Dr. Matt Duffy, an incredible journalist and educator, died on Wednesday, Jan. 17 after battling stage IV lung cancer for four years.
Dr. Duffy was diagnosed with cancer in June 2013, but, through treatments and drug trials, he was able to continue doing what he loved. He started teaching at Kennesaw State in 2013 as a part-time assistant professor, and he later became a full-time professor in 2015.
“I was the chair of the committee that hired him,” said Dr. Carolyn Carlson, the assistant director of the journalism and emerging media program. “He wasn’t with us that long, but students loved him and his colleagues enjoyed working with him.”
Before coming to KSU, Dr. Duffy also taught at Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia State University and Berry College.
After earning his Ph.D. in public communication from GSU in 2010, he decided to take up the position of assistant professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where he taught journalism courses to female students for two years.
He later helped launch a Society of Professional Journalists chapter at Zayed University in 2011, and he oversaw the planning for a “World Press Freedom Day” celebration. After his experience in the UAE, he became more involved with journalism students and media law in the Middle East.
“I was very impressed with Matt Duffy the first time I met him,” said Dr. Barbara Gainey, director for the School of Communication and Media. “His experience as a journalist and educator, and his expertise on journalistic practices in the Middle East made him an excellent part-time instructor in the School of Communication and Media.”
Dr. Duffy published at least 18 academic articles about the Middle East, as well as a book entitled “Media Law in the United Arab Emirates.” Carlson said that his book had become the go-to book on media law. He also served on the board of the Arab-United States Association for Communication Educators while trying to improve journalism in the Middle East.
“He was on the editorial board for an academic journal for Middle Eastern media law,” Carlson said. “In fact, we were in the process of talking about moving the journal to Kennesaw State. It would have been our first peer-reviewed journal in the School of Communication.”
“He then got sick and had to go on medical leave, so we had to drop that idea. But that was very exciting,” she continued. “He had a lot of things going for him, and we’re just heartbroken that he had to leave us.”
In 2016, Dr. Duffy visited Pakistan as part of the Fulbright Scholar program from the U.S. State Department. He spent 25 days there, speaking with students at several different colleges and universities about their roles in society and how they could become groundbreaking journalists in their communities.
Dr. Duffy was also an active member of the Georgia chapter of the SPJ, and he became the advisor for KSU’s SPJ chapter after he started teaching full-time at the school in 2015.
“We were so fortunate to have Dr. Duffy join our faculty full-time last year,” Gainey said. “We got to know him as a teacher, scholar, colleague and friend. We will miss him and his energy in the classroom, working with students through the Society of Professional Journalists chapter and engaging with our faculty and others across the globe as he pursued his many research interests.”
Before he started teaching at KSU, Dr. Duffy also worked as an editor. He started off as an assistant news editor for Nashua Telegraph, a small daily newspaper in New Hampshire. He later worked as news copy editor for the Boston Herald, news editor for the Marietta Daily Journal and managing editor at Daily Vista in Atlanta.
He started his own editing company in 2007 called Oxford Editing. The web-based company caters to academic and ESL authors seeking to have their work published.
Since Dr. Duffy’s passing on Jan. 17, friends, family, colleagues and students have all flooded his social media with kind words, memories and condolences for his wife and children.
“His family is in our thoughts during this difficult time,” Gainey said. “His intellectual curiosity and passion for his work provided a model for all of us.”
