Dr. Katherine Foss is a professor of Media Studies in the School of Journalism & Strategic Media at MTSU. She teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses, in health communication, television history, and other areas. Foss is also a faculty member of the Honors, Graduate Studies and Women & Gender Studies programs. She served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Education in Journalism & Mass Communication and is currently on the Standing Committee for Research. She is also on the editorial boards of Health Communication and the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture. 

Foss earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2008.

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Books

Foss, K. (2020). Constructing the Outbreak: Epidemics in Media and Collective Memory. University of Massachusetts Press.

Foss, K. (2017). Breastfeeding and Media: Exploring Conflicting Discourses That Threaten Public Health. Palgrave Macmillan.

Foss, K. (2014). Television and Health Responsibility in an Age of Individualism. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Edited Books

Foss, K. [Editor]. (2020). The Graduate Student Guidebook: From Orientation to Tenure Track. Rowman & Littlefield.

Foss, K. [Editor]. (2019). Beyond Princess Culture: Gender and Children’s Marketing. Peter Lang Publishing.

Foss, K. [Editor]. (2018). Demystifying the Big House: Exploring Prison Experience and Media Representations. Southern Illinois Press University.  

Refereed Journal Articles

Foss, K. (2019). Death of the Slow-Cooker or #CROCKPOTISINNOCENT?: This Is Us, Parasocial Grief, and the Crock-Pot Crisis. Journal of Communication Inquiry.  

Foss, K. & Blake, K. (2018). “It’s Natural and Healthy, But I Don’t Want To See It”: Using Entertainment-Education to Improve Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding in Public. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2018.1440506  

Foss, K. (2018). No Longer Seeking “Truth, Justice, and the American Way: Journalists and the Press in Comic Books and Contemporary Film Adaptations. Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Journal, 7, 1-28. http://ijpc.uscannenberg.org/journal/index.php/ijpcjournal/issue/current  

Schneeweis, A. & Foss, K. A. (2017). “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves:” Examining Representations of Roma Culture in 70 Years of American Television. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 94(4), 1146–1171.  

Foss, K. (2014). Constructing Hearing Loss or “Deaf Gain?” Voice, Agency, and Identity in Television's Representations of d/Deafness. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 31(5), 426-447.  

Foss, K. (2014). (De)stigmatizing the Silent Epidemic: Representations of Hearing Loss in Entertainment Television. Health Communication. 29(9), 888-900.  

Foss, K. (2013). “That’s not a beer bong, It’s a Breast Pump!” Representations of Breastfeeding in Prime-Time Fictional Television. Health Communication. 28(4), 329-340.  

Forde, K. R. & Foss, K. (2012). “The Facts—the Color!—the Facts”: The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910. Book History, 15.  

Foss, K. (2011). “When we make mistakes, people die!” Constructions of responsibility for medical errors in televised medical dramas, 1994-2007. Communication Quarterly, 59(4), 484-506.  

Foss, K. (2010). Perpetuating Scientific Motherhood: Infant-feeding Discourse in Parents’ Magazine, 1930-2007. Women & Health, 50(3), 297-311.  

Foss, K. (2010). Choice or Chance? Gender, Victimization, and Responsibility in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Journal of Research on Women and Gender, 1(1).  

Foss, K. (2009). Gil Grissom and his Hidden Condition: Constructions of Hearing Loss and Deafness in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Disability Studies Quarterly, 29(2). Available at: http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/921/1096  

Foss, K. (2008). “You’re gonna make it after all”: Changing Cultural Norms as Described in the Lyrics of Sitcom Theme Songs, 1970-2001. Rocky Mountain Communication Review, 5, 43-56.  

Foss, K. & Southwell, B. (2006). Infant Feeding and the Media: The Relationship Between Parents’ Magazine Content and Breastfeeding, 1972-2000. International Breastfeeding Journal , 1(10), 30 Apr. Available at: http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/1/1/10  

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Foss, K. (2018). “That’s Not a Beer Bong, It’s a Breast Pump!” Representations of Breastfeeding in Prime-Time Fictional Television. In A. Short (Ed.). Cultural Representations of Breastfeeding. Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press.  

