Melissa Tully, Ph.D.

Melissa studies digital and social media, international communication, and news media literacy. Melissa has a particular interest in media produced in and about Africa and has conducted research in Kenya, Ghana, and Burundi. She is currently working on research about misinformation and media literacy in Kenya. Melissa teaches courses that focus on social and digital media for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Nicholas Arnold

Venise Berry, Ph.D.

Berry's research is in the area of African American Cultural Criticism. She is developing a theory called "racialism," which involves the influence of the media on African American images and messages. She is published widely in academic circles with numerous articles based on her research in the area of media, youth, and popular culture. Her two most recent nonfiction projects, The Historical Dictionary of African American Film (Scarecrow Press, 2005) and The 50 Most Influential Black Films (Citadel, 2001) are co-authored with her brother S. Torriano Berry, a professor in film at Howard University in Washington , DC. She also co-edited the book Mediated Messages and African-American Culture: Contemporary Issues (Sage, 1996), which won the Meyers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America in 1997.

Rachelle Biderman

Rachelle has taught a variety of MASC classes since 2017. While she enjoys the study of communication and public speaking, the most rewarding aspect of teaching in the MASC program is seeing those intersections reflected in the lives and practice of the students.

Stephen G. Bloom

Stephen G. Bloom's current work focuses on long-form nonfiction, oral history, and online narrative journalism. He teaches magazine reporting and writing, and media ethics in a digital age. Bloom was named the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Jason Brummond

David Dowling, Ph.D.

David Dowling’s work in digital media and journalism studies centers on developments in publishing industries that drive markets and cultural production. The impact of shifts in online culture and digital publishing industries on multimedia narrative is the focus of Immersive Longform Storytelling: Media, Technology, Audience (2019). This research on digital journalism’s pivot toward increasingly immersive forms—from podcasts to 360/VR and interactive documentaries—provides the foundation in interactive news media for The Gamification of Digital Journalism: Innovation in Journalistic Storytelling (2021), his ninth solo-authored book. Also extending from the 2019 book are studies on podcasting that include two award-winning articles (Dowling & Miller 2019; Fox, Dowling, & Miller 2020) and a current book project on the rise of audio reporting in the digital age.

Belle DuChene

Belle DuChene is an award-winning content producer with a background in public relations, journalism, digital marketing, talent management, and affiliate commerce writing. She currently owns an award-winning content creation agency where she represents more than 100 midwest-based influencers.

Frank Durham, Ph.D.

Frank Durham’s research interests include journalism history and media framing analysis. Prior to completing his doctorate, he worked in strategic communications. He teaches courses in journalism history, strategic communication, and cultural satire. Frank Durham is a member of the University Faculty Senate, a member of the University Faculty Council, a member of the Senate Committee on Academic Values, and a founding participant in the University Office of Teaching and Learning Committee’s large lecture development program. He won the 2011-2012 Collegiate Teaching Award in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Iowa.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Ph.D.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham is a distinguished scholar, teacher, and writer whose work centers on media and the politics of the body. Her research emphasizes issues of gender, sexuality, race, youth cultures, and sexual violence. She holds a joint appointment in Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies and was Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2017-2019.

Brian Ekdale, Ph.D.

Brian studies media work within global digital cultures. His research looks at how and why people create media content in the digital era. He has a particular interest in media produced within and about Africa. Brian has professional experience as a software trainer, instructional technologist, and video producer. His documentary 10 Days in Malawi was screened at 11 film festivals and won 8 awards.

Rachel Fisher

Rachel Fisher holds a MA in Communication Studies with an emphasis in corporate communication. Rachel firmly believes that each person can make THE difference in communication and organizational growth. Rachel currently provides leadership, motivation and marketing training to organizations and corporations around the United States. Her research deals with employee motivation and engagement. Rachel is currently pursuing her PhD in Leadership & Change.

Meghann Foster

Jeff Grisamore

Kylah Hedding, Ph.D.

Kylah’s research interests lie at the intersection of political communication, environmental communication, and strategic communication. She studies the roles of media and advocacy in politics and policy making. She is especially interested in water and energy issues, particularly how scientific information is used and discussed. Currently she is researching the role of media and advocacy in Iowa environmental and agricultural policy making. Additional projects include examinations of civic engagement, advocacy organizations, community newspapers, and alternative media and their influence in politics.

Tracy Hufford, M.B.A.

Tracy’s story began in the world of business as she grew up in a family of small business entrepreneurs. Tracy followed in those footsteps and received a MBA from Thunderbird in Glendale, Arizona. She has worked in Fortune 500 companies, private companies, and been an independent business consultant and owner.

Bruce Japsen

Bruce Japsen specializes in writing and communicating about healthcare. Japsen writes about healthcare for Forbes and is the author of “Inside Obamacare: From Barack and Michelle to The Affordable Care Act.”

Brett Johnson

Brett comes to UI after teaching at the Missouri School of Journalism from 2015 to 2022. Brett received his MA from UI SJMC in 2011, and his PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota in 2015. His research and teaching focus on media law, media ethics, media sociology, and the disruptive forces of digital technology on all of these fields. Brett is also a JD candidate at the UI College of Law, with his degree expected in spring 2024.

