Dr. Jeff Gentry has been named the first Greg Kunz Endowed Chair in Communications at Rogers State University.
Gentry is a professor and head of the Department of Communications at Rogers State University.
The Greg Kunz Endowed Chair in Communications was established by Cascade Communications, the parent company of KWBT Channel 12, the former Warner Brothers television affiliate in Tulsa. In 2006, Warner Brothers closed the WB network and replaced it with the CW network.
The endowed chair resides in RSU’s Department of Communications, located in its School of Liberal Arts, and will carry a one-year appointment.
Cascade Communications established the chair through a gift of $250,000, which was matched with funds from the Endowment Trust Fund of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to complete the $500,000 endowment for the chair.
Gentry has 22 years of teaching experience in argumentation and communications. Previously, he served as assistant professor and forensics director at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. He also taught at Ottawa University in Kansas and Colorado State University.
He received a doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma, a master’s degree from Colorado State University and bachelor’s degree from Eastern Montana College, all in communications. He is the author of several publications and award-winning conference papers on argumentation theory, has hosted three presidential “Debate Watch” forums and has produced several 60-minute public affairs programs for RSU Public Television.
Greg Kunz was born and educated in Southern California where he received degrees in business administration and law. After his admission to the California Bar Association, his interest shifted to commerce and advertising. Early in his career, he developed one of the nation’s largest regional outdoor advertising companies. Subsequently, he co-founded Cascade Communications Ventures, a private equity investment firm.