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.

​​

Jessica is a qualitative methodologist whose research explores the intersections of media, feminism, and sustainability. Her work analyzes feminist representations of labor in media—from gig work discourse to digital communities such as "tradwife" TikTok—while also contributing scholarship on sustainability pedagogy that advances diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Her work has appeared in book chapters and academic journals such as Feminist Media Studies, Feminist Pedagogy, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, and Communication, Culture & Critique. 

​​​

In addition to her research, Jessica is committed to teaching and curriculum development in media and sustainability studies. She has taught critical courses in media studies and cultural theory, such as Media & Popular Culture, Media Theory, Media & Society, and Media Diversity. 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. ​In 2023, Jessica was awarded a $10,000 PRODiG grant to study the impact of sustainability education on student learning at SUNY New Paltz. 

​​​

Jessica is a firm believer in engaged scholarship. As such, she has authored government policy papers and reports on media 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 media access for the Democracy Fund, the Cleveland Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and Internews.

​

Jessica 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. 

​​