Hi everyone!

This is Dr. Mladen Petkov. I am a lecturer and program coordinator at Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts & Sciences Advanced Academic Programs (AAP). I started teaching at AAP in the Fall of 2023. Prior to AAP, I have taught at Wake Forest University, Forsyth Technical Community College, and University of Mary Washington. My teaching experience includes classes in media, digital studies, public speaking, persuasion, and disinformation.

I am first-generation American. I am originally from Bulgaria and have been living in the United States since 2012. I have several years of newsroom experience in the United States and Bulgaria. I have worked as a news producer for an ABC and NBC affiliate television stations, and as an associate producer at WTOP news radio station. I am also a U.S. current affairs journalist for Bulgarian Nation Radio where I have been sending reports since 2012.

As an academic, I am interested in journalistic roles and practices, media freedom, disinformation, and Artificial Intelligence.

I completed his PhD at American University in Washington, DC in May 2023. In addition, I have an MA in Communication from Wake Forest University and MA in Broadcast Journalism from University of Westminster, London, UK. I earned my BA in Social Work at Sofia University in Sofia, Bulgaria.

I live in Alexandria, VA with my husband Alex and our daughter Serenity. I love them so much!

A little-known fact is that I am a radio DJ playing music in a weekly two-hour show for Radio Sofia and Radio Burgas in Bulgaria.