Michelle A. Amazeen

Dr. Michelle A. Amazeen is COM Associate Dean of Research, an associate professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations, and is Director of the Communication Research Center at Boston University.

Amazeen’s research program examines mediated persuasion and misinformation. Working at the intersection of journalism studies, media effects, and political communication, her scholarship explores the nature and persuasive effects of misinformation and efforts to correct misinformation. She employs a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to yield results with practical applications for journalists, educators, policy makers, and consumers who strive to foster recognition of and resistance to persuasion and misinformation in media.

Her work has been previously funded by the Rita Allen Foundation, the American Press Institute, and the New America Foundation and has appeared in academic publications such as Communication Monographs; Digital Journalism; Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly; Media, Culture & Society; New Media & Society, and Science Communication. She is among the team of 22 prominent scholars from around the globe with expertise in misinformation and its debunking who contributed to The Debunking Handbook 2020 – a consensus document summarizing the science of debunking for engaged citizens, policy makers, journalists, and other practitioners. She is also a contributor to The COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook, a practical guide to help fight the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines.

Her career in the communication industry began by “selling air” and managing the student sales staff at WPGU Radio in Champaign, Illinois. Before returning to academia, she worked client side in the Corporate Research Department of Montgomery Ward’s Signature Group and later researched the effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns for the S.C. Johnson account at Millward Brown. A post-midnight encounter with a brand equity perceptual map of toilet bowl cleaners led Amazeen to reassess her professional aspirations. She now enjoys challenging herself and her students to critically evaluate our media environment.