To find novels by Tina Lesher, click Books.

ABOUT TINA

Tina Lesher is professor emerita at William Paterson of New Jersey, where she served as a professor of journalism and former chairman of the Department of Communication. She is an alumna of Wheeling Jesuit University, from which she received a degree in history. She was awarded her master’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a doctorate in English education from Rutgers University.

Dr. Lesher was a 2006-07 Fulbright Scholar to the United Arab Emirates, where her research focused on interviews with changes in the lives of women in that oil-rich country. Her novel, “The Abaya Chronicles,” is a fictionalized account about a UAE family. The book was named winner of the 2011 Best Fiction prize from the National Federation of Press Women.

In 2010 Dr. Lesher was one of a small number of ex-Fulbright Scholars chosen as Fulbright Ambassadors to promote the international program over a two-year period.

She began her newspaper career as assistant women’s editor of The Scranton Tribune, and worked as a copy editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Hartford Courant. As a freelance writer, she has written columns for several papers. She also established a small public relations practice that specialized in promoting nonprofit organizations. Her book, Club '43, published in 2006, focuses on the lives of 12 Westfield, N.J., women, all born in 1943.

For close to a decade, Dr. Lesher operated NEWSAMP, a summer program for students in grades 6 to 12.

She twice served as president of the New Jersey Press Women and was named its Communicator of Achievement in 1992.

Lesher with students at a WPUNJ graduation.

At WPUNJ, she was named winner of the Legacy Award for service to the university, and three times was selected for the Students’ First Award for dedication to students. Dr. Lesher also was inducted into the university’s Heritage Society for more than 20 years of continued giving to the school; she and her husband, John, provide an annual scholarship for a journalism student.

The Leshers reside in Westfield, N. J. and are the parents of three adult children.