Stasheff, Edward

Educational television broadcaster, professor of speech at the University of Michigan, 1952-1977.

Edward Stasheff received his BA and MA degrees from Columbia University. He began his career in broadcasting at a radio station operated by the New York City Board of Education, WNYE, after having taught English and speech for twelve years in New York high schools.

Stasheff began his career in educational television in 1945 as a moderator, and later consultant, at CBS Television. In 1948 he left the Board of Education to became director of educational and religious programs for New York TV station WPIX and the next year became the station's assistant program manager. In 1950 he moved to ABC-TV where he directed the network series, "I Cover Times Square."

In 1952 Stasheff joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as Professor of Speech, Communication and Theater, a position he held until his retirement in 1977. While at UM, he took occasional leaves of absence to serve in a variety of professional positions. These included work with National Educational Television, the Over-seas Development Program of the Ford Foundation, and the Instructional Television Trust of Israel where he served as Director of Production for 1965-66.

Professor Stasheff is the co-author of one general speech text, a book on Shakespeare, and three books in the field of broadcasting, as well as author of many articles for professional journals. His basic TV textbook, The Television Program: Its Direction and Production, has gone through five revisions since 1952, and has been translated into Arabic, Hebrew, and Portuguese.