Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan Assistant Chair School of Communication & Media USA

Biography

Dr. Ryan is Assistant Chair of the School of Communication & Media, Program Coordinator for Media Studies, Associate Professor of Media Studies, and a member of the graduate faculty. She earned a B.A. in Psychology with a focus on developmental psychology from the University of Georgia (‘99); a B. S. in Communication (Media Studies) from Kennesaw State University (‘03); an M.A. in Mass Communication from Georgia State University (‘05); and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Georgia (‘08).

Before coming to Kennesaw State as a faculty member in fall 2010, she served on the faculty at the University of Alabama in the Department of Telecommunication & Film. In the undergraduate program, Dr. Ryan teaches COM 2230 (Introduction to Mass Communication), COM 3435 (Communication Research Methods), COM 4424 (Uses & Effects of Mass Media), COM 4470 (Media Law), COM 4480 (Communication Theory), and COM 4485 (Media Studies Capstone).

She continues to develop special topics courses for Media Studies, such as “Children and the Electronic Media,” and often teaches for the Honors College. Dr. Ryan also teaches graduate-level theory (COM 7200) in the department’s Master of Arts in Integrated Global Communication program and leads graduate Summer International Modules, most recently in Brussels, Belgium (2013). Dr. Ryan’s research interests focus on children, adolescents, and the electronic media: the content and quality of children’s media, how children use or are impacted by media, gender stereotypes in children’s media, why children use media, advertising directed at the child market, parental involvement and mediation, the regulation of children’s media, and media literacy.

Research Interest

Erin Ryan area of interest is in the field of children, adolescents, and the electronic media: the content and quality of children’s media, how children use or are impacted by media, gender stereotypes in children’s media, why children use media, advertising directed at the child market, parental involvement and mediation, the regulation of children’s media, and media literacy.