The Rutgers Board of Governors has announced the promotions of Associate Professors Melissa Aronczyk, Lauren Feldman, Susan Keith, and Regina Marchi. The four Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Communication and Information (SC&I) faculty members, all in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, have been promoted to full Professor, effective July 1, 2023.
“Please join me in congratulating Melissa, Lauren, Susan, and Regina, all of whom are cutting-edge scholars, dedicated teachers, and outstanding colleagues.” said SC&I Interim Dean and Distinguished Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Dafna Lemish. “We are so proud of their accomplishments and contributions to our disciplines and our school, and believe they also serve as outstanding role models for young aspiring women-scholars,” she added.
Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Melissa Aronczyk
Promoted to Full Professor of Journalism and Media Studies
Melissa Aronczyk's current research and teaching address critical issues in promotional culture; global media and politics; environmental communication; media and political communication; media theory; critical methodologies; promotional cultures; and writing as craft and as profession.
Her new book, co-authored with Maria I. Espinoza, is A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of American Environmentalism (Oxford, 2022). It critically examines public relations as a social and political force that shapes both our understanding of the environmental crises we now face and our responses to them.
She is the recipient of a Climate Social Science Network grant (2021-2023) to critically inquire into the mobilization of industrial influence resources and their bearing on collective decision-making around climate change action in the United States. This two-year project will combine theoretical perspectives on elite political and communication networks and the nature of influence with empirical research on interorganizational dynamics and public promotional/advocacy activities among corporate, government and non-governmental actors.
Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Lauren Feldman
Promoted to Full Professor of Journalism and Media Studies
Lauren Feldman studies media effects in political and science contexts, and her recent research emphasizes three primary areas of interest: climate change communication, partisan media and misinformation, and comedy and social change. She teaches courses on entertainment and politics, media effects, media and climate change, and quantitative research methods.
Feldman is co-author, with Caty Borum Chattoo, of the book, A Comedian and An Activist Walk into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice (University of California Press, 2020), which examines the intersection of comedy and activism. The book explains how contemporary comedy – both in the entertainment marketplace and leveraged as cultural strategy – can engage audiences with issues such as global poverty, climate change, immigration, and racial justice, and how activists work with comedy to reach and empower publics in the networked, participatory digital media age.
Feldman is co-PI on a National Science Foundation grant that is investigating the accuracy and fairness of algorithms used to detect misinformation in online political news.
Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and Former Chair Susan Keith
Promoted to Full Professor of Journalism and Media Studies
A former journalist, Susan Keith studies the evolving practice of journalism, journalistic content (especially visual content and coverage of war and conflict), and legal and ethical concerns related to journalism.
Her work has been published in such journals as Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly; Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism; Journalism Studies; the Journal of Mass Media Ethics; the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media; Media, War & Conflict; and Visual Communication Quarterly.
She was named an Emerging Scholar for 2011-2012 by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and a Page Legacy Scholar for 2010-2011 by the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State University.
In spring 2019, Keith was elected vice president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, a 107-year-old professional group of about 3,700 faculty members from 50 countries. She began her service in fall 2019 on a four-year leadership ladder of vice president, president elect, president, and past president.
Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Regina Marchi
Promoted to Full Professor of Journalism and Media Studies
Regina Marchi studies alternative forms of media, political communication, and civic engagement, focusing on populations historically marginalized from official politics and news media due to their race, ethnicity, social class, immigration status, gender, or age.
Marchi's first book, “Day of the Dead in the USA: The Migration and Transformation of a Cultural Phenomenon,” examines the ways in which Chicano/a and other Latinx artists and activists have used alternative media such as public art installations and collective ritual traditions to express cultural identity, create community, and advocate for political rights. This book won an International Latino Book Award in the category of “Best History/Political Book.” A significantly revised 2nd edition of this book was published by Rutgers University Press in August 2022.
Marchi is also the author of “Young People and the Future of News: Social Media and the Rise of Connective Journalism” (Cambridge University Press: 2017) co-authored with Lynn Schofield Clark.
In 2021, Marchi received Rutgers University's highest teaching honor, the Warren I. Susman Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Learn more about the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Rutgers School of Communication and Information (SC&I), on the website.
