AEJMC Election 2026

Hong Cheng (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University) is a professor and the dean of the College of Arts and Media at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  He has held faculty and/or administrative positions at Shanghai International Studies University, Bradley University, Ohio University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Loyola University Chicago, and has also taught as a visiting professor at Nanyang Technological University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Peking University, and Xiamen University.

Cheng’s research centers on international communication, cross-cultural advertising, and global social marketing.  He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters, including work in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication, and Journal of Advertising Research.  His books include Becoming a Media Savvy Student (co-author), Advertising and Chinese Society: Issues and Impacts (co-editor), and Social Marketing for Public Health: Global Trends and Success Stories (co-editor).  He is also the editor of The Handbook of International Advertising Research.

Cheng has provided extensive service to AEJMC over the years.  He is a former associate editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, following earlier service as an associate editor of the Asian Journal of Communication.  He has served as chair of AEJMC’s Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility, as well as the Advertising and International Communication Divisions.  He was a founding co-chair of the AEJMC Career Development Committee after previously co-chairing the Association’s Presidential Task Force for Career Development.  Beyond AEJMC, he has served as chair of the National Education Executive Committee of the American Advertising Federation and as secretary of the American Academy of Advertising.

Cheng is committed to supporting high-quality, inclusive, and ethical scholarly publishing and to strengthening journals as spaces for innovative and globally engaged research.  He would be honored to continue serving the AEJMC community as a member of the Publications Committee.

Uche Onyebadi (Ph.D., Missouri School of Journalism) is a full Professor in the Department of Journalism, Texas Christian University, which he also chaired (2016-2024). Prior to that, he was the Director, School of Journalism, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (2014-2016).  His AEJMC elected positions include:

(a)   Member, Publications Committee (2023-).
(b)   Editor, International Communication Research Journal (International Communication Division, 2019-2025).

With primary research on political/international communication, Dr. Onyebadi’s publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, International Journal of Communication, International Communication Gazette, Journalism, Journal of Social Media in Society, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, and the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. He has edited the following books on the intersection of music and political communication: Music and Messaging in the African Political Arena; Music as a Platform for Political Communication; Political Messaging in Music and Entertainment Spaces across the Globe (Vols. 1 & 2); and Music and Engagement in the Asian Political Space (co-editor).

His international experience includes:

(a) Fulbright Specialist, BRAC University, Bangladesh (2012). 
(b) Visiting Professor, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China (2017). 
(c) Visiting Professor and Carnegie Specialist, United States International University-Africa, Kenya (2024).
(d) Invited speaker, media ethics workshop in Kuwait, organized by Al Watan newspaper (2013).  

Dr. Onyebadi has the following career recognitions:

(a) Fellowship, AEJMC/ACJMC Institute for Diverse Leadership in Journalism and Communication
(b) Fellowship, Carnegie African Diaspora Program.

Dr. Onyebadi’s journalism career began as a reporter/feature writer at Vanguard newspaper (Nigeria). He relocated to Kenya as a Sports analyst primarily on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation-TV. Also in Kenya, he conceptualized and managed a 5-year Eveready-Energizer Batteries athletics sponsorship (1999-2004) for Athletics Kenya, the local affiliate of World Athletics (formerly, International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF).

Viorela Dan is Assistant Professor of Media Change in the Department of Media, Society and Communication at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. She earned her Habilitation —a senior post-doctoral qualification above the doctorate—at LMU Munich and her PhD at Freie Universität Berlin. Since 2023, she has served as Engagement Editor for the AEJMC journals, working toward increasing the online visibility of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) while also supporting Journalism & Mass Communication Educator and Journalism & Communication Monographs.

Dr. Dan attended her first AEJMC annual conference in 2013 while a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin and has been an active member of the association ever since. She is a committed and rigorous peer reviewer for the association’s conferences and journals and has received multiple AEJMC awards for both research and teaching.

Dr. Dan’s research—which focuses on human–AI interaction in media and communication and has been published in leading outlets—has direct implications for scholarly publishing, which she is eager to bring to the table in this role. This includes questions of transparency, accountability, and the responsible use of AI tools in research and editorial workflows; she is a member of the AI task force of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), where she engages critically with both the opportunities and the limits of AI for academic knowledge production.

Dr. Dan is interested in serving on the AEJMC Standing Committee on Publications to support the journals’ strategic development during a period of technological change. Her priorities include safeguarding rigorous peer-review standards, supporting editors in navigating AI-related challenges, strengthening submission quality and diversity, and contributing to thoughtful decisions about future publication needs. She is grateful for the nomination and would welcome the opportunity to contribute to this work.

Media platforms where I will campaign:

LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/) 
Bluesky (https://bsky.app/) 
X (https://x.com/)

Hyejoon Rim is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining CUHK, she spent 11 years as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

She has been an active member of AEJMC since 2009, regularly participating in the annual conference as a presenter and moderator/discussant, and serving as a reviewer for conference submissions. Within the Public Relations Division, she has served as Research Committee Chair and Vice-Chair, Ines Kaiser Graduate Student of Color Award Committee Chair, and as a member of the preconference, membership, and Professional Freedom & Responsibility committees. She currently serves on the Publications Standing Committee (2023-present).

