Miglena Sternadori

Biography

Miglena Sternadori (Ph.D., University of Missouri, 2008) is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media Industries. She teaches graduate courses in theories and research methods and undergraduate courses in journalism. Before entering academia, she worked as a journalist in her native Bulgaria and in the U.S.
Sternadori's research employs a variety of theoretical frameworks and methodologies. Most of her work explores questions related to gender, sexuality, and social justice in the context of media studies. She is the lead editor of the Handbook of Magazine Studies (Wiley Blackwell, 2020) and the author of Mediated Eros: Sexual Scripts Within and Across Cultures (Peter Lang, 2015). She is currently working on a book-length project about how journalistic texts have portrayed intersex people, and to what effect, in the decades since psychologist John Money identified and defined the concept of gender role/identity.
Sternadori has authored or co-authored more than 20 journal articles, five book chapters, and 45 conference papers. Her work has appeared in Mass Communication & Society, Feminist Media Studies, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Women's Studies in Communication, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Journal of Social Marketing, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Newspaper Research Journal, and Journal of Media Psychology, among others. She also serves as reviews editor for the Journal of Magazine Media and has published more than 20 essays and reviews

Research

My research interests are eclectic. I was trained in experimental methods (including statistical analysis and experimental software, such as MediaLab and DirectRT), and continue to be interested in the processing of media content. 

However, I have also developed new research lines in media, gender, and sexuality, which were at the center of my first book, Mediated Eros: Sexual Scripts Between and Across Cultures (Peter Lang, 2015). My research focuses primarily on frames and stereotypes in media content and the interaction between implicit biases and the processing of mediated content. I augment existing scholarship by taking insights from cognitive psychology and critical/cultural studies and applying them to mass communication research.

The use of these different theoretical frameworks reflects my interest in bridging the academic gap between quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Further, my research lines are united by the goal of understanding how news routines shape media content and how audiences interpret it. I am particularly interested in stereotypes, both as cultural narratives and as cognitive shortcuts. The long-term goal of my research agenda is to find a way to reconcile these two perspectives.

Selected Publications

Selected articles (please see CV for full list):

 

• Sternadori, M. & Holmes, T. (Eds.) (2020). Handbook of magazine studies (550 pages, 36 chapters). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN-13: 978-1119168096.
  
  
• Sternadori, M. & Abitbol, A. (2019). Support for women's rights and feminist self-identification as antecedents of attitude toward femvertising. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 36(6), 740-750. doi:10.1108/JCM-05-2018-2661
  
  
• Blumell, L., Huemmer, J., & Sternadori, M. (2019). Protecting the ladies: Benevolent sexism, heteronormativity, and partisanship in online discussions of gender-neutral bathrooms. Mass Communication & Society, 22(3), 365-388. doi:10.1080/15205436.2018.1547833
  
  
• Sternadori, M. (2014). The witch and the warrior: Archetypal and framing analyses of the news coverage of two mass shootings. I, 14(2), 301-317. doi:10.1080/14680777.2012.739571

 

• Sternadori, M. (2015). Mediated eros: Sexual scripts within and across cultures. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing. 
  
  
• Sternadori, M. (2014). The witch and the warrior: Archetypal and framing analyses of the news coverage of two mass shootings. Feminist Media Studies, 14(2), 301-317. doi:10.1080/14680777.2012.739571 Version of record first published: November 27, 2012
  
  
• Sternadori, M. & Wise, K. (2010). Men and women read news differently: Effects of story structure on cognitive processing of text. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 22(1), 14-24.

Teaching Focus

Since 2008, I have developed a diverse teaching portfolio, which includes skills courses (Basic Newswriting; Reporting; News Editing; Advanced Reporting; Feature Writing; Magazine Writing; Multiplatform News Delivery); upper-level theory courses (Global Journalism; International Media; Your Brain on Media; Gender and Media; Theories of Mass Communication); and graduate courses (Research Methods; Media Ethics; and Propaganda and Public Opinion). I also taught an introductory/ interdisciplinary course in women's and gender studies at my previous institution.

My teaching philosophy is constructivist in nature; I see knowledge as resulting from the interaction between new information and students' already existing knowledge structures. This approach places relatively little emphasis on immediate, short-term memorization; rather, the emphasis is on the long-term development of skills and integration of new perspectives within students' existing cognitive schemas.

• Global Journalism (JOUR 3370)
• Multiplatform News Delivery (JOUR 4350)
• Richard and Sharon Cutler Faculty Award in Liberal Arts (2011)

Leadership & Awards

• Richard and Sharon Cutler Faculty Award in Liberal Arts (2011)
• Past Chair, Magazine Media Division, AEJMC
• Book Review Editor, Journal of Magazine Media