To that end, his published pieces have examined the journalism careers of Carolyn Bennett Patterson, a native Mississippian who went on to a distinguished career as an editor at National Geographic magazine, and Norma Fields, who covered the state capitol beat for the Tupelo Daily Journal (now the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal) for almost two decades in the 1970s and 1980s. He is currently writing a book manuscript on the women who covered the Mississippi state capitol in the 1970s and 1980s, a period of time described by Fields as “the golden age of Mississippi journalism.” The manuscript is due to Lexington Books in summer 2020.
Pete holds an undergraduate degree in communication from Mississippi State University, a master’s degree in communication from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. in mass communication (with an emphasis on mass communication history) from the School of Communication at the University of Southern Mississippi.