Foss, K. (2016). Using Media to Enact Change: Traditional Health Campaigns and Entertainment Education. In. J. Yamasaki, P. Geist-Martin, & B. F. Sharf (Eds.). Storied Health and Illness: Communicating Personal, Cultural, and Political Complexities (2nd ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Foss, K. (2014). From Welby to McDreamy: What TV Teaches Us About Doctors, Patients, and the Health Care System. In D. Macey, K. M. Ryan, & N. J. Springer (Eds.). How Television Shapes Our Worldview: Media Representations of Social Trends and Change. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.  

Foss, K. (2012). Breastfeeding in the Baby Block: Using Reality Television to Effectively Promote Breastfeeding, Chapter 20. In P.H. Smith, B.L. Hausman & M. Labbok (Eds.). Beyond Health, Beyond Choice: Breastfeeding Constraints and Realities. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.  

Foss, K. (2012). “Who are you?” Shared Responsibility and the Victims of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In J. Conners & D. Bissler (Eds.). The Harms of Crime Media: Essays on the Perpetuation of Racism, Sexism and Class Stereotypes. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press.  

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Foss, K. “It’s one billionth our size and it’s beating us”: Crisis Narratives in the Epidemic Movies Contagion and Outbreak. Presented to the Entertainment Studies Interest Group at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, Virtual Delivery, August 2020.  

Foss, K.  “Remember to Breathe (But Don't Make a Sound!)”: Constructions of Childbirth in Post-Apocalyptic Narratives. Presented to the Commission on the Status of Women at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, Virtual Delivery, August 2020.  

Foss, K. The Handmaid’s Tale: Identity, Representation & Power. Panel presenter for a joint session between the Religion and Media Interest Group and the Cultural and Critical Studies Division at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, Toronto, Canada, August 2019.  

Foss, K. AEJMC 101: Making AEJMC Work for You in D.C. and Beyond. Invited panelist for the Graduate Education Task Force Panel Session. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, Washington, D.C. August 2018.  

Foss, K. Constructing (“Typhoid”) Mary Mallon: How Public Health and Journalism Criminalized the Healthy Carrier. Presented to the History Division at the AEJMC annual conference, Washington, D.C. August 2018.  

Foss, K. Breastfeeding and Media: Exploring 200 Years of Conflicting Discourses. Paper presented at the Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference (BFIC), Chapel Hill, NC. March 2018.  

Foss, K. Global Inequities in Health: The Ethics of Forgotten Communities. Panel organizer and presenter for a joint session between the Communicating Science, Health, Environment & Risk (COMSHER) Division and the International Communication Division presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, Chicago, IL. August 2017.  

Foss, K. Beyond Princess Culture: The Gendered Marketing of Children’s Products. Panel organizer and presenter for a joint session between the Cultural & Critical Studies Division and the Commission on the Status of Women presented at the AEJMC annual conference, Chicago, IL. August 2017.  

Foss, K. Miracle Elixir or Pricey Contaminant? Competing Discourses That Impede Human Milk Distribution. Paper presented at the BFIC, Chapel Hill, NC. March 2017.  

Foss, K. Teaching LGBTQ+ in the Bible Belt. Panel organizer and presenter for a joint session between the Cultural & Critical Studies Division and the LGBT Interest Group at the AEJMC annual conference, Minneapolis, MN. August 2016. 

Foss, K. Dominating the (Female) Incarcerated Body: Gender and Medical Control in Television Prison Dramas. Paper presented to the Feminist Studies Division of the International Communication Association (ICA) annual conference, Fukuoka, Japan. June 2016.  

Foss, K. Orange is the New Black: Redefining Gender, Sexuality and Difference Through Prison Representations. Panel organizer and presenter for a joint session between the Cultural & Critical Studies Division and the LGBT Interest Group at the AEJMC annual conference, San Francisco, CA. August 2015.  

