Latinos and Media Project

BIO

Dr. Tovares, a Fulbright scholar, was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. In 1995 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin. His M.A. in intercultural psychology is from the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, México.  He has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Texas, Austin.

In 2002 Dr. Tovares published Manufacturing the gang: Mexican American youth gangs on local television news, with Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. Since he started working at Trinity Dr. Tovares has published articles in the Journal of broadcasting & electronic media ("Latino USA: Constructing a news and public affairs radio program"); the Howard Journal of Communications ("Influences on the Mexican American youth gang discourse on local television news") and the Journal of Communication Inquiry ("Mascot matters: Race, history, and the University of North Dakota's 'Fighting Sioux' logo"). Several of his essays have appeared as chapters in college­­–level textbooks. “Under construction: The Mexican American youth gang story and local television news” is in Pomerance and Sakeris’ Popping culture, “Ganging up on the gang” is in de Anda’s Chicanos/Chicanas in contemporary society, and “The war on drugs damages American society” appears in Bernards’ Opposing Viewpoints. He has also contributed articles to the Encyclopedia of Television (entries: Get Smart, Alex Haley, Benjamin Hooks) and the Encyclopedia Latina (entries: Desi Arnaz, Dolores del Rio, Rita Moreno).

In 2007 Dr. Tovares was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach journalism and international communication at Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, Ukraine, in the spring of 2008.Upon being accepted into the doctoral program at the University of Texas Dr. Tovares was awarded a Graduate Opportunity Fellowship. In 1993 and 1994 Dr. Tovares received Graduate Opportunity Summer Fellowships to help finance research related to his dissertation.  In September of 1994 he was awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship which funded his research and writing for one year.
In the summer of 2004 Dr. Tovares was awarded a Journalism Excellence Fellowship by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), which allowed him to study newspaper reporting at the Monterey County Herald in Monterey, California.

The Poynter Institute awarded Dr. Tovares a fellowship in 2001 to participate in a week–long seminar titled "Diversity across the curriculum." In the summer of 2000 Dr. Tovares was awarded a Radio–Television News Directors Foundation Fellowship to study local television news production at WISC–TV in Madison, Wisconsin.

His major areas of interest are mass communication, news production, minorities and mass communication, intercultural communication, and film.

Dr. Tovares is a member of the National Communication Association (NCA) and the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).