Summer Harlow to Join Journalism as ‘Transformational Hire’
The Department of Communication & Journalism is excited to announce that Summer Harlow is joining the faculty as an associate professor in the newly relaunched journalism program.
The Department of Communication & Journalism is excited to announce that Summer Harlow is joining the faculty as an associate professor in the newly relaunched journalism program. Harlow, who earned a Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, is the department’s transformational hire, part of a College of Arts & Sciences program to “hire transformational game-changers.”
An award-winning scholar with an international reputation, Harlow brings expertise and experience to the department, coming to Texas A&M by way of the University of Houston’s Valenti School of Communication, where she spent the last six years as a journalism professor, and Florida State University, where she spent three years as a professor of social media.
“I am thrilled for this exciting next chapter,” Harlow said. “There is so much momentum with the proposed new journalism degrees, and getting to be at the forefront of all of this change and innovation, and to help shape what the program looks like is an opportunity that I couldn’t resist. I look forward to working with the outstanding journalism faculty and communication scholars who share my commitment to research and teaching in the public interest.”
Harlow, who also has a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from UT and bachelor’s degrees in journalism and in Spanish from the University of Missouri-Columbia, studies the intersections of social movements, digital media, and journalism, particularly in the United States and Latin America. Her research has been published in top-tier scholarly journals including the International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Communication, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. She also is the author of two books, the most recent of which was published this year: “Digital Native News and the Remaking of Latin American Mainstream and Alternative Journalism.”
Harlow has taught undergraduate and graduate classes on news coverage of protests, immigration reporting, alternative media and social media. Prior to becoming a professor, she spent about 10 years as a reporter working for U.S. newspapers and freelancing from Latin America.