Rim brings experience with scholarly publishing through editorial board membership and peer-review service. She serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Advertising, and Asian Communication Journal, and actively reviews manuscripts for journals across communication, business, and management disciplines. 

Her research focuses on corporate social responsibility and corporate social advocacy communication, examining the conditions under which these efforts are associated with positive social impact beyond reputational benefits, with particular attention to publics’ message attributions across U.S. and international contexts. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communications Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of Business Research, among others.

Rim teaches strategic communication at the undergraduate and graduate levels, integrating research insights with professional experience from the public relations and advertising industry. She received her PhD from the University of Florida and her MS from Syracuse University.

Logan Molyneux has six years of experience as a journalist, working as a reporter and then city editor at the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, and as a copy editor at the Austin American-Statesman and KUT radio. He holds a PhD in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on digital media and mobile technology, specifically as they relate to journalistic practices and products. Recent work includes studies of learning from mobile news, how journalists use social media in political coverage and personal branding among journalists.

Judith E. Rosenbaum is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine. She teaches and advises in the undergraduate program in Media Studies as well as the MA and PhD in Communication. Rosenbaum also serves as Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Administration in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In this role, she provides faculty development opportunities, including organizing networking events and educational workshops on topics such as interdisciplinary collaboration and community-based research partnerships.

She currently is the Head of AEJMC’s Communication Theory and Methodology division, where she has served in a diversity of roles for the past five years. In addition, she is an active reviewer for various conferences and journals. Rosenbaum will bring decades of research and service experience to the Publications Committee.

Rosenbaum’s research is focused on understanding how people use media content and how this usage is related to their identities, relationships, and perceptions of reality. She has examined topics such as social media and democracy; spoilers, enjoyment, and media selection; news literacy and fake news; dating preferences and online dating apps; and the impact of sharing behaviors in online environments. She has published in outlets such as Media Psychology, Computers in Human Behavior, Communication Research, Psychology of Popular Media Culture, Communication Teacher, and Journal of Media Psychology. She is the author of Constructing Digital Cultures: Tweets, trends, race, and gender (Lexington, 2018) and co-edited Twitter, the public sphere, and the chaos of online deliberation (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2020). Most recently, she co-authored Computer-Mediated Communication: Approaches and Perspectives, 2^nd ed. (Cognella, 2024).

Prior to joining the University of Maine, Rosenbaum was an Associate Professor in Mass Communication at Albany State University in Albany, Georgia. She earned her PhD in Mass Communication from the Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands.

Bill Cassidy, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Journalism in the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. He was named a 2023-2024 fellow in The Institute for Diverse Leadership and received the Dorothy Bowles Award for Outstanding Public Service from AEJMC in 2020.

He was elected president of Kappa Tau Alpha, the national honor society in journalism and communication from 2022-2024. Earlier in his career, Cassidy was Head of the Newspaper and Online News Division as well as Vice-Head/Program Chair and Research co-chair.

Prior to his current position, Cassidy was Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. He received the university’s 2023 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, served on the publication board of the student newspaper, and as a faculty associate with NIU’s Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality.  

Cassidy’s research focuses on sports journalism with an emphasis on coverage of LGBTQIA+ athletes. He is the author of the books Sports Journalism and Women Athletes: Coverage of Coming Out Stories (Palgrave Macmillan), Sports Journalism and Coming Out Stories: Jason Collins and Michael Sam (Palgrave Macmillan) as well as several book chapters in this area. He is co-author of a third book, Iran and the American Media: Press Coverage of the ‘Iran Deal’ in Context (Palgrave Macmillan). His scholarship appears in academic journals such as Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, News Research Journal, Communication & Sport, International Journal of Communication, and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

He earned a B.A. in Journalism and Speech/Interpersonal Communication from the University of Tulsa; an M.A. in Mass Communication from the University of Houston; and a Ph.D. from the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.

Shaheen Kanthawala is an Associate Professor of media effects in the Journalism & Creative Media department at the University of Alabama’s College of Communication & Information Sciences. She holds a PhD in Media and Information Studies MA in Journalism, and an MA in Health and Risk Communication from Michigan State University.

Her research focuses primarily on the intersection on health and technologies, centering on social media, mobile health apps, and online health information. Her work has been published in top-tier journals including New Media & Society, Mobile Media & Communication, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Asian Journal of Communication, and Social Media + Society.

She teaches both graduate courses on media effects, social media, and research methods, and undergraduate courses on social media & society, media content creation, media effects, media ethics.

She has advised and mentored students at all levels from undergraduate to doctoral, and works collaboratively and effectively with students, teaching and guiding them as members on research teams. This year, she sits on the board of MASTHEAD, an alumni non-profit organization that works to advocate for diverse, equitable and anti-racist student media at the University of Alabama, working to provide more opportunities for student journalists of color at the university.

She has been an active member of the AEJMC community since her early days of graduate school and looks forward to serving this community through the Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility and giving back.

