OFFICERS
2017-2018 officers at annual meeting in Chicago in August 2017
HEAD
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. For more information, please visit her website.
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Twitter: @amybree
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. For more information, please visit her website.
Twitter: @amybree
VICE HEAD & PROGRAM CHAIR
Bryan McLaughlin is an assistant 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.
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Bryan McLaughlin is an assistant 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.
RESEARCH CHAIRS
Aaron Veenstra is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and associate dean of the college of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 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. He is the leader of the New Media Study Group at SIU.
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Aaron Veenstra is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and associate dean of the college of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 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. He is the leader of the New Media Study Group at SIU.
Sherice Gearhart is an assistant professor of public relations in the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University. Her research areas include the role of new media in the public opinion public opinion process, political public relations, the application of the spiral of silence theory to mediated networks, and media framing.
PF&R 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.
TEACHING CHAIR
Mitchell Bard is an assistant professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Mitchell's research focuses on how the atomization of the 20th century American mass media system has affected news in the 21st century, especially on television, the Internet and social media. He has published two articles examining Fox News Channel's prime time coverage of health care reform, as well as work on fake news and how Post-Millennials consume news. For more information, please visit his page on the Iona College Department of Mass Communication website.
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Mitchell Bard is an assistant professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Mitchell's research focuses on how the atomization of the 20th century American mass media system has affected news in the 21st century, especially on television, the Internet and social media. He has published two articles examining Fox News Channel's prime time coverage of health care reform, as well as work on fake news and how Post-Millennials consume news. For more information, please visit his page on the Iona College Department of Mass Communication website.
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR/SECRETARY
Newly Paul is an assistant professor of journalism at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Her research interests include political communication, race and gender in politics, and media coverage of elections. Her recent research examines the impact of newsroom diversity on media coverage of elections. For more information, please visit her website.
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Twitter: @newlypaul
Newly Paul is an assistant professor of journalism at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Her research interests include political communication, race and gender in politics, and media coverage of elections. Her recent research examines the impact of newsroom diversity on media coverage of elections. For more information, please visit her website.
Twitter: @newlypaul
COMMUNICATION OFFICERS
Bethany Anne Conway-Silva is an assistant professor of social influence and political communication in the Communication Studies Department at California Polytechnic State University. Her research focuses on network influence in news construction, the role of new media in political campaigns, and incivility in politics.
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Twitter: @BethAnneConway
Bethany Anne Conway-Silva is an assistant professor of social influence and political communication in the Communication Studies Department at California Polytechnic State University. Her research focuses on network influence in news construction, the role of new media in political campaigns, and incivility in politics.
Twitter: @BethAnneConway
Katherine Haenschen is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Virginia Tech University. Her research explores the impact of digital media on political participation, with a focus on conducting field experiments on Facebook. .
Twitter: @KathTX
GRADUATE STUDENT LIASON
Ceri Hughes is a PhD candidate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on two areas of political communication. He investigates how the mass media represent the minor political voice, particularly smaller or "core-issue" political parties. His other area of interest is the strategic use of religious language and imagery within political discourse.
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Ceri Hughes is a PhD candidate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on two areas of political communication. He investigates how the mass media represent the minor political voice, particularly smaller or "core-issue" political parties. His other area of interest is the strategic use of religious language and imagery within political discourse.
HEADS EMERITUS
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.
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 assistant professor in the Department of Communication at George Mason University, where she is the Political Communication Minor Director. 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 assistant professor with assistant 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.