Annenberg Welcomes 19 New Visiting Scholars and Postdoctoral Fellows

The 11 visiting scholars and 8 postdoctoral fellows will spend one or more semesters at the Annenberg School.

By Ashton Yount

view of a white room with red chairs, white tiles, and a large potted plant

This semester, the Annenberg School for Communication and the Annenberg Public Policy Center are welcoming 11 new visiting scholars and eight new postdoctoral fellows. These visiting scholars and postdoctoral fellows will spend anywhere from one semester to several years researching and collaborating with Annenberg faculty, staff, and students.

Visiting Scholars

Annenberg School

  • Hongyi Bai, Ph.D., is Associate Research Professor at the Institute of Journalism, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in China. He is currently translating Covering the Body (written by Barbie Zelizer, Ph.D.; University of Chicago Press, 1992) into Chinese to be published in 2017.
  • A doctoral student in media economics at the School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China, Pu Cao researches media production studies, the film industry, and media economics.
  • The former director of Philadelphia University’s Communication program, Abby Jones, Ph.D., researches the relationship between global media environments, public opinion, and the ability of citizens to work together to solve problems like climate change and human trafficking. 
  • Brice Nixon, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Media Studies and Production at Temple University. His research concerns the political economy of communication, media and cultural industries, digital media studies, communication history, communication policy, critical theory, and journalism studies.
  • Zvi Reich, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer of Communications at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is the author or co-author of four books, including Sourcing the News (Hampton Press, 2009).
  • The work and labor editor of J-Source and a monthly columnist for Story Board, Errol Salamon is co-editor and contributor to the book Journalism in Crisis: Bridging Theory and Practice for Democratic Media Strategies in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2016). Salamon is a postdoctoral research fellow funded by the Quebec Research Fund on Society and Culture.
Portraits of William K. Hallman, Dominique Brossard, Hongyi Bai, Pu Cao, Dayna E. Chatman, Bruce Dore
(L to R): William K. Hallman, Ph.D.; Dominique Brossard, Ph.D.; Hongyi Bai, Ph.D.; Pu Cao; Dayna E. Chatman, Ph.D.; Bruce Dore, Ph.D.

Scholars Program in Culture and Communication

  • Stewart M. Hoover, Ph.D., is an Annenberg alumnus. He is also Professor in the Department of Media Studies, Professor Adjoint in the Department of Religious Studies, and Director of the Center for Media, Religion and Culture at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
  • Also an Annenberg alumna, Karin Gwinn Wilkins, Ph.D., is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She recently stepped down as the director of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies and remains Chair of the Global Studies Bridging Disciplines Program. 

Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS) 

  • Alisa A. Padon, Ph.D., is a former senior IRB analyst at the University of Pennsylvania and a former adjunct professor of medical bioethics at Camden County College.

Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC)

  • Visiting Scholar Dominique Brossard, Ph.D., is professor and chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She teaches courses in strategic communication theory and research, with a focus on science and risk communication.
  • Former Director of the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers, Visiting Scholar William K. Hallman, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Human Ecology. He recently co-authored a handbook on risk communication applied to food safety.
Portraits of Abby Jones, Errol Salamon, Karin Gwinn Wilkins, Sandra Ristovska, Ariell Hasell, Zvi Reich
(L to R): Abby Jones, Ph.D.; Errol Salamon; Karin Gwinn Wilkins, Ph.D.; Sandra Ristovska, Ph.D.; Ariell Hasell, Ph.D.; Zvi Reich, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellows

George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Dayna E. Chatman, Ph.D., is a feminist media scholar interested in the contemporary television industry and audience and fan studies.
  • A documentary filmmaker, Sandra Ristovska, Ph.D., focuses on visual culture, global media activism, human rights, and media ethnography. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Information Society Project and Advisor to the Visual Law Project at the Yale Law School.

Communication Neuroscience Lab

  • Bruce Doré​, Ph.D., studies the regulation of positive emotion in health and psychopathy.
Portaits of Azeez Adebimpe, Ben Lyons, Brianne Suldovsky, Meghnaa Tallapragada, Stewart Hoover, Alisa Padon
(L to R): Azeez Adebimpe, Ph.D.; Ben Lyons, Ph.D.; Brianne Suldovsky, Ph.D.; Meghnaa Tallapragada, Ph.D.; Stewart Hoover, Ph.D.; Alisa Padon, Ph.D.

Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Azeez Adebimpe, Ph.D., is a William J. Henrich Postdoctoral Fellow. His current work investigates the effects of violent entertainment media on youth with neuroscience methods and graph theory tools.
  • Joan Bossert Postdoctoral Fellow Ariel Hasell, Ph.D., focuses her research on news media, public opinion, and public engagement with science and politics.
  • Ben Lyons, Ph.D., is the Martin Fishbein Postdoctoral Fellow. His research interests include political communication, public opinion, and digital media.
  • Brianne Suldovsky, Ph.D., is an Arlin M. and Neysa Adams Postdoctoral Fellow. Her current work is on the relationship between perceptions of expertise and science communication behavior and the use of scientific sources in media reporting.
  • Vartan Gregorian Postdoctoral Fellow Meghnaa Tallapragada, Ph.D., currently focuses on applying theories of entertainment to science learning of controversial topics.

Media Contact

Michael Rozansky
(215) 746-0202
michael.rozansky@appc.upenn.edu