E. Ciszek is an Associate Professor at the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. Their work is grounded in a core premise: communication does not occur in a vacuum. It unfolds within systems of inequality, institutional constraints, and histories of marginalization and resistance. As a scholar and educator, Ciszek examines how people and organizations navigate power, identity, and the structural conditions that shape what can be said, who is heard, and whose experiences are rendered visible—or erased.

Their research asks not only what communication does, but for whom, under what conditions, and with what consequences. Widely recognized as a leading scholar in strategic communication and public relations, Ciszek has published 37 peer-reviewed journal articles in top outlets including Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Journal of Health Communication, and Social Media & Society. Their work has been especially influential in advancing critical, cultural, and socio-ecological approaches to public relations theory. Their forthcoming book, Queering Public Relations (Routledge), formalizes their role in redefining and modernizing the field. Their interdisciplinary, NIH-funded and international research on LGBTQ health communication, transgender visibility, health misinformation, and community resilience underscores the real-world stakes of professional freedom and responsibility.

Ciszek’s teaching reflects the same commitments to rigor, ethics, and justice. They prepare students to understand communication as both a professional craft and a civic responsibility—requiring technical competence, ethical judgment, cultural awareness, and accountability to the public good.

Through leadership roles in AEJMC—including serving as Professional Freedom and Responsibility Chair and as Head, Vice Head, and Teaching Chair of the LGBTQ Interest Group—Ciszek brings deep institutional knowledge, ethical leadership, and a sustained commitment to protecting academic freedom while advancing responsible, inclusive communication scholarship.

Jensen Moore, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Public Relations at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma, where she teaches foundational and advanced courses in public relations, crisis communication, social media strategy, and contemporary issues shaping the profession.

Moore’s research lies at the intersection of social media, crisis communication, and health communication, with a particular focus on how individuals and organizations use digital platforms to communicate, mourn, and seek information following natural and man-made disasters. Her work has significantly advanced understanding of organizational social media mourning (OSMM) and related ethical communication practices, with more than three dozen peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and national conference presentations to her name.

Moore previously served as Chair of the Mass Communication & Society Division of AEJMC, Chair of the Public Relations Society of America Educators Academy, on several Public Relations Division committees (AEJMC and NCA), and is an advisory committee member for the International Public Relations Research Conference. She is also involved in Champions for PRSSA, supporting student professional development.

Moore advocates for accessibility, inclusivity, and accountability, public service, community support and exchanges, mentorship, collaboration, and professional freedom. To date, she has worked with more than 75 service-learning projects with students in her courses. Several of which have won regional and national recognition.

Moore earned her doctorate in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism, a master’s in journalism and mass communication from the University of Minnesota, and three bachelor’s degrees in business administration, marketing, and mass communication from Black Hills State University. Before her academic career, she gained professional experience in sports public relations and community relations roles with professional basketball and baseball organizations.

Email: jensenmoore@ou.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jensen-moore-publicrelations/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9USRM6EAAAAJ&hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jensen.moore 

Anthony Fargo (he/him) is an associate professor in The Media School at Indiana University-Bloomington, where he has taught since 2004. He is the director of the Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies. He previously taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Rhode Island. He earned his doctorate and master’s degrees in mass communication at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and his bachelor’s degree at Morehead State University. He has been a member of AEJMC since 1997.  Prior to entering academia, he was a reporter, editor, and copy desk chief at newspapers in Kentucky and Florida. His research has focused primarily on the protection of journalists from forced disclosure of their sources and, more recently, on legal protection from physical assault. He has taught mostly in the areas of communications law and ethics. Professor Fargo believes that his experiences both inside and outside the academy would be valuable to the PF&R Committee as it examines ways to help media educators meet the challenges to the media professions and education brought on by rapid technological change, shifting audience tastes and preferences, and political polarization. At Indiana University, Professor Fargo is part of a working group planning a multi-day symposium on freedom of speech and the university, and he is also part of a task force working to develop a plan to ensure the sustainability and editorial independence of student media. The issues that Indiana University is facing on the free speech and student media fronts are not confined to one institution or one discipline. Professor Fargo, who served on the PF&R Committee in 2013-16, also possesses a collaborative spirit and is a thoughtful listener. He believes he would be an asset to the committee and would be honored by your support.

Natalie T. J. Tindall, Ph.D. APR is a professor in the Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations and the program director for the Communication & Leadership program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Her research focuses on stewardship, leadership, and followership; participatory culture and fandoms; activism and public interest communication; diversity in organizations; and the situational theory of publics and intersectionality. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Howard Journal of Communications, PRism, and the International Journal of Strategic Communication. Currently, she serves as the managing editor for Case Studies in Strategic Communication and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Public Relations Research.

She has co-authored a public relations writing textbook. She has co-edited three academic texts: two on participatory culture, fandom, and public relations and one on LGBTQ+ issues in advertising and public relations.

Within AEJMC, she has served as Head of the Public Relations Division. She is a member of the PR Division, the Minorities & Communication Division, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on the Status of Minorities, and the Commission on Graduate Education. Currently, she serves on the AEJMC Standing Committee on Career Development.

She is a board member for the Institute of Public Relations and served as the inaugural chair of the IPR Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is a member of the Page Society, the Association for Business Communicators, the American Evaluation Association, the Public Interest Communicators Steering Committee, PRSA, and PRCA.