Schneeweis, A. & Foss, K. “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves”: Examining Representations of Roma Culture in 70 Years of American Television. Paper presented to the Entertainment Interest Group at the AEJMC annual conference, San Francisco, CA. August 2015.  

Foss, K. Sabotaging Breast is Best: Breastfeeding in Media, From Wet Nursing to Contemporary Times. Paper presented at the BFIC, Chapel Hill, NC. March 2015.  

Foss, K. & Blake, K. “It’s natural and healthy, but I don’t want to see it:” The Impact of Entertainment Television on Breastfeeding Attitudes. Paper presented to the ComSHER Division at the AEJMC annual conference, Montreal, Canada. August 2014.  

Foss, K. Preventing Hearing Loss Without Losing Deaf Gain: Encouraging Cultural Disability Perspectives in Health Promotion. Paper presented at the Society for Disability Studies annual conference, Minneapolis, MN. June 2014.  

Foss, K. “I won’t turn it down—I’ll blame Apple later:” Responsibility, Prevention, & Stigma in Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Coverage. Paper presented at the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, Lexington, KY. April 2014.  

Foss, K. Breastfeeding as Spectacle:  How Extreme Breastfeeding Discourages ‘Regular’ Women. Paper presented at the BFIC, Chapel Hill, NC. March 2014.  

Schneeweis, A. & Foss, K. “We Are Rom. We Are Gypsies:” Constructions of Gypsies in American Reality Television. Paper presented to the Minorities and Communication Division at the AEJMC annual conference, Washington, D.C. August 2013.  

Foss, K. Victims, Villains, and Law Enforcement: Representations of Gender in Crime Media. A panel presented to the Cultural Critical Studies Division and Entertainment Studies Interest Group at the AEJMC annual conference, Washington, D.C. August 2013.  

Foss, K. & Gordon, R. “We just have this one breastfeeding brochure (sponsored by Enfamil):” Exploring Breastfeeding Resources and Agenda-Setting in Pediatricians’ Offices, WIC, LLL and the Community Hospital. Middle Tennessee State University Scholar's Week, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. March 2011.  

Foss, K. & Gordon, R. “We just have this one breastfeeding brochure' (sponsored by Enfamil):” Exploring Breastfeeding Resources And Agenda-Setting in Pediatricians’ Offices, WIC, LLL and the Community Hospital. Paper presented to the Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposium: “It takes a Village”: The role of the greater community in inspiring and empowering women to breastfeed. Chapel Hill, NC. March 2013.  

Foss, K. From Heroic Hawkeye to the Morgue Playboy: Shifting Representations of Health Professionals and Patients in 1970s and 1980s Television. Paper presented to the Entertainment Studies Interest Group at the AEJMC annual conference, Chicago, IL, August 2012.  

Foss, K. Disseminating “Deafenstein:” Constructions of Hearing Loss and Deafness in Entertainment Television. Paper presented at the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, Lexington, Kentucky. April 2012.  

Foss, K. Scream Queens in Prime Time: Gender, Genre and the Captured Victims in Criminal Minds. Paper presented to the Feminist Scholarship Division at the ICA annual conference, Boston, MA, May 2011.  

Foss, K. “The New Boob Tube?” Education, Entertainment, and Viewers’ Perceptions of Online Breastfeeding Videos. Middle Tennessee State University Scholar's Week, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. March 2011.  

Foss, K.“The New Boob Tube?:” Education, Entertainment, and Viewers’ Perceptions of Online Breastfeeding Videos. Paper presented at the Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposium: “Reframing Birth and Breastfeeding: Moving Forward,” Chapel Hill, North Carolina, March 2011.  

Foss, K. Liberal House on the Prairie: Exploring Pioneer Medicine Through the Lens of 1970s Television. Paper presented to the Cultural and Critical Studies Division at the AEJMC annual conference, Denver, CO, August 2010.  

