2025 George Gerbner Lecture in Communication Delivered by Khadijah Costley White
Her lecture explored how publicly engaged scholarship and multimodal research are discussed and framed.
This March, the 2025 George Gerbner Lecture in Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania was delivered by Annenberg alum and current Associate Professor at Rutgers University Khadijah Costley White (Ph.D. ‘13).
In her lecture, Dr. Costley White explored the role of community-engaged research and public scholarship within media and communication, examining how these approaches intersect with both activist and academic traditions.
It was complemented by her immersive art installation, “This is Not a Drill,” that explores the impact of active shooter drills on students, parents, teachers, and the wider public.
A leading voice in community-engaged scholarship and multimodal research, Costley White discussed how her work intentionally diverges from traditional scholarship. She emphasized her use of alternative research practices and nontraditional forms, including interactive media projects, which prioritize accessibility, community participation, and public service.
"While there has long been multimodal work in media and communication, in recent years, we've seen much wider shifts in formally embracing public scholarship and nontraditional knowledge production, and in our field, a lot of the leadership and multimodal scholarship has been happening right here at Annenberg,” Costley White said in her lecture.
She spoke passionately about how combining research with practice allows each to enrich the other, offering new ways to engage communities and foster democratic dialogue around urgent policy and social issues.
Reflecting on her time at Annenberg, Costley White noted how her graduate studies—centered on race, politics, discourse, and media—shaped her commitment to engaged scholarship. While at Annenberg, she was awarded a reporting fellowship that took her to Senegal, as well as a White House internship in Washington, D.C. That experience ultimately inspired her dissertation, "Raising the Volume: Media and the Rise of the 21st Century Tea Party."
She is the author and co-editor of two books, The Branding of Right-Wing Activism: The News Media and the Tea Party (2018) and Media and January 6th (2024), and has been published in academic journals such as the International Journal of Communication, Urban Geography, Communication Culture and Critique, and Media Theory.
Her writing and commentary have also been featured in news outlets like The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Root, National Public Radio, and The Washington Post.