Joseph (Joe) Jones, PhD (Missouri 2021) is an assistant professor in the Reed School of Media & Communications at West Virginia University. His courses include media ethics, law, history, graduate theory, the principles of American journalism, the power dynamics of popular culture, and an arts and culture-oriented study abroad. He is an active member of WVU’s Faculty Senate where, because he asks the tough questions, leadership knows his name. His research includes how the Black press innovated a unique form of care-based, democracy-serving journalism, the ethical obligations of food, fashion, and lifestyle journalism, and how humans might assert their moral imaginations in the face Artificial Intelligence and surveillance capitalism. In addition to academic publications, his work has appeared in the popular press where he has written on topics like press freedom, the political economy of AI and how it limits our abilities as citizens, and the centrality of an independent press in the history of democracy. As WVU’s media ethics expert, he also does media appearances most recently speaking on the Pentagon’s new press rules and CBS News’ latest transformation. At AEJMC, Joe has just finished the Media Ethics Division leadership ladder (Outgoing Head, October 2025), currently serves as PF&R Chair for the Cultural Critical Studies Division (CCSD), and does annual reviews for those two divisions as well as the History Division, Law & Policy, and CSW. He has also twice chaired CCSD’s national dissertation award, is the Book Reviews Editor of Journalism History, and serves on the editorial board of Journal of Media Ethics. In all of this, he is committed to journalism and other media’s fundamental role in the ethical facilitation of democratic worldmaking and all of the legal protections this requires. Such principles and moral imperatives are important now more than ever. Solidarity.

ResearchGate
LinkedIn

Dr. Adrienne A. Wallace is an Associate Professor and the Advertising/Public Relations Major Coordinator in the School of Communications at GVSU. Dr. Wallace has made remarkable contributions to undergraduate education, and her work, both in and out of the classroom, exemplifies the highest standards of teaching, scholarship, and service. She earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degrees from GVSU, and her doctorate in public affairs, public policy, and administration from Western Michigan University.

Since joining GVSU on the tenure track in 2016, Dr. Wallace has consistently demonstrated an unwavering passion for student development. She not only excels in the classroom but also deeply invests in the success and growth of her students outside of it. Dr. Wallace advises numerous student organizations and has developed strong community partnerships that enhance student learning. Her mentorship has helped students achieve academically, professionally, and personally. Dr. Wallace’s teaching has earned her several prestigious awards, including the GVSU Student Life Jo Ann Litton Outstanding Advisor Award, the GVSU Alumni Association Outstanding Educator Award, and the GVSU Outstanding Academic Advising and Student Services Award. Her students affectionately refer to her as their “PR Mom.”

One of Dr. Wallace’s greatest strengths is her commitment to individualized and experiential learning. As the advisor for GrandPR, a student-powered public relations firm, she provides students with the unique opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in a practical setting and learn essential industry skills. Her work on the annual CreateAthon, where students work on campaigns for nonprofits, highlights her commitment to hands-on learning. By developing service-learning projects and community partnerships, Dr. Wallace has ensured that her students receive practical exposure to the fields of advertising and public relations, while also honing their leadership, communication, and teamwork skills.

An accomplished scholar, Dr. Wallace has co-authored numerous books, articles, and chapters, plus she regularly presents at major academic conferences. She has authored, co-authored, and co-edited significant collections on social media and contemporary public relations. Her publications have earned national recognition, including the 2024 National Communications Association (NCA) PRIDE Outstanding Book of the Year Award. She received the 2022 NCA SPARK Innovation in Teaching Award, a testament to her ability to push the boundaries of traditional teaching methods.

Dr. Wallace also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Relations Education (JPRE), Vice Head of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Internships & Careers Interest Group, and Chair of the Professional Freedom & Responsibility Committee for the Public Relations Division of AEJMC. She is the past-president of the West Michigan chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (WMPRSA) and serves as the research committee Co-Chair of the Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE). Through these roles, she has made significant contributions to the field of public relations.

“Dr. Wallace’s leadership capacity, professional development, and extensive contributions to undergraduate education make her a tremendous asset to GVSU,” said Dr. Jennifer Drake, Acting Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “Her innovative teaching methods, exceptional scholarship, and commitment to student success demonstrate her dedication to excellence in education. I have no doubt that Dr. Wallace will continue to inspire and lead in meaningful ways.”

The other two 2025 recipients are Dr. Jaclyn Johnson of Michigan Technological University and Dr. Natalie Sampson of the University of Michigan — Dearborn.

“The recipients of this year’s Distinguished Professor of the Year Award exemplify the unwavering dedication to undergraduate education that defines Michigan’s public universities,” said MASU Chief Executive Officer Dr. Daniel Hurley. “Their innovative teaching methods, commitment to student success, and contributions to both their disciplines and communities set them apart as true leaders in higher education. These professors not only shape minds in the classroom but also inspire personal and professional growth that extends far beyond campus.”