Foss, K. “That’s not a beer bong, it’s a breast pump!” Representations of Breastfeeding in Prime-Time Fictional Television. Paper presented at the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, Lexington, Kentucky. April 2010.  

Foss, K. “That’s not a beer bong, it’s a breast pump!”: Representations of Breast-Feeding in Prime-Time Fictional Television. Paper presented as part of the Women’s Studies Research Series, 15 April 2010.  

Foss, K. “Breastfeeding and the Baby Block:” Using Reality Television to Effectively Promote Breastfeeding. Paper presented at the Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposium: Breastfeeding and Feminism: Informing Public Health Approaches, Greensboro, North Carolina. March 2010.  

Foss, K. Medicine in the Little House: Exploring the Narratives of Laura Ingalls Wilder Through the Lens of 1970s Television. Middle Tennessee State University Scholar's Week, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. March 2010.  

Foss, K. “That’s not a beer bong, it’s a breast pump!” Representations of Breastfeeding in Prime-Time Fictional Television. Middle Tennessee State University, College of Media & Entertainment Scholar’s Week, March 2010.  

Foss, K. Perpetuating the “Scientific Motherhood”: The Medicalization of Infant Feeding in Parents’ Magazine, 1930—2007. Paper presented to the Health Communication Division at the ICA annual conference, Chicago, IL, May 2009.   Foss, K. Choice or Chance? Gender, Victimization, and Responsibility in Crime Scene Investigation. Paper presented as part of the Women’s Studies Research Series, 20 November 2008.  

Forde, K.R. & Foss, K. The Idea of the News Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910. Paper presented to the History Division at the AEJMC annual conference, Chicago, IL, August 2008.  

Foss, K. A Sign of Difference: Constructions of Hearing Loss and Deafness in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Paper presented to the Media and Disability Interest Group at the AEJMC annual conference, Washington, D.C., August 2007.  

Foss, K. Something Careless This Way Comes: Medical Error and Its Consequences (Or Lack Thereof) in ER and Grey’s Anatomy. Paper presented to the Critical and Cultural Studies Division at the AEJMC annual conference, Washington, D.C., August 2007.  

Foss, K. Implications of Imperfection: Blame and the Non-Traditional Medical Professional on ER. Paper presented to the Cultural and Critical Studies Division at the AEJMC Midwinter conference, Reno, NV, February 2007.  

Foss, K. Choice or Chance? Gender, Victimization and Culpability in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Paper presented in the “Top Student Papers” session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the AEJMC annual conference, San Francisco, CA, August 2006.  

Foss, K. Tracing the Blame Game: Constructions of Victimization in The New York Times, 1920-2003. Paper presented to the Cultural and Critical Studies Division at the AEJMC annual conference, San Francisco, CA, August 2006.   Foss, K. “TV: The Modern Hangin’ Tree:” Deviance and Victimization in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Paper presented to the Popular Communication Division at the ICA annual conference, Dresden, Germany, June 2006.  

Foss, K. “You’re gonna make it after all”: A Discourse Analysis of Television Theme Songs, 1970-2000. Paper presented to the Television area of the national convention of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), Atlanta, GA, April 2006.  

Foss, K. Happenstance or Carelessness?  Victimization, Gender, and Culpability in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Paper presented to the Visual Communication Division at the AEJMC Midwinter conference, Bowling Green, IN, February 2006.  

Foss, K. “It’s a bird!  It’s a plane! It's a journalist?” A Framing Analysis of the Representation of Journalists and the Press in Comic Book Films. Paper presented at the annual miniconference of the University of Minnesota Graduate Student Organization, Minneapolis, MN, March 2004.

Foss, K. & Duerst, C. Product Placement: How Types Affect Recall and Recognition. Paper presented at the Midwest Graduate Communication Conference, Bloomington, IN, April 2003.

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Broussard Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Media History, History Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), 2022.

Top Reviewer for service to the Cultural & Critical Studies Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), 2014, 2015.  

