I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, & Persuasion at Idaho State University. My current research projects focus on the interaction of product placements, consumer culture, and peer groups and the impact of cues on the evaluative and persuasive processes. I have received several top paper awards from MAPOR and AEJMC and have held numerous leadership roles within the AEJMC organization, as evidenced by my current position as Co-Research Chair of the Political Communication Interest Group. In addition, I have maintained an active and innovative research agenda, grown to be a highly respected instructor, and assisted in the revision and development of the Broadcast emphasis within the Communications-Multimedia major at Susquehanna University.

I have teaching and professional experience in journalism, PR and advertising; video and audio production; website maintenance and content creation; digital media and multimedia journalism/storytelling; and experiment/survey design and implementation.

AEJMC - Political Communication Interest Group

The Political Communication Interest Group of AEJMC was officially established on Friday, August 6, 2010 during a business meeting of AEJMC members interested in the study of political communication. The group’s mission is to explore the interplay between communication and politics. More specifically, we engage in a wide variety of research within the subfield of political communication such as American political communication, international and comparative political communications, and interactions among the media, citizens, public officials and governments. Our work examines the politics of all forms of technology and media, as well as political rhetoric. As of the 2013 AEJMC conference, PCIG has grown to be the largest interest group (as measured by number of submissions received) and rivals or surpasses many of the longer standing divisions.

As the senior co-research chair, I will be working closely with Amy Bree-Becker to expand the quality of research submitted to and accepted for the annual AEJMC Conference, increasing both the impact and prominence of PCIG. Addition projects include the revival of the PCIG Article Impact Award and the continuing effort to transition the interest group into division status.

AEJMC - Graduate Student Interest Group

GSIG was created in 1991 by graduate students who were concerned about addressing graduate issues and representation within the larger body of the AEJMC. Today our membership includes graduate students and faculty who are concerned with sharing resources and improving the quality of graduate education in journalism and mass communication. GSIG remains the sole AEJMC group lead entirely by graduate students.

During my time head of GSIG, I worked to expand our role within the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, strengthen our ties with the other divisions and interest groups, and position GSIG as the central resource for graduate students. In line with these goals, we formally changed the interest group name from (Graduate Education Interest Group) from the and began development of a new student-driven conference award, designed to assist in the creation and proliferation of small, student centric conferences.

As a past-head of the interest group, I continue to provide leadership and consultation regarding the groups mission and outreach efforts.