Kalyani Chadha is a professor of journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Informed by critical approaches, her recent work focuses on the rise of various forms of alternative media, both news outlets produced by and aimed at marginalized groups as well as right wing news outlets. She is the author of Disrupting Mainstream Journalism in India: The Rise of Alternative Journalisms Online (2025) as well as co-editor of Newswork and Precarity (2022), both published by Routledge. A recipient of AEJMC’s Senior Scholar grant, Chadha has published over thirty articles in prestigious journals including Digital Journalism and Journalism Studies, the International Journal of Communication and Media, Culture and Society. She has also contributed chapters to several edited collections and encyclopedias. Chadha currently serves on the editorial boards of Journalism Studies, Digital Journalism, Journalism Practice, Mass Media and Media as well as Journalism and Communication Monographs. Chadha has also been active in AEJMC, holding various positions in the Mass Communication and Society Division, and serving as its head in (2021-2022).

Anna Kim is an Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She also serves as Co-Director of ACORN (Annenberg Creator Research Network), alongside David Craig (USC) and Matt Rafalow (YouTube Research), and as Research Director at the USC Center for Public Relations. 

Her research examines storytelling, influencers, and AI-mediated advertising, with a focus on how digital platforms and emerging technologies shape credibility, engagement, and public communication. Her research has been published in top-tier journals including Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Health Communication, and Journal of Information Science.

She has received numerous recognitions, including the Mary Alice Shaver Promising Professor Award from the American Academy of Advertising, the Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Journal of Advertising and the International Journal of Advertising, and Best Conference Paper Awards from the American Marketing Association and the American Academy of Advertising.

Kim serves as Senior Associate Editor of the International Journal of Advertising and Associate Editor of the Journal of Interactive Advertising and sits on the editorial boards of leading advertising journals.

Within AEJMC, she currently serves as Head of the Advertising Division and has previously served as Vice Head, Research Chair, Special Topics Chair, and Professional Freedom and Responsibility Chair. She recently organized an industry research panel featuring storytelling platform leaders from YouTube, ESPN, Webtoon, and Disney for the AEJMC Advertising Division.

As an active AEJMC member since 2011, Kim has engaged with the association across career stages and remains committed to advancing research development within the field. As a candidate for the Standing Committee on Research, she will strengthen cross-division collaboration and build sustainable industry-academic partnerships.

Deborah S. Chung (Ph.D., Indiana University-Bloomington) is Associate Dean and Professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky. She is the current chair of the Standing Committee on Research. During her term, she helped advance key research policies, championed a more user-friendly paper call, and introduced updates to submissions and awards panels to encourage greater engagement.

Her research focuses on information communication technologies’ impact on communication professionals and their audiences. Specific interests include online news, active audiences, citizen journalism, visual communication, interactivity and sociology of news. Her research is featured in leading journals in the field, including Journalism, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication & Society, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journalism Practice, International Journal of Communication and Journal of Media Ethics among others. Her scholarship also appears in interdisciplinary journals, such as Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology and Convergence. She is the co-author of Understanding Citizen Journalism as Civic Participation, part of the Routledge Research in Journalism series.

Chung has been an active participant in AEJMC for more than two decades. In addition to chair of the Standing Committee on Research, she was Head of the Participatory Journalism Interest Group (2010-2011), its Co-Vice Head and Programming Chair (2009-2010) and Newsletter Editor (2008-2009). She also served on the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee (2012-2015). Chung regularly reviews papers and panels for AEJMC and has presented her own research across more than 10 divisions and interest groups. She has also won numerous top paper awards, including those from the Participatory Journalism Interest Group, Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division, Newspaper and Online News Division, Visual Communication Division, Community Journalism Interest Group and Teaching Standards Committee. She would be honored to serve a second term on this committee.

Recognized as a distinguished scholar, innovative educator, and experienced academic leader with a history of championing research, Regina Luttrell, Ph.D., is the Senior Associate Dean at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is a scholar and research administrator whose work focuses on public relations, social media, artificial intelligence, and mis/disinformation, with attention to how emerging technologies shape public engagement, influence, and trust. As part of her leadership portfolio, she oversees the Newhouse School’s centers and institutes while advancing research and creative activity.

Luttrell is the author of more than a dozen books, including PR Campaigns: An Integrated Approach, Social Media: How to Engage, Share, and Connect, and Social Media and Society, with forthcoming volumes on AI, feminism, and social media impact. In addition, she has published numerous peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters examining public relations practice, digital influence, ethics, and emerging media. Her scholarship integrates historical analysis, strategic communication, and technological change and appears with leading academic presses including Oxford, Routledge, and Bloomsbury. Her research increasingly examines generative AI, influence economies, and the evolving role of communicators in technology driven environments.

An active contributor to AEJMC, Luttrell has served on multiple committees within the Public Relations Division, presented research, participated in panels, and reviewed scholarship for AEJMC divisions as well as for peer reviewed academic journals. She has also served on ACEJMC accreditation site visit teams, contributing to the evaluation and advancement of journalism and mass communication education.

As a candidate for the AEJMC Research Committee, Luttrell is committed to strengthening the organization’s research infrastructure while supporting innovative and inclusive scholarship. Her priorities include expanding interdisciplinary collaboration, increasing visibility for diverse research outputs, supporting methodological development, and mentoring emerging scholars to ensure AEJMC remains a leader in rigorous, relevant, and forward-looking communication research.