2013 Covert Award for best mass communication history article. History Division of AEJMC. “The Facts—the Color!—the Facts”: The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910. Book History, 15. (co-authored with Dr. Kathy Forde).  

2013 Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism Ed Kimbrell Excellence in Teaching Award.  

2012 James W. Carey Media Research Award, Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research, University of Northern Iowa. “The Facts—the Color!—the Facts”: The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910. Book History, 15. (co-authored with Dr. Kathy Forde).

Conference paper: Choice or Chance? Gender, Victimization and Culpability in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Selected for the “Top Student Paper” session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the AEJMC annual conference, San Francisco, CA, August 2006.

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The research of Dr. Foss broadly examines facets of health communication, including the history of media and epidemics, breastfeeding discourse, and constructions of childbirth. Previous studies have addressed children’s media literacy, gender and victimization, hearing loss, and other topics related to entertainment media.  

She is the author of Constructing the Outbreak: Epidemics in Media and Collective Memory (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), Breastfeeding and Media: Exploring Conflicting Discourses That Threaten Public Health (2017, Palgrave Macmillan), and Television and Health Responsibility in an Age of Individualism (2014, Lexington Books). Foss also served as the editor for The Graduate Student Guidebook: From Orientation to Tenure Track (2020, Rowman & Littlefield), Beyond Princess Culture: Gender and Children’s Marketing (2019, Peter Lang Publishing) and Demystifying the Big House: Exploring Prison Experience and Media Representations (2018, Southern Illinois Press University). She has also produced more than two dozen academic publications, with peer-reviewed articles in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Health Communication, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and other journals. 

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Dr. Foss has written a variety of blogs and popular articles on teaching, media literacy, and the history of epidemics. Her website features oral histories chronicling experiences with now-vaccine-preventable diseases.

Recent Popular Articles

“Shutting down school vaccine clinics doesn’t protect minors — it hurts people who are already disadvantaged,” The Conversation, 9 August 2021.

“What’s in a name for the vaccine? Maybe the end of the pandemic,” The Conversation, 2 March 2021.

“The blueprint for Biden to create a successful coronavirus vaccination campaign,” The Washington Post, 22 January 2021.

“Remote Learning isn’t New: Radio Instruction in the 1937 Polio Epidemic,” The Conversation, 5 October 2020.

“How the 1918 Pandemic Got Meme-ified in Jokes, Songs and Poems,” Smithsonian Magazine, 31 July 2020. Also published in Slate.

“Pandemic Humor is Timeless,” Slate.com, 28 July 2020.

“##TyphoidMary – now a hashtag – was a maligned immigrant who got a bum rap,”  The Conversation, 24 April 2020.

“Why I bought a boat: Juggling gender roles in the pandemic,” Southern Voices, 7 April 2020.

“How Epidemics of the Past Changed the Way Americans Lived,” Smithsonian Magazine, 1 April 2020.

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Podcast interviews

• Dr. Greg Kaster, Learning for Life, Gustavus Adolphus College, interview completed, in-production.
• “What About COVID Now?,” Lani Parker Pierce, Determining Our Future Podcast, March 14, 2022.
• John Goodwin and Joe Poe, The Expert’s List, MTSU, interview completed, in-production.
• Matt Cybulsky and Reid Maclellan, The Voice of Healthcare Twitter Livestream, August 6, 2021.
• “COVID, Vaccines and the Media,” Lani Parker Pierce, Determining Our Future Podcast, April 26, 2021.
• “The Media’s Roles in a Pandemic,” Samantha Lushtak, COVID-19 Podcast, January 24, 2021.
• “Epidemics, Media, and Culture,” Bob Trumpbour, Media and Culture, December 22, 2020.
• “Public Health and the Media,” Jason Martin, Open Stacks: A Podcast of the James E. Walker Library, November 18, 2020.
• “Epidemics, the Media, and Collective Memory,” Merle Eisenberg and Lee Mordecai, Infectious Historians, November 15, 2020.
• “News, Media, and Society,” Pagutharivu Podcast, November 2, 2020.
• “Dr. Katie Foss, Author/Professor,” Chris Bacon, The Sports Gig Podcast, October 8, 2020.
• “Publishing Research on Epidemics During a Pandemic,” Pandemic Professors (Podcast), Kelli Boling and Carol Pardun, June 11, 2020.
• “The History of American Epidemics,” Nick Hirshon, Journalism History, May 20, 2020.
• “‘That’s not a beer bong, it’s a breastpump!’ a podcast interview about breastfeeding on TV.” August 13, 2013. 

Television & live-streaming interviews

• “Disinformation on Social Media,” Carrie Sharp, Openline (hour-long, call-in news program), News Channel 5+, March 21, 2022.
• “MTSU Joins President Biden’s Vaccine Challenge,” Justina Latimer, News Channel 4, Nashville, June 14, 2021.
• “Birth Rates Decline Across the Country, But Not in the Chattanooga Area,” Sabrina Maggiore, News Channel 9, Chattanooga, May 7, 2021.
• “Experts Say Flood of Social Media Posts Could Encourage Others to get COVID-19 Vaccine,” Eric Hilt, News Channel 5, Nashville, March 26, 2021.
• “College Professors are Excluded from the COVID-19 Phases in TN, KY,” Chris Davis, News Channel 5, Nashville, February 24, 2021.
• “Happy (Half) Hour Live,” Susy Schultz, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago. February 23, 2021.
• “Media and the Pandemic,” Scott Knowles, COVID Calls, January 29, 2021.
• MTSU Out of the Blue (TV), Andrew Oppmann, June 11, 2020.
• “Local Woman Sues FOX News,” News 4 Nashville, September 19, 2017.
• “Pink Tax Costing Women Extra Money on Common Items,” Alexandria Adams, July 30, 2018.
• MTSU Out of the Blue (TV),  Andrew Oppmann, May 1, 2018.

Radio interviews

• “Children and Media,” Gina Logue, MTSU On the Record, January 25, 2022. 
• “As in the Past, Media’s ‘Heroes and Villains within This Pandemic’ Leave Some Voices Unheard,” Carrie Healy, New England Public Radio, April 7, 2021.
• “1937 Experiment in Remote Learning by Radio Holds Lessons for Today,” Darien Lamen, Reclaiming the Narrative, WXIR Community Radio, February 12, 2021.
• Action Line, Bart Walker, WGNS radio in Murfreesboro, TN, July 20, 2020.
• “Why Is Isolation Difficult During COVID-19?” Mason Vera Paine, Mason Vera Paine Show, April 7, 2020.
• “Covid-19 Coverage Through a Historical Lens,” Gina Logue, MTSU On the Record, March 24, 2020.
• “The Big House,” Gina Logue, MTSU On the Record, August 14, 2018.
• “Nursing the Media,” Gina Logue, MTSU On the Record, June 4, 2013.

Features

• “In the Spotlight,” Alison Gorman, MTSU Magazine, Allison Gorman, Winter 2022.
• “MTSU Professor Katie Foss to Discuss History of Epidemics and Media,” Gary Estwick, Daily News Journal, October 11, 2021.
• “Covid-19 Coverage, an International Perspective,” Cristina Gonzalez Ros, Wissenschafts Kommunikation (online, Germany), June 10, 2020.
• “Typhoid Mary, the asymptomatic cook who infected patrons,” Jackie Vandinther, CTV News (online, Canada), May 19, 2020.
• “MTSU Journalism Professor Tackles Media Perception of Breastfeeding in Book,” Sabrina Tyson, Sidelines, December 20, 2017.
• “MTSU Professor’s Research Sheds New Light on Media Depictions of Breastfeeding,” Gina Logue, MTSU News, November 7, 2017.
• “Foss Publishes About Media Breastfeeding Depictions,” MTSU Leading Edge, August 2017.
• Pappas, Stephanie.  “TV Treats Breast-Feeding as Comic Fodder.” Livescience.com. July 6, 2012.  Appeared on Yahoo!, Fox News, NBC News, Hollywood Health and Society, and other websites

