-WELCOME-

I’m Jessica Renee Collier. 

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Mississippi State University. I received my Ph.D. in Communication Studies, with an emphasis on political communication, from the University of Texas at Austin where I also completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for Media Engagement. I hold an M.A. in Mass Communication from UNC-Chapel Hill and B.A. degrees in Psychology and Government from the University of Virginia.

I study how media organizations and technology platforms interact in ways that can be beneficial or detrimental to democracy. Currently, that includes exploring how exposure to fact checks, misinformation, and hyperpartisan memes affect whether people hold accurate beliefs, polarize, or block/unfriend others on social media.

My work has been published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society, International Journal of Communication, Digital Journalism, Mass Communication & Society, among others. I have presented at academic meetings of the International Communication Association, American Political Science Association, and National Communication Association as well as industry-led meetings by the International Fact-Checking Network, Facebook, and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.