Nicole Smith Dahmen is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. Dahmen has gained an international reputation for her scholarship, which falls into three key areas, sometimes standing alone but more frequently intersecting: visual journalism, media ethics, and contextual reporting. In sum, her research seeks to advance public-interest journalism—reporting that holds the powerful accountable, elevates underrepresented voices, and makes a positive impact for society. She’s the editor of two scholarly books and author of more than 40 peer-reviewed academic journal articles, and she’s presented nearly 70 international conference papers, with top paper awards at both the AEJMC and ICA conferences. She’s the 2021 AEJMC Scripps Howard Teacher of the Year, a prestigious award in the field of media education. Dahmen approaches her scholarship through a normative lens, asking not just what journalism is, but what it should be. In a time of journalistic disruption, an overabundance of negative and sensational news, extreme political partisanship, and low levels of public trust in the news media, journalism can and should do better. Dahmen’s research is published in such diverse and leading journals as American Behavioral Scientist, Journalism & Communication Monographs, Journalism Studies, Journal of Media Ethics, Digital Journalism, and Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism. And due to the subject matter of her research, her work is published in the two leading journals for visual scholarship, Visual Communication Quarterly and Visual Communication. Approaching 25 years of university teaching experience, Dahmen has developed and taught a range of courses, including large lectures, hands-on labs, honors/graduate seminars, and an innovative study abroad program titled “Instagramming Paris: Media Unfiltered.” She’s served in numerous service roles within AEJMC including being research chair of the visual communication division and a member of the PF&R committee.

Newly Paul is an associate professor in the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas. She has been a member of AEJMC for more than a decade and has served as reviewer, discussant, moderator, and member of various AEJMC groups. She is vice chair of SPIG, and has previously served as chair, vice chair, and research chair of ESIG, and social media liaison for CSW.

Her research uses race and gender as a lens to address issues related to intercultural communication, media coverage of politics, and entertainment. Her media diversity research seeks to understand how diversity in the newsroom impacts media content and how audience demographics and economic factors play a role. Most recently, she published about the effects of identity on social media messaging in elections, and how news coverage of Asian Americans was affected by racial stereotypes propagated during the pandemic. 

Her research has won grants and awards such as the AEJMC Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Outstanding Early-Career Woman Scholar Award. She has published her work in top journals such as Journalism Studies, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, and Atlantic Journal of Communication.

Paul has taught a variety of classes such as introduction to mass communication, news reporting and writing, copyediting, political reporting, qualitative research methods, and minorities in media. She has won teaching awards such as the Linda Shockley Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Promising Professor award, both from various divisions in AEJMC. Before joining academia, she worked as a professional journalist covering entertainment, youth, culture and environment issues. Her journalistic works appeared in various publications in India and Los Angeles.

Paul received her Ph.D. in media and public affairs from Louisiana State University and her master’s in journalism from University of Southern California.

Dr. Brett Johnson is a visiting associate professor of journalism at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he teaches courses in media law and ethics. From 2015 to 2022, Johnson taught at the Missouri School of Journalism, achieving the rank of Associate Professor with tenure in 2021. He received his MA in Journalism from the University of Iowa (2011) and his PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota (2015). Johnson has been a member of the AEJMC Law & Policy Division and the AEJMC Media Ethics Division since 2015. He is currently the research chair for the Law & Policy Division. Johnson is pursuing a law degree at the University of Iowa College of Law to enhance his research and teaching.

Johnson’s research sits at the nexus of four fields: communications law, journalism studies, digital media and platform studies, and media ethics. From this intersection, Johnson conducts research geared toward helping various audiences better understand how to appraise and engage with the First Amendment in general and extreme speech in particular. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Journalism Practice, Internet Research, Communication Law & Policy, and Journal of Media Ethics, as well as law reviews.

Johnson takes pride in bringing his scholarship to audiences outside the academy. He has spoken numerous times at public high schools about First Amendment issues, as well as at public libraries and to students at the Journalism Educators Association (JEA) national convention.

Denis Wu (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a professor of communication at Boston University, where he teaches classes on media theory, research methods, media and well-being, and international communication. His research finding has been presented at AEJMC conventions since 1995 and won awards from four AEJMC divisions. He has co-authored three books that examine the interplay between media, politics, minority candidates, and voters’ decision-making. His research articles have appeared in respected journals such as Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Mass Communication & Society, and Journalism, among others.

Denis has served on the editorial boards of two AEJMC journals: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (2013 - present) and Journalism & Communication Monographs (2008 - 2023) and served as an associate editor of Mass Communication & Society (2014-16). He is on the editorial boards of Communication Monographs and Journal of Political Marketing. He was the former Head of AEJMC’s Mass Communication & Society Division and also served as paper competition chair and membership chair of the International Communication Division.

He has conducted research using various methods such as content analysis, in-depth interview, survey, survey and lab experiment, and case studies. He has applied for grants from various entities and governmental agencies, including obtaining a research grant from Mass Communication & Society Division. Additionally, he belongs to four AEJMC divisions and regularly reviews conference submissions. He is experienced in reviewing tenure and promotion, grant funding, and research awards for disciplines and universities around the world. His wide range of research experience, along with his commitment to AEJMC, has prepared him well to take on the responsibility and tasks of AEJMC’s Standing Committee on Research. He feels truly honored – and humbled – to be nominated to serve on the Committee again.

