By Patrick Harrington, 2026
William (Bill) Kovarik, PhD, is an historian and a professor at Radford University. His research involves science, technology and communications, and his professional background involves reporting and editing for daily newspapers, national news magazines, wire services and environmental publications. In 2021 he was named among the leading pioneers of environmental journalism by Environmental Health News.
Education: Kovarik earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism at VCU in Richmond, Virginia; an MA in communication at the University of South Carolina; and a PhD in communication at the University of Maryland. His research is located at the intersections of media history, media technology, science communication and international development. His dissertation involved research into media coverage of a preventable environmental disaster — the introduction of leaded gasoline in the 1920s, and the use of media history to uncover previously inaccessible and unknown events in environmental history. Kovarik also studied international comparative media law as a post-doctoral fellow at the Oxford PCMLP Summer Institute.
Media career: Kovarik has worked with wire services, daily newspapers, national news magazines and the environmental press. These included the Associated Press, the Baltimore Sun, the Charleston SC Post-Courier, columnist Jack Anderson, the New York Times, Time Magazine and Time-Life Books. He began his career as editor and publisher of the Chesterfield News Journal, a weekly newspaper. He has also served as editor of specialized / trade publications: Energy Resources and Technology, Latin American Energy Report, Appropriate Technology, New River Voice and Appalachian Voice.
Professional service: Kovarik was elected as an academic representative on the board of directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists and also served on the board of Appalachian Voices and the academic advisory board for the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism and the Virginia Press Association FOIA task force. He has served as the faculty advisor for the Tartan newspaper and other student publications. He has also served as a consultant to the New River Voice, the Virginia Mountaineer and the Floyd Times. He is also a contributing historian on a United Nations Foundation expert panel.
University and teaching service: Kovarik has served for more than three decades as a professor at Radford University — a public university that was once part of Virginia Tech. He has also served as an instructor at the University of Maryland and the University of South Carolina; as a visiting professor at Virginia Tech, the University of Western Ontario in London, and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia; and as a professor at Unity College in Maine; and an instructor in media history for Springhouse School and the Virginia Governor’s School for the Humanities. He is also a regular instructor at the annual Roanoke Regional Writers Conference at Hollins University. Kovarik also served as a writing coach and ethics instructor at Virginia Tech in the Dept. of Chemical Engineering and the Bioinformatics Institute.
Books & Publications: “The Forbidden Fuel” (1982, republished 2010) with Hal Bernton and Scott Sklar); The Ethyl Controversy (1993); “Mass Media and Environmental Conflict” (1996, with Mark Neuzil, Sage); “Web Design for the Mass Media” (2001, Pearson) and “Revolutions in Communication” (2011, 2016, 2025, Bloomsbury). In 2012 his research on the history of renewable energy was lauded by musician Neil Young in Waging Heavy Peace.
Media and Environmental Law: Prof. Kovarik has provided expert testimony for Peter Angelos LLC and for Lloyds of London, in lawsuits involving environmental history, defamation and freedom of information.