Jennifer Hoewe

Education

Ph.D., Penn State University
M.A., Michigan State University
B.A., Grand Valley State University

BIO

Dr. Hoewe’s research program falls at the intersection of political communication and media psychology. She studies how political issues and groups of people are depicted in media content and how those depictions influence media consumers. Her research focuses on the cognitive processing undertaken when consuming media and the effects of that media content (examined through experimental and survey research). She also uses media content as inspiration for studies of media effects by first considering how issues and individuals are portrayed in the media (examined through content analyses).

Dr. Hoewe is the co-founder and co-director of the Purdue Research in Media Effects (PRIME) Lab and a Faculty Fellow within the Center for American Political History and Technology (CAPT). She is also the former Head of the Communication Theory and Methodology Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

Dr. Hoewe has published more than 50 refereed journal articles and book chapters. Her work has been published in Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Media Psychology, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, among others. Her book, The News We Enjoy, will be published by The MIT Press in late 2026.

In 2025, Dr. Hoewe 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. In 2021, she received the Excellence in Discovery and Creative Endeavors (EIDCE) Award from the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue, which is the College’s highest recognition for scholarly achievement. Also, her co-authored work published in Science Communication was given the AEJMC Science, Health, Environment and Risk Communication (ComSHER) Article of the Year Award in 2017. She received the Promising Professor Award from the Mass Communication and Society Division of AEJMC in 2020, which is given for excellence and innovation in teaching. She also was awarded the W. Charles Redding Award for Excellence in Teaching from Brian Lamb School of Communication in 2022. In 2024, she received the Outstanding Instructor Award from The Arts Federation, which is the arts council for 14 counties in Indiana. While a doctoral student at Penn State, she 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. She earned her master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, where she was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate Student. She completed her undergraduate work at Grand Valley State University, where she received the I Am Grand Valley Leadership Award.