Sherry Berghefer is a Teaching Professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University (ISU). She holds an MS in Journalism and Mass Communication and an MS in Human-Computer Interaction. She teaches visual communication, publication design, data storytelling and media literacy. In the past, she has also taught advertising technology/computational communication and interactive document design. Recently, Berghefer led the development and upcoming launch of a new interdisciplinary major and minor in Digital Storytelling. 

Berghefer currently chairs the Curriculum Committee at the Greenlee School. She is a standing member of the Greenlee School’s First Amendment Committee and presently serves on the Director’s Advisory Committee. She and her dog are active participants in Press Paws, a student wellness program within the Greenlee School. Berghefer also serves as faculty mentor for nearly 40 students a year and is the faculty advisor for a student magazine.

Beyond the Greenlee School, Berghefer is part of ISU’s Adobe Creative Campus faculty group. In 2023, she was part of the initial team exploring the development of a minor in AI at ISU. She has also served as part of the development team in the Data Science minor. She has twice been an invited a panelist for the Ames Public Library regarding misinformation, disinformation and fact-checking.

Within AEJMC, she has served several times in the past as an awards judge within the Visual Communication Division. She has also been a recipient of the Advertising Division’s Top Teaching Paper (2017).

Prior to joining the Greenlee faculty in 2010, Berghefer was a practitioner, both within an organization and as a small business owner. She has worked with a variety of clients, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the government of the Bahamas.

Email: slbergh@iastate.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/ in/sherryberghefer

Breann Murphy, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Endowed Scholar of Diversity in Leadership and Public Relations in the College of Business & Industry’s Department of Communication at Jacksonville State University (Jax State). She serves as the department’s program coordinator for its PR and advertising concentration and teaches a variety of undergraduate courses in this area, including campaigns and case studies.

Her research focuses on challenges and advancements of women in mid- and senior-level roles in strategic communication. She is published in the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Inquiry, and Public Relations Journal. She has earned top abstract and paper awards from AEJMC Public Relations Division (PRD) and the Commission on the Status of Women. She is also the inaugural recipient of her university’s Joanne E. Gates Faculty Research Award for her scholarship in women’s studies.

She values service-learning by implementing nonprofit partnerships in her campaigns course. She also collaborates with colleagues to examine best approaches for PR pedagogy, such as exposing students to leadership practices, earning a second-place teaching paper award from AEJMC PRD and a publication in the Journal of Public Relations Education. She also has earned Jax State’s Student Government Association’s Golden Apple Award for Leadership and Excellence in Teaching.

She is currently in her third year of service for AEJMC PRD Teaching Committee and serves as its Vice Chair. She remains active in SSCA and PRSA and was a 2023 Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center Fellow. As the former faculty adviser for Jax State PRSSA, the chapter earned nine awards, including its first national PRSSA Star Chapter recognition and Dr. Frederick H. Teahan Award for Chapter Development.

By serving on AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching, she hopes to provide creative strategies and support for fellow educators. She will campaign via email, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dr. Cain originally set out with ambitions of being a professional musician, eventually finding himself playing in a band and doing studio work around Nashville, Tennessee, from 2000-2004. Witnessing the disruption of the music industry first hand during these years sparked his interest in what other ways digital communications might upset traditional media industries.

After spending time in Austin, Texas, and earning an M.A. in mass communication at Texas State University - San Marcos, Dr. Cain studied at the University of Florida as an alumni fellow, where he finished his Ph.D. in 2014. Over this time, his interest in digital disruption grew into an interest in the information being shared online and how it shaped community and identity, noting early on that the notion of an “online” and “offline” world seemed a poor description given how quickly the two were merging in a social media landscape.

Dr. Cain’s primary area of research is digital media culture and information sharing habits, with a specific interest in why people share what they do online and how involvement in online communities shapes social identity.

Additionally, Dr. Cain is interested in how different information diets affect a person's perceptions of what is and isn’t true, along with the societal implications of a stratified information ecosystem where points of agreement on what is objectively real become harder to find. 

Dr. Cain is still an active musician in the Oxford Area and has twice won “Favorite Guitarist” in The Local Voice’s annual “Townies” awards.

Hal Vincent is a Senior Lecturer at Elon University since 2013, and a member of AEJMC since 2010. He has served in various membership, professional development, and industry-liaison roles as a former head of the Advertising Division and as the current head of the Internships & Careers Interest Group. He is a graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter and former interim director of the Zimmerman Advertising Program at the University of South Florida. He spent more than 15 years in advertising research and management at agencies in New York, Philadelphia and Tampa, for brands such as Nabisco, Tropicana, Marriott, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and the Florida Aquarium. His teaching and research focus on student experiential learning and preparation for meaningful engagement as communicators in complex global environments. His research has appeared in Journalism & Mass Communications Educator, Journal of Public Relations Education, Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication, and The Journal of Advertising Education. He is a co-author of the books, The Student-Run Agency: Transitioning from Student to Professional and The Brand Builder Workbook. He is a Coleman Family Foundation Entrepreneurship Fellow and an Elon University Academic Service-Learning Fellow. Vincent has been the Faculty Director of Elon University’s student-run strategic communications firm, Live Oak Communications since 2014. Vincent says he’d be honored to serve the ever present and increasingly important needs of Professional Freedom and Responsibility. “It’s at the core of a free society,” he said, where people can think and express themselves, so PF&R is more pressing than ever. And he says he’s ready to be diligent and deliberate to advocate for, train, support, and promote the freedoms and obligations we all share as teachers, mentors, scholars, communicators, and responsible humans.

