Bill Kovarik is the world's worst linked-in slacker. If you ask to connect, you might get a response in a few months. He has a hard time keeping up with social media. Bill is a Professor of Communication at Radford University in southwestern Virginia. He teaches science and environment writing, media history and media law.He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (1974), the University of South Carolina (M.A., 1983) and the University of Maryland (Ph.D., 1993). His Ph.D. dissertation, The Ethyl Controversy, explored the role of the news media in protecting the public interest in a scientific controversy over leaded gasoline and safer alternatives.Kovarik has also served on the faculty at Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland. His professional experience as a journalist includes reporting and editing for Jack Anderson, the Associated Press, The Charleston (S.C.) Post Courier, The Baltimore Sun, Time-Life Books, Business Publishers and the National Center for Appropriate Technology. He is a co-author of "The Forbidden Fuel" (1982, with Hal Bernton and Scott Sklar), "Mass Media and Environmental Conflict" (1996, with Mark Neuzil), and author of "Web Design for the Mass Media" (2001) and "Revolutions in Communication" (2011). He is currently working on a history of renewable energy. Kovarik is the creator of the Environmental History Timeline (www.environmentalhistory.org) and serves as community editor for New River Voice (www.newrivervoice.com). He has served as an academic representative on the board of directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists and as editor of Appalachian Voice.Specialties: Environmental history; science and environment writing.