UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State faculty member who ranks as a productive and influential communications scholar was recognized among the inaugural class of recipients of Distinguished Alumni Awards from the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Communication Arts.
Mary Beth Oliver, the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Film Production and Media Studies, earned the Research Impact Award. Oliver is a fellow and a past president of the International Communication Association. She is a previous recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award and was elected as a research fellow in the International Communication Association. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 2006, traveling to New Zealand to conduct research.
Oliver’s productivity includes four co-edited and co-authored books, more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, and dozens of book chapters. Her publications have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, and Communication Research, among others. She is former co-editor of Media Psychology and associate editor of the Journal of Communication, Communication Theory, and Journal of Media Psychology.
Oliver also serves as co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.
She teaches courses on media effects, communication research, and quantitative research methods. She specializes in media and psychology, focusing on both the psychological effects of media, and on viewers' attraction to or enjoyment of media content. Her research has examined not only the potential harms of media on viewers, but, more recently, it also has focused on how we may harness the power of media to elevate us, to help us see the beauty of kindness and compassion, and to help us feel our connections with others.
The Research Impact Award that Oliver received from her alma mater recognizes the achievements of alumni researchers who have been inspired by what they learned from their study with communication arts faculty to build their own cutting-edge research programs at other campuses and institutions.