Published in early 2004, the three-volume Encyclopedia of Radio (edited by Chris Sterling) won the American Library Association's "RUSA" award as one of the top 20 reference books of the year. The 15 March 2004 Library Journal gave it a starred review, calling the work "essential."

Professor of Media and Public Affairs, and of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University                                                                                  

Career:   Dr. Sterling has been an academic for 37 years, and has served as a member of the GW faculty since 1982. He directed the university's graduate telecommunication program from 1984 to 1994, and again from 2001 to 2003. He served as associate dean for graduate affairs in the arts and sciences from 1994 to 2001. Before coming to GW, he served as a special assistant to one of the members of the Federal Communications Commission from 1980 to 1982. Through the 1970s he was on the communications faculty at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Publications:   His primary research interests focus on the history of and policy for both electronic media and telecommunications. With several books still forthcoming, he has authored or edited nearly 20 monographs since the first appeared in 1973 (these are pictured on the full listing reached by clicking on "publications"). He was general editor of a three-volume and multi-author Encyclopedia of Radio (2004), edits Communication Booknotes Quarterly, and serves on the editorial boards of six scholarly journals. His most recent book is Shaping American Telecommunications: A History of Technology, Policy, and Economics (co-author, 2006). Among his earlier monographs are Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting (co-author, 3rd ed., 2002), The Focal Guide to Electronic Media (editor of this CD-ROM, 1998), and Broadcasting in America: A Survey of Electronic Media (co-author with others, several editions). Sterling has also contributed articles to a variety of scholarly books and journals (among the most recent is "Pioneering Risk: Lessons from the U.S. Teletext/Videotex Failure." in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, as well as numerous encyclopedia entries and essays.

International Experience:   Sterling has enjoyed wide experience overseas, having been a part of conferences, delivered talks or courses, or undertaken consulting in (among others) Belgium, Chile, England, France, Hong Kong, Monaco, Spain, Venezuela, and Central Europe.

Education:   Sterling grew up in Wisconsin, earned his B.S. (political science, 1965) and M.S. (communication, 1967) and then his Ph.D (communication, 1969) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Avocational Interests:   His recreational interests include development of commercial air transport, passenger liners, medieval castles and fortification history, pre-Columbian archeology, classic cars from the 1930s, and works by and about Winston S. Churchill.   He has published articles and reviews in several of these fields.