Jessica Kate Crowell

Jessica Kate Crowell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Digital Media & Journalism at SUNY New Paltz. She holds a PhD in Media Studies/Communication from the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers. Jessica is currently a Kopenhaver Fellow with the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for Advancement of Women in Communication at Florida International University.

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Jessica works at the intersections of media, technology, feminism, and sustainability, focusing on how digital and environmental systems shape inequality and democratic participation. Her work has appeared in book chapters and academic journals such as the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Feminist Pedagogy, Communication, Culture & Critique, and Digital Journalism. In 2023, Jessica was awarded a $10,000 PRODiG grant to study the impact of sustainability education on student learning at SUNY New Paltz. In 2024, Jessica received a Dr. Nuala Drescher Research Leave award through United University Professors (UUP).

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Jessica has taught courses in media studies and critical theory, such as Media & Popular Culture and Media & Society. In 2019, Jessica received a grant to develop a new course that explores the intersection of technology and class: Communication Work in the Gig Economy. She previously served as a co-coordinator of the Sustainability Faculty Learning Community at SUNY New Paltz.

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Jessica is also a firm believer in engaged scholarship. As such, she has authored government policy papers and reports on broadband access and economic opportunity in low-income communities for the U.S. federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, the New Jersey State Board of Public Utilities, and the New Jersey Office of Information Technology. She has collaborated on qualitative projects studying information access for the Democracy Fund, the Cleveland Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and Internews.

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Jessica is a former Executive Secretary and Council Member for the New York State Communication Association. She also previously served as an Interdisciplinary Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics and as a grant assistant in the Media and Democracy Program at the Social Science Research Council.
 

Prior to graduate study, Jessica worked in professional media as a Media Strategist at OMD- New York on the PepsiCo and Hershey's accounts. 

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