and Information Science Series, including Progress in Communication Sciences
• Public Relations Research Annual
• External examiner for proposed University of Virginia doctoral program, November 2022.
• External examiner for the University of Miami doctoral program, March, 2020. 
• External examiner for the School of Communication Studies University of Ghana, 5-12 theses per year (2010-). 
• Accreditation team, Zayed University, Ministry of Higher Education, UAE, 2016.
• External promotion and tenure reviews –2-4 annually over the past 20 years.

Over 70 doctoral student advisees or committees and over 100 master’s and undergraduate honor’s student advisees/committees.

• AEJMC, Commission on the Status of Women, junior faculty mentoring, approximately 2008-2015.
• ICA 2017. Pre-conference at Stanford University. Knowledge exchange and mutual mentoring, African media studies research.
• ICA Regional Conferences in Africa:
• Nairobi, Kenya 2016, Oct. 19-21. Served on organizing committee. Participated in mentoring sessions.
• Entebbe, Uganda  2017, Oct. 24-26. Research and Publication Workshop. Presented and participated. The entire conference was devoted to mentoring research and publication.
• Accra, Ghana 2018, Nov. 6-9. Participated in mentoring sessions.
• Cape Town, South Africa 2023, Nov. 16-18. Participated in pre-conference knowledge exchange workshop, Nov. 15. 

• Media & Communications Review, Accra, Ghana-based
• Annals of the International Communication Association
• Journal of Creative Communication
• African Journalism Studies
• Feminist Media Studies series, University of Illinois Press
• InterNationality: A Journal of Critical Global Studies
• Communication, Culture & Critique (including consulting editor)
• Journal of Communication
• Communication Theory
• Journal of Public Relations Research
• Ablex Communication and Information Science Series, including Progress in Communication Sciences
• Public Relations Research Annual
• External examiner for proposed University of Virginia doctoral program, November 2022.
• External examiner for the University of Miami doctoral program, March, 2020. 
• External examiner for the School of Communication Studies University of Ghana, 5-12 theses per year (2010-). 
• Accreditation team, Zayed University, Ministry of Higher Education, UAE, 2016.
• External promotion and tenure reviews –2-4 annually over the past 20 years.