Meseret Chekol Reta taught in the Department of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls until his death in November 2012. He received his Ph. D. in mass communication and from the University of Minnesota where he also received two master's degrees: one in mass communication and the other in political science. In the 1980s he served as a radio journalist for eight years in his native Ethiopia. For the past few years Dr. Reta has been a frequent guest on the Amharic Service of Voice of America commenting on various issues including press freedom in Ethiopia and U. S. electoral politics. In 2007 he co-founded and served as president of the Ethiopian Biographical Resource Center a project that records biographical information on prominent Ethiopians who have made significant contributions to Ethiopia. Language: English