Political Communication Officers 2020 - 2021
HEAD
Sherice Gearhart is an Associate Professor of Public Relations in the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University. Her research areas include the role of new media in public opinion, political public relations, the application of the spiral of silence to mediated networks, hostile media bias, and framing.
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Sherice Gearhart is an Associate Professor of Public Relations in the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University. Her research areas include the role of new media in public opinion, political public relations, the application of the spiral of silence to mediated networks, hostile media bias, and framing.
VICE HEAD AND PROGRAM CHAIR
Tim Macafee is an Assistant Professor at Concordia University Wisconsin. His research examines the interplay between information exchange on social media and political attitudes and participation.
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Tim Macafee is an Assistant Professor at Concordia University Wisconsin. His research examines the interplay between information exchange on social media and political attitudes and participation.
RESEARCH CHAIRS
Mallory Perryman is an Assistant Professor of broadcast journalism in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research focuses on public trust in news with an emphasis on perceptions of media bias.
Twitter: @malloryperryman
PF&R CHAIR
Megan Duncan is an Assistant Professor of multimedia journalism in the Department of Communication at Virginia Tech. She studies how partisans judge the credibility of news and information in emerging journalism. She is particularly interested understanding how audiences will respond to solutions to automated and at-scale indicators of information credibility. She teaches courses in media effects, research methods, multimedia reporting and data journalism.
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Megan Duncan is an Assistant Professor of multimedia journalism in the Department of Communication at Virginia Tech. She studies how partisans judge the credibility of news and information in emerging journalism. She is particularly interested understanding how audiences will respond to solutions to automated and at-scale indicators of information credibility. She teaches courses in media effects, research methods, multimedia reporting and data journalism.
TEACHING CHAIR
Maria De Moya is an Associate Professor of Public Relations in the College of Communication at DePaul University. Her research interests center around Community, identity, and International Public Relations.
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Maria De Moya is an Associate Professor of Public Relations in the College of Communication at DePaul University. Her research interests center around Community, identity, and International Public Relations.
HEADS EMERITUS
Aaron Veenstra is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies at Florida Atlantic University. His research focuses on in-group media and communication, particularly regarding partisan politics. Current studies examine the influence of political and non-political social identities on information seeking and processing, and cognitive outcomes thereof. This work introduces new ways of understanding the influence of niche media on beliefs, by analyzing the effects of those media as moderated by identity.
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Aaron Veenstra is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies at Florida Atlantic University. His research focuses on in-group media and communication, particularly regarding partisan politics. Current studies examine the influence of political and non-political social identities on information seeking and processing, and cognitive outcomes thereof. This work introduces new ways of understanding the influence of niche media on beliefs, by analyzing the effects of those media as moderated by identity.
Bryan McLaughlin is an Associate Professor of advertising in the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University. His research focuses on the interplay of social identity with strategic and interpersonal communication in political and health contexts. His current research explores the strategic use of social identity cues (i.e. partisan, religious, racial) by American politicians and the effect these cues have on political processes, such as voting behavior and political polarization.
Amy Bree Becker is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland. Her research areas include public opinion and citizen participation on controversial political issues, the political effects of exposure and attention to hybrid media, especially political comedy and entertainment, new media and computational research methods, and science communication.
Jasun Carr is an Assistant Professor at Idaho State University, and earned his PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His current research projects focus on the impact of the Third-Person Effect and the Influence of Presumed Influence on persuasion, consumer culture, and civic engagement; and the interaction of product placements, consumer culture, and peer groups. For more information, please visit his website.
Emily Vraga is an Associate Professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on how individuals respond to news and information about contentious political, scientific, and health issues, particularly when they encounter disagreement with their views via digital media. She is especially interested in testing methods to limit biased processing, to correct misinformation, and to encourage attention to more diverse content online.
Lauren Feldman is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. Broadly, her research focuses on the effects of news and political media on political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Her current research analyzes media coverage of climate change and its influence on public opinion and engagement. Her research interests also include the intersection of news and entertainment, and how less-traditional sources of political information – like political satire and partisan media – affect public opinion and engagement around policy issues.
Erik Nisbet is an associate professor the School of Communication at the Ohio State University. His research is in comparative political communication and the media psychology of international relations, combining theory and research from the fields of communication and political science.
Guy Golan is the founder and former head of the Political Communication Interest Group of AEJMC. He is an associate professor of public relations and public diplomacy at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. His research focuses on international political communications and public diplomacy.
Tom Johnson is the Amon G. Carter Jr. Centennial Professor in the School of Journalism and Director of the Digital Media Research Program His research has focused on the uses and effects of new media in politics. Recent works have explored the credibility and uses of social media as well as the effects of these media on political attitudes and behaviors. He has authored one book and co-edited four others. He has published more than 55 articles in academic journals, including Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Information Technology and Policy, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
