Brief Bio

I’m an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University.

I earned a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, including a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, and an M.S. from Ohio University after studying Journalism Studies, Communication and Media Studies, and American Studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany. 

In my research I am interested in the intersections of journalism, media, gender, and minoritized groups as well as the democratic potential of new and social media. I co-edited the volume Reflections on Feminist Communication and Media Scholarship: Theory, Method, Impact (2022) and have published articles in journals such as New Media & Society; the International Journal of Communication; Media, Culture & Society; Health Communication; and Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism.

I am editor of the peer-reviewed open-access journal Journalism Research / Journalistik which publishes articles in English and German, including studies, essays, commentary and book reviews, online three times a year.

I am currently co-PI on the NSF ADVANCE grant “Gender Equity Advances Retention in STEM” (WSU-GEARS, 2020-2023) to address barriers to women and underrepresented minorities on Wayne State University’s campus regarding issues relating to hidden and unequal workload, work-life-family strains, and toxic work environment.

Previously, I was Co-PI for a grant from the World Health Organization (2015-2016) for a systematic review of extant literature on media use in public health crisis. My work focused on research on the use of social media during global public health crisis, including for/with vulnerable populations. I also worked as Co-PI for a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (2016-2017) to synthesis studies on the civic and political participation for women in developing countries.

My teaching experience includes feminist media theory; interviewing as a research method; qualitative research methods; journalism and new media; introduction to news reporting; introduction to broadcast news reporting, writing and editing; media literacy; and journalism and media history. 

Previously, I initiated and co-founded the #WikidGRRLS project (2013-2017) to teach middle and high school girls how to create content on knowledge sharing sites such as Wikipedia. WikidGRRLS was awarded several grants from the Future of Information at the University of Maryland, the College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts at Wayne State University and Wayne State University.

Back to Start Page.

%d bloggers like this: