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About Us

Brian Southwell

Education

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, The Annenberg School for Communication

M.A., University of Pennsylvania, The Annenberg School for Communication

B.A., University of Virginia

Current Research Interests

  • Health and science communication
  • The intersection of interpersonal and mass communication
  • Message processing and memory
  • Strategic communication in new media environments

Courses Taught

JOUR 1001, Introduction to Mass Communication

JOUR 3005, Mass Media Effects

JOUR 3251, Strategic Communication Research

JOUR 5251, Psychology of Advertising

JOUR 5541, Mass Communication and Public Health (also listed as PUBH 6074)

JOUR 8001, Studies in Mass Communication I

JOUR 8514, Mass Communication Theory

JOUR 8651, Mass Media and Social Change

Professional Experience

  • Visiting researcher/fellow at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta
  • Senior Communication Specialist, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Washington, D.C.
  • Research associate at the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, D.C.

Editorial Board Service

Communication Research
Health Communication
Journal of Health and Mass Communication
Science Communication


Selected Publications

Southwell, B. G., & Yzer, M. C. (2007). The roles of interpersonal communication in mass media campaigns. Communication Yearbook 31, 420-462.

Southwell, B. G., & Torres, A. (2006). Connecting interpersonal and mass communication: Science news exposure, perceived ability to understand
science, and conversation. Communication Monographs, 73(3), 334-350.

Southwell BG.  (2005).  Between messages and people: A multilevel model of memory for television content.  Communication Research, 32(1), 112-140.

Southwell BG, Blake SH, Torres A. (2005). Lessons on focus group methodology from a science television news project. Technical Communication, 52(2), 187-193.

Southwell BG, Lee M.  (2004). A pitfall of new media?  User controls exacerbate editing effects on memory.  Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(3).  643-656.

Southwell BG, Doyle KO. (2004). The good, the bad, or the ugly? A multilevel perspective on electronic game effects.  American Behavioral Scientist, 48(4), 391-401.

Southwell BG. (2003). Assessing (audience) construction hazards: Depiction of audience as a variable for comparison of health interventions. Qualitative Health Research, 13 (2). 287-293.

Southwell BG, Barmada CH, Hornik RC, Maklan DM. (2002). Can we measure encoded exposure? Validation evidence from a national campaign. Journal of Health Communication, 7(5). 445-453.

Southwell BG. (2001). Health message relevance and disparagement among adolescents. Communication Research Reports, 18(4), 365-374.

Southwell BG. (2000). Audience construction and AIDS education efforts: Exploring communication assumptions of public health interventions. Critical Public Health, 10(3). 313-319.

Abroms L, Jorgensen CM, Southwell BG, Geller AC, Emmons KM. (2003). Gender differences in young adults' beliefs about sunscreen use. Health Education & Behavior, 30 (1). 29-43.

Beeker C, Kraft JM, Southwell BG, Jorgensen CM. (2000). Colorectal cancer screening in older men and women: Qualitative research findings and implications for intervention. Journal of Community Health. 25(3). 263-278

Foss, K. & Southwell, B. G. (2006). Infant feeding and the media: The relationship between Parents’ Magazine content and breastfeeding, 1972-2000. International Breastfeeding Journal,1 (10). Available at:
http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/1/1/10

Lee G, Cappella JN, Southwell BG. (2003). The effects of news and entertainment on interpersonal trust: Political talk radio, newspapers, and television. Mass Communication & Society, 6(4). 413-434.

M'ikanatha NM, Southwell B, Lautenbach E. (2003). Automated laboratory reporting of infectious diseases in a climate of bioterrorism. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 9(9). 1053-1057.

Middlestadt S, Grieser M, Hernandez O, Tubaishat K, Sanchack J, Southwell B, Schwartz R. (2001). Turning minds on and faucets off: Water conservation education in Jordanian schools. Journal of Environmental Education, 32(2). 37-45.

Nabi RL, Southwell BG, Hornik RC. (2002). Predicting intentions versus predicting behaviors: Domestic violence prevention from a Theory of Reasoned Action perspective. Health Communication, 14(4). 429-449.

Stephenson, M. T., & Southwell, B. G. (2006). Sensation seeking, the activation model, and mass media health campaigns: Current findings and future directions for cancer communication. Journal of Communication, 56, s38-s56.

Yang C, Southwell BG. (2004). Dangerous disease, dangerous women: Health, anxiety, and advertising in Shanghai from 1928 to 1937. Critical Public Health, 14(2). 149-156.

Yang C, Wu H, Zhu M, Southwell BG. (2004). Tuning in to fit in? Acculturation and media use among Chinese students in the United States.
Asian Journal of Communication, 14(1). 81-94.

External grants and contracts

National Institutes of Health grant to D. Lazovich, J. Forster, and B. Southwell. "Development of effective interventions to reduce adolescent use of indoor tanning"

National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to American Institute of Physics for the Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science television news program. (Program evaluation contract to Southwell.)

Awards and Recognition

2005-2006 College of Liberal Arts Arthur “Red” Motley Exemplary Teaching Award

ICA/NCA Health Communication Dissertation of the Year