Speaking Engagements, Book Talks, and Panels

• Speaker, “Transitioning our Field’s Largest Conference Virtually during COVID-19,” Event Planning course, University of Mississippi (virtual), February 2022.
• Speaker, “Online Event: How Lawrence Handled the 1918 Flu Pandemic,” Watkins Museum of History (Lawrence, KS), November 2021.
• Speaker, “Wacky remedies & ‘cures’: The press and pandemics, past and present,” MTSU Honors Lecture Series. Middle TN State University, October 2021.
• Speaker, “Constructing outbreaks in Tennessee: How disease shaped the Volunteer state,” Tennessee State Museum (Nashville, TN), October 2021.
• Speaker, “The forgotten and overlooked: Women of past epidemics,” Health Leadership Series. Salem College (Salem, NC), October 2021.
• Speaker, “Fact from fake?: Unraveling (mis)information in the Digital Age,” Education Summit, Destination Marketing Association of the West (Vancouver, WA), September 2021.
• Panelist, Coping with COVID on campus, Middle TN State University, September 2021.
• “COVID-19 A Year Out Community Journalism and Scholarship in a Pandemic World” (panel),  COMJIG Brown Bag, March 26, 2021.
• “Constructing the Outbreak: Epidemics in Media & Collective Memory,” AEJMC’s CSW Book Talk, Commission on the Status of Women, March 18, 2021.
• “Forgotten Heroes: Women of Past Epidemics,” Women and Gender Studies Research Series, Middle Tennessee State University, September 17, 2020. 

