Wes Gehring
George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor in Department of Media
Wes Gehring is a BSU Professor of Film, George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Media, and Media Editor of "USA Today Magazine," for which he also writes the column, "Reel World." His most recent book, published by McFarland Press in 2021, is "Charlie Chaplin and a Woman of Paris." A biography of Hoosier born director/producer/actor Sydney Pollack will be published by the Indiana Historical Society Press sometime in late summer 2022.
Gehring is the award winning author of over 40 film-related books, with special BookExpo national recognition for recent biographies of James Dean, Red Skelton, Steve McQueen, and Carole Lombard. Gehring has a doctorate in film studies from the University of Iowa, where he was also a member of the undergraduate Iowa Writers' Workshop. CHOICE, a publication of the Association of College & Research Libraries, said "Gehring remains supreme in film comedy scholarship." Gehring has served as an on-air scholar for Turner Classic Movies' summer online film class since 2016.
Gehring was recently honored with the "President's Award" from the local chapter of the NAACP. His BSU honors include the "Outstanding Young Faculty Award," "Outstanding Researcher Award," and "Distinguished Researcher Award." BookAuthority.org recently listed his book "Genre-Busting Dark Comedies of the 1970s" at #38 in their list of the 100 Best Comedy Books.
His full bibliography is available at WesGehring.com.