Catherine McKercher holds a B.A. from Carleton University, an M.J. from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa. and a Ph.D. in the Humanities from Concordia University in Montreal. She joined the faculty at Carleton University in 1987.

Her first job in journalism was in 1970 as a summer student at the Ottawa Journal. She returned to the newspaper for the next three summers and joined staff full-time in 1973, working as a general assignment reporter and education reporter. In the mid 1970s she moved to The Canadian Press, working as a copy editor and Ontario legislature reporter in the Toronto bureau, then as a Washington correspondent from 1977-80. In 1984 she joined the Whig-Standard in Kingston, Ont. where she was the assistant city editor. She has also worked as a freelance writer and broadcaster.

Prof. McKercher's recent research concentrates on labour in the communication industries, including in journalism. She is co-author of The Laboring of Communication: Will Knowledge Workers of the World Unite? (Lexington Books, 2008) and co-editor of its companion volume, Knowledge Workers in the Information Society (Lexington Books, 2007). She is the author of Newsworkers Unite: Labor, Convergence and North American Newspapers (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002). Her current project is a third edition of The Canadian Reporter. She is working with Carleton colleagues Allan Thompson and Carman Cumming on the new edition of the book, a news writing and reporting textbook used at universities and colleges across Canada. Prof. McKercher is also a member of the judging panel for the Michener Award for meritorious public service in journalism. She has also served as a judge and member of the board of governors for the National Newspaper Awards and has been a judge for the Canadian Association of Journalism awards.