Quoted in news stories

• “Blackman Academy Sophomores Gain Insight from Many MTSU Sources,” Randy Weiler, MTSU News, March 21, 2022.
• “Do Hit Shows like Inventing Anna on Netflix Mean We’re Sharing Cultural Experiences Again?. Greg Beaubien, Moresby Press, March 6, 2022.
• “Colleges Unlikely to Require COVID Vaccine Booster Shots,” Dean Golembeski, Best Colleges, December 2, 2021.
• “The Fall From Grace for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine,” Lisa Krieger, Mercury News, May 20, 2021.
• “Mother and Health Comms Professor Sounds Alarm Over Rutherford Co. School’s Quarantine Policy,” Chris Davis, News Channel 5, August 19, 2021.
• “Disabilities Advocates Cite Unequal Access to COVID-19 Vaccine, Ponder Remedies,” Andy Marso, Youth Today, May 10, 2021.
• “Culture Panic? Why People Freak Out Over ‘Canceling of Pepé Le Pew, Dr. Seuss Books, and Old Disney Movies,” Amy Kuperinsky, NJ Star-Ledger, March 16, 2021.
• “As Teachers Get Vaccinated, College Professors Wonder, ‘Why Not Us?'” Brett Kelman, The Tennessean, February 23, 2021.
• “How Stadiums and Amusement Parks are Converted into COVID-19 Vaccination Sites,” Fran Kritz, Verywell Health, February 17, 2021.
• “Positive Takeaways from 2020 as the Year Draws to a Close,” Karen Gilchrist, CNN.com, December 30, 2020.
• “COVID-19 travel: What to do if your travel seatmate flouts the rules and won’t mask up?” Christopher Elliott, USA Today, December 4, 2020.
• “Remembrance of Pandemics Past,” David Lynch, The Medical Independent, November 12, 2020.
• “How the Flu Pandemic Changed Halloween in 1918,” Becky Little, October 2020.
• “Is This Fake News? The BUST Guide to Media Literacy,” BUST Magazine, Fall 2020.
• “100 Years of Broadcast,” Middle TN News, Fall 2020.
• “Parents weigh in on having each other’s backs,” Heather E. Schwartz, National Geographic Family,  August 20, 2020.
• “Fact or fake? How to help kids (and adults) spot misinformation online,” Children and Screens, August 13, 2020.
• “Women in masks, men in denial: Why some say they won’t cover up to fight COVID-19,” Amy Kuperinsky, Star Ledger, August 9, 2020.
• “Cartoon Ads Do Promote Vaping,” Robert Calandra, Medical Daily, July 28, 2020.
• “5 Advances That Followed Pandemics,” Glenn McDonald, History.com,  July 15, 2020.
• “We need to talk about rape on Outlander,” Lynette Rice, Entertainment Weekly, May 10, 2020.
• “Snicker if you want, but I plant to wear a facemask until the coronavirus pandemic has subsided,” Jenice Armstrong, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 1, 2020. 
• “Night Shift: Inside Late-Night TV’s Coronavirus Chaos,” Brian Steinberg, Variety, March 30, 2020.
• “Why We’re Drawn to ‘Contagion’ and Zombie Flicks Right Now,” Ashlie D. Stevens, Salon.com, March 21, 2020.
• “How Coronavirus is already being viewed through a partisan lens,” Jack Healy, Campbell Robertson, & Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, March 1, 2020.
• “How the Global Media Covers the Coronavirus,” U.S. News and World Report, Sintia Radu, February 7, 2020.
• “Vaccine Resistance,” Jackson A. Thomas, Community Health (and other outlets), February 1, 2020.
• “Why Stay-at-Home Moms Feel so Sad,” Rosemary Black, PSYCOM, January 23, 2020.
• “Should you take Fenugreek for low milk supply,” Wendy Wisner, Motherlove, September 24, 2019.
• “Why Friends feels outdated in 2019,”  Elise Solé, Yahoo Entertainment, September 20, 2019.
• “How to Teach Kids to Spot Fake News,” Maressa Brown, Parents magazine, August 22, 2019.
• “More Anti-Vaxxers: How U.S. Newsrooms, Health Disparities, and Pharmaceutical Companies Contribute to Declining Vaccination Rates,” Emily Rose Thorne, Step Up Magazine, June 27, 2019.
• “Here’s why you want questionable characters like Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s Greg in books,” Kelsey Kloss, Scholastic Parents, March 5, 2019.
• “From Penny Press to Snapchat: Parents Fret Through the Ages,” Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press News,  September 3, 2018, appeared in The Washington Post, Miami Herald and other news outlets.
• “The Unspoken Reason Christine Blasey Ford may be Viewed Differently Than Anita Hill,” John Blake, CNN, September 18, 2018.
• “MTSU Moms have a New, Comfortable Place to Nurse Their Little Ones,” Gina Logue, MTSU News, February 9, 2018. 
• “The Short-Lived Normalization of Breastfeeding on Television,” Mayukh Sen, Hazlitt Magazine, January 22, 2018.
• “Global Breastfeeding Advocacy Initiative,” World Health Organization.
• Listed in the “Weekly Book List,” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 6, 2018.

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• JOUR/EMC/RIM 1020: American Media and Social Institutions (regular & Honors sections)
• JOUR 3050: Principles of Health Communication (Proposed and developed course)
• JOUR 3850: Crime & Gender in Media (Proposed and developed course)
• JOUR/EMC 4210: Mass Communication and Society
• JOUR 4240/MC 5240: Television Culture & History (Proposed and developed course)
• JOUR 4350/MC 5350: Children and Media (Proposed and developed course)
• JOUR 4670: Cultural Approaches to Media (Helped to ropose and develop course)
• JOUR 4800: Seminar in Media Issues: Media and Disability (Proposed and developed course)
• JOUR 4910: Research in Media Issues (Proposed and developed course)
• WGST 3500: Women in the Media
• MC 6120: Qualitative Methods
• MC 6260: Healthcare Communication
• MC 6600: Seminar in Applied Research
• MC 6610: Directed Reading and Research

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