Greg Johnson

Annie Korkowski

Annie specializes in storytelling for strategic communication and milestone events. She currently serves as Vice President, Senior Creative Director at brand experience agency, August Jackson.

Julie Kraft

Julie Kraft has an extensive background with the media, having worked in television, radio, management and TV consultation for many years. She currently consults and coaches executives, develops strategic communication plans, advises on media relations, teaches at the university level, and works with various clients on marketing, organizational development, and crisis communication.

Joanna Krajewski, Ph.D.

Joanna Krajewski holds a PhD in Mass Communication, emphasis in Environmental Risk Communication, an MPH in Community and Behavioral Health, and a BA in Communication Studies, all from the University of Iowa. Krajewski worked previously as a professor of and director of strategic communication at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. As an educator, she hopes to inspire students to create communication campaigns that are effective and help make a positive difference in the world.

Zack Kucharski

Angela Looney

Lillian Martell, M.A.

Lillian’s career has been dedicated to newswriting for contemporary audiences. She joined the University of Iowa faculty in January 2016 after previous teaching assignments at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. A longtime journalist in Kansas and Oklahoma, Lillian served 15 years in the newspaper industry, most recently at the Wichita Eagle. She worked as both a copy editor and a reporter covering government, business, health care and higher education. She holds a bachelor of science degree from Kansas State University and a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Don McLeese, M.A.

Don has spent his career immersed in arts, entertainment and popular culture. He was the popular music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Austin American-Statesman; a columnist, reviewer and feature writer for Rolling Stone; and a frequent music and book reviewer for a variety of newspapers, magazines and websites. His work has appeared in publications ranging from The New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post and the Oxford American to TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and Salon.com. He has also written three books and contributed to many others.

Charles Munro, M.A.

Charles Munro has been a journalist, manager, industry consultant and educator, for over 30 years. He started as a television trainee news writer at WXYZ in Detroit, and moved into producing and after eight years and two Emmy awards for news coverage. A promotion to Assistant News Director took him to WABC-TV in New York City. After ten years with ABC and aspiring to lead a TV newsroom he became News Director WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.

Eric Nelson

Eric's been an adjunct for the Master of Arts in Strategic Communication since 2013, teaching Digital Strategic Communication, Digital Analytics for Strategic Communication, and Copywriting for Strategic Communication.

Thomas Oates, Ph.D.

Thomas’s primarily interest lies in sports coverage within magazines, newspapers, websites, video games, and videos. During his childhood, Thomas would sometimes spend summer at work with his father, who was also an academic. To pass time, he would spend time leafing through bound copies of old Sports Illustrated magazines. He found himself fascinated in the kinds of stories that were told about great athlete and memorable games. Additionally, he found that there were innumerable ways to tell these stories, yet most conformed to similar patterns.

Kevin Ripka

Kevin's area of interest is data and information visualization within experiential, participatory, and interactive contexts utilizing web technologies, new technologies, and physical pieces. Subjects he likes to explore in these works include science communication to the public; pop culture & Americana (baseball cards being at the forefront of this inquiry); and heftier subjects such as time and mortality.

Barbara Rodriguez

Alex Scott, Ph.D.

Alex Scott’s research is focused on non-fiction practices of visual communication. He analyzes the construction of social difference through visual representation and seeks to illuminate the material processes that engender them. He holds a Ph.D. in Journalism and Media from The University of Texas at Austin.

Sujatha Sosale, Ph.D.

Sujatha Sosale is interested in media development and social change in Global South countries, with a focus on South Asia and the southern Indian Ocean Rim. She has published in the areas of news and public affairs reporting about contemporary development, trade agreements in the news, national identity and news discourse at critical historical junctures, the political economy of the development of media technologies in colonial contexts, and media technology use in contemporary urban contexts. Her current research examines the development of mobile technologies in a rural region in South India.

Heather Spangler

Heather Spangler is interested in helping brands of all types meet their goals through strategic communications, especially through events, social media, and written communications. A Hawkeye since birth, Heather has worked as a newspaper reporter and spent a decade working in strategic communications, event management, and alumni relations in higher education. In addition to her teaching duties as a lecturer in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Heather coordinates the University of Iowa’s Certificate in Event Management.

Mark Tatge

Mark W. Tatge is CEO and founder of Deadline Media, a Chicago-based firm that creates specialized content and conducts survey research. Tatge has taught for more than a decade, focusing his efforts on multimedia storytelling and how to write intelligently about business topics.

Katelin Tiernan

Jenifer Vick

Jenifer Vick, associate professor of instruction and co-director of the Nonprofit Leadership and Philanthropy Certificate, came to the University of Iowa in 2016. The newly-created program combines two related certificates—Nonprofit Management and Fundraising and Philanthropy Communication. Most nonprofits are small to medium in size and require professionals be well-versed in multiple functions, so providing this wider breadth of knowledge is important to UI students who will soon be utilizing those skills on the job.

Travis Vogan, Ph.D.

Travis's research and teaching center on sport, media, and U.S. culture. I am especially interested in film and television, media industries, documentary, and how understandings of "high" and "low" culture figure into these topics.

Rachel Young, Ph.D.

Rachel’s research investigates the role of social media and other user-generated digital content in health and wellness. Overall, the goal behind her research is to apply mass communication theory to improve health outcomes.

Ge Zhu, Ph.D.