Dr. Jennifer Hoewe
Brief Bio
My research program falls at the intersection of political communication and media psychology. I study how and why people consume media content, how they cognitively process media content, and the effects that media content has on them, particularly in political contexts. I have authored more than 50 scholarly publications. My work has been published in Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Media Psychology, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, among others.
My book, Enjoyment is Breaking News, will be published by The MIT Press in September 2026. It details how the news environment has evolved in recent decades and explains the impact of those changes on news consumers, concluding with recommendations for journalists and the public moving forward. I am also co-editing a book, A Research Agenda in Media Psychology, with Brett Sherrick. This book presents the most recent research on media psychology and proposes innovative and provocative future directions for the field, which will be published by Edward Elgar Publishing in 2027.
In 2026, I was named a University Faculty Scholar, which is a designation for outstanding mid-career faculty at Purdue. Additionally, I was named a Redding Faculty Fellow within the Lamb School in 2026 in recognition of my research productivity and impact. In 2025, I received the Early Career Award from the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School at Penn State University, which recognizes the top graduate from the past 10 years. My recent publication on information literacy was named a Top 20 Article of 2024 by the Library Instruction Round Table of the American Library Association.
Additionally, The Arts Federation, which is the arts council for 14 counties in Indiana, selected me for the Outstanding Instructor Award in 2024. During that same year, I was a Visiting Scholar at the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at which time I delivered the Mary Junck Research Colloquium lecture. In 2022, I was awarded the W. Charles Redding Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Lamb School. In recognition of my research program, I received the 2021 Excellence in Discovery and Creative Endeavors (EIDCE) Award from Purdue's College of Liberal Arts, which is the College’s highest recognition for scholarly achievement. Additionally, I was honored to receive the Promising Professor Award from the Mass Communication and Society Division of AEJMC in 2020, which is given for excellence and innovation in teaching. My co-authored work published in Science Communication received the AEJMC Science, Health, Environment and Risk Communication (ComSHER) Article of the Year Award in 2017.
While a doctoral student at Penn State, I received the University Graduate Fellowship, the Excellence in Communication Doctoral Award, which is awarded to the most successful Ph.D. student in the College, and the Davis Award for commitment to ethical academic work. I earned my master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, where I was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate Student. I completed my undergraduate work at Grand Valley State University, where I received the I Am Grand Valley Leadership Award. Prior to my career in academia, I worked as a journalist and as the press assistant for a member of Congress.