Category Archives: Advisee News

Congratulations, Dr. Finn

A heartfelt congratulations to my advisee Elizabeth Finn, who this morning defended her dissertation, “Negatively Disinhibited Online Communication: The Role of Visual Anonymity and Public Self-Awareness”. Elizabeth’s work demonstrates that there is a lot about anonymity that scholars still do not understand, and it suggests a promising path for moving the field forward. Her experiments show that being visible does not always promote “good” behavior, and suggests that we need a more nuanced understanding of what it means to feel accountable online.

Neo defends dissertation

Congratulations to Rachel Neo on defending her dissertation yesterday. Rachel’s work provocatively argues that individuals do not always accept online ratings at face value. When evaluating contentious content, in this case fact checking messages, the influence of ratings is contingent on users’ perceptions of the community of raters, users’ confidence in his or her judgment heuristics, the type of rating used (stars or “likes”), and more. It’s an exciting avenue of research, I look forward to seeing where she takes it next.

Neo article published in IJPOR

Congratulations to my student Rachel Neo on the (electronic) publication of her sole-authored article, “Favoritism or Animosity? Examining How SNS Network Homogeneity Influences Vote Choice via Affective Mechanisms” in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research. As the title suggests, the paper examines how online social network composition shapes citizens’ feelings toward political candidates, and how this impacts vote choice. The work uses data collected as part of my NSF award. The article is available for download here:

DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edv035

AEJMC Pol Comm Best Published Paper Award

My colleagues and I are honored to have our 2014 HCR paper named the best paper in political communication by the Political Communication Interest Group of the AEJMC.  If you’re curious, you can download a copy here.

Garrett, R. K., Gvirsman, S. D., Johnson, B. K., Tsfati, Y., Neo, R., & Dal, A. (2014). Implications of Pro- and Counterattitudinal Information Exposure for Affective Polarization. Human Communication Research, 40(3), 309-332. doi: 10.1111/hcre.12028

Brian Weeks moving to U of Michigan

Congratulations to Brian Weeks, who has accepted a position in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan.  He will also have an appointment in the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research. Brian earned his PhD from the School of Communication at Ohio State University last year, and has spent the past year working with Homero Gil de Zúñiga at the University of Vienna.  Brian will be joining a terrific community of scholars, and will be continuing his work on affect and misperceptions.

Dr. Carnahan

Congratulations to Dustin Carnahan on successfully defending his dissertation today. Dustin has done some important work exploring the influence of motivated reasoning on selective exposure and its consequences. I look forward to seeing the work reach a wider audience. Next, it’s off to Michigan State’s Department of Communication.

Congratulations to Carnahan & Peifer

Two students that I have worked with over the past few years have secured tenure-track positions.  Jason Peifer will be an Assistant Professor of Journalism in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington starting in the Fall.  Jason has a professional background in journalism, and is particularly interested in political entertainment.  Dustin Carnahan will be an Assistant Professor of Communication in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. Dustin shares my interest in politically motivated selective exposure, with an emphasis on the factors that shape when and how this behavior is enacted, and what its consequences are.  Congratulations to both of them on reaching the next stage of their careers.