Mary Kay Quinlan, Ph.D, freelance journalist and oral historian, is editor of the Oral History Association Newsletter, and had been active in regional and national oral history activities for many years. She was a Washington corespondent for the Omaha World Herald and Gannett News Service for 15 years and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the University of Maryland and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has also mentored highly gifted students for Lincoln Public Schools.
Quinlan is a past president of the National Press Club and is a member of the Gridiron Club of Washington, D.C. She has conducted oral history workshops, presented at regional and national academic conferences, and has been a National Endowment of the Humanities peer reviewer for oral history project proposals.
She holds a B.A. with high distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and M.A. in journalism from the University of Maryland, and a PhD. in American Studies, also from the University of Maryland.