Dr. Mengyan Ma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University. Her research examines the intersection of health, technology, and family communication, employing mixed methods. As principal investigator, Mengyan received a Trifecta Grant to support interdisciplinary research on influencer marketing of cannabis-infused beverages, with the goal of informing media literacy campaigns, family education, public health initiatives, and regulatory discussions. Her scholarship has been published in International Journal of Communication, Social Media + Society, Health Communication, Journal of Family Communication, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Journal of Advertising Education, among others. Her co-authored article, “A Tale of Four Platforms: Motivations and Uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat among College Students,” has received over 1,600 citations.

Mengyan teaches advertising courses across in-person, synchronous, and asynchronous formats. She develops the Education Abroad program International Advertising and Public Relations in China, partnering with a university in China and major industry leaders to offer students opportunities to integrate academic learning with hands-on professional experience in one of the world’s most dynamic markets. She also partners with local businesses in her classes to provide students with real client project experience and develops interdisciplinary courses. Mengyan has mentored undergraduate and graduate students through internships, honors projects, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships, supporting students from diverse academic and professional pathways.

Mengyan serves on the editorial boards of Global Perspectives in Communication and the Journal of Advertising Education, and contributes to major communication conference committees as well as departmental and university committees, including those focused on teaching excellence. She works part-time as the International Coordinator for the AEJMC publishing team, where she recruits and coordinates team members to expand global outreach, builds partnerships with international universities, manages social media promotion, and organizes virtual events for international scholars.

David Wolfgang is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Communication at Colorado State University, where he also serves as Associate Chair. In this role, he leads the department’s curriculum development and supports long-term planning related to teaching, assessment and accreditation.

At the undergraduate level, he teaches core classes like Media in Society and Communication Law. At the graduate level, he has taught courses in qualitative research methods and critical and cultural theory.

As associate chair, Wolfgang plays a central role in redeveloping the department’s curriculum around clearly defined concentrations. He also led the department’s most recent accreditation self-study, including the design of a revised curriculum assessment process.

His research focuses on journalism, media sociology, and political communication. He brings his work into the classroom to help students understand how professional norms, technologies, and power structures shape news work. 

An active member of AEJMC since 2010, Wolfgang is the past head of the Cultural and Critical Studies Division and has served throughout the division’s leadership ladder. He is currently the co-research chair for the Newspaper and Online News Division. He is also a member of the Commission on LGBTQIA+ Communities. At CSU, he advises student chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists and NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, and serves on the board of the Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation.

On the AEJMC Committee on Teaching, Wolfgang plans to draw on his experience with curriculum development, accreditation, and classroom teaching. He is interested in helping the committee highlight real-world examples of effective teaching, supporting faculty across different institutional contexts, and creating practical opportunities for instructors to share materials, ideas, and approaches that are already working in their classrooms. This means focusing on core courses, assessment, and the day-to-day challenges early-career and teaching-focused faculty face.

Kim Marks Malone, APR, Fellow PRSA, is an Associate Professor of Practice and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis. 

A retired U.S. Navy public affairs officer and award-winning PR practitioner, Marks Malone integrates global perspectives and real-world applications into her public relations and digital/social media classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is currently serving a one-year term on the Standing Committee on Teaching and is running for a second term.

As the 2024-2025 Teaching Chair for the Public Relations Division, Marks Malone led a committee that hosted more than 75 attendees across four virtual teaching-focused programs and produced 20 social media posts and four Teaching Tips columns for the division newsletter. She is the faculty adviser for the award-winning Memphis PRSSA chapter, coordinates the department’s nationally ranked online programs, and leads its two-time Silver Anvil-winning PR program. A 2021 Kopenhaver Fellow and IPR Elevate alum, she has received multiple honors for teaching and student mentorship.

Marks Malone’s scholarship focuses on PR education, including teaching PR ethics, faculty professional accreditation, and activist communication. She is a co-author of the 2022 book Public Relations in the Military: The Scope, Dynamic, and Future of Military Communications, has published in the Journal of Public Relations Education, contributed a peer-reviewed teaching module to Sage Business Skills, and regularly presents on experiential learning, online education, PRSSA, and faculty development at AEJMC, PRSA, and SSCA. 

As a member of the AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching, she will continue to contribute her expertise in curriculum innovation, faculty development, and inclusive teaching strategies to support AEJMC educators and enhance student learning outcomes.

@ksmarks (Threads | Instagram)
@kimmarksmalone (LinkedIn)