Dr. O'Brien comes to Bowie State University as assistant professor and coordinator of the media management concentration. Prior to BSU, Dr. O'Brien was an assistant professor and program coordinator for the Electronic Media Program in the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University (GWU). She taught at GWU for nine years.

Dr. O'Brien has a background in TV and radio production as well as a theoretical background that she obtained through her master's and PhD at Indiana University. She combines a number of methodologies in her research, but is primarily a critical-cultural scholar and historian. Her research has concentrated on the field of television and film animation. Her master's thesis explored the historical, cultural, production, and management reasons for why animation is an anomaly on prime-time TV. Her PhD explored the reasons why the Walt Disney Studios altered the classic fairy tales that they have used in their feature films, and how this impacted audience decoding and reception.

Dr. O'Brien is very excited about teaching at BSU and working with students in both theoretical classes, as well as production.

Office: MLK Building, Room 0264
Phone: 301-860-3703
Email: pobrien@bowiestate.edu