Letrell Deshan Crittenden serves as the Director of Inclusion and Audience Growth at the American Press Institute. Crittenden previously served as the Program Director and Assistant Professor of Communication at Thomas Jefferson University.
A former police and government reporter, Crittenden is an emerging scholar who specializes issues related diversity and inclusion in news and community-engaged journalism. His recent scholarship on the field of journalism has appeared in Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Reports and Journalism Practice.
Crittenden is also a veteran practitioner of community journalism. Over the past decade, provided citizen journalism training to dozens of high school students and community members throughout Pennsylvania. He serves as an editor and co-researcher for the Germantown Info Hub, a collaboration with Temple University designed to provide better news coverage of Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood. Crittenden is also the interim board chair of G-Town Radio, an LPMF station serving Northwest Philadelphia.
His work has earned him fellowships with both the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, and the Media and Inequality Center at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, he has served as a consultant on diversity-related issues for several newsrooms.
Crittenden has also distinguished himself as a faculty member. For his efforts inside and outside the classroom, he was awarded Thomas Jefferson University’s 2021 Provost’s Award for Service to the Profession.
He earned his doctorate in communications from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign holds a master’s in Media Studies and bachelor’s in journalism from Penn State University.
A native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Crittenden resides in Philadelphia with his spouse and child.
