UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — It was a big positive moment for someone who conducts research about the positive impact of media.
Mary Beth Oliver, a Penn State faculty member who conducts research on media psychology, with an emphasis on media, emotion, social cognition and positive media, earned the national Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC).
Oliver, the Bellisario Professor of Media Studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, will be presented with the award on Aug. 7 during AEJMC’s annual conference in San Francisco.
“It was a wonderful surprise, and I’m very grateful,” said Oliver, a member of the Department of Film Production and Media Studies, who was notified she was an award winner by email. “Media effects scholars often look at the harm media can cause, and I get that — there are all sorts of harms, from body issues to aggression to stereotypes. ... At the same time, media can be powerfully good, and looking at that aspect you can find some hopeful and refreshing things. It can help us feel greater compassion and heighten prosocial motivation, for example.”
The award, which recognizes a body of significant research over the course of an individual’s career, is named in honor of Paul J. Deutschmann, who developed the College of Communication Arts at Michigan State University. It serves as the AEJMC research award, recognizing the top scholars in the association who have made a major impact on the research in the field during their career.
The Deutschmann Award is based on demonstrable influence on the field and is therefore not necessarily awarded every year.
Oliver has been a Penn State faculty member since 1998. She is a fellow and a past president of the International Communication Association. She has published studies about stereotyping in the media, positive media psychology and other topics in such journals as the "Journal of Communication," "Human Communication Research" and "Communication Research," among others. She is a supporter of the positive psychology movement. For example, she has researched self-transcendent emotions to media, including elevation, awe and poignancy, finding that the experience of these emotions leads to a host of positive outcomes, including reductions in stereotyping, heightened motivations to do good for others and increased feelings of connectedness to others and to our environment.
Oliver is former co-editor of "Media Psychology" and associate editor of the "Journal of Communication," "Communication Theory" and "Journal of Media Psychology." She is a co-editor of several books, including "Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research," and co-author of the recently published "Introduction to Positive Media Psychology."
In addition, Oliver teaches courses undergraduate courses in media effects and graduate-level courses in data analysis. During the 2024-25 academic year, she launched a virtual reality class for undergraduates.
Oliver is the second Penn State faculty member to earn the award. Evan Pugh University Professor S. Shyam Sundar, also a member of the Department of Film Production and Media Studies, was honored in 2018.