About our Team
Barbara Friedman, PhD, Director and Co-Founder of TIP
Dr. Friedman is a former journalist and, currently, an associate professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill, where her research focuses broadly on media and gender/race/class. Her research has appeared in Journal of Human Trafficking, Feminist Media Studies, and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, among others. She is a former editor of the peer-reviewed journal American Journalism. She teaches undergraduate courses on writing and reporting, media literacy, media history and diversity. At the graduate level, she teaches courses in media studies and qualitative research methods. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in journalism with a minor in women’s and gender studies from the University of Missouri.
Mollie Mitchell, Website Editor
Mollie is a first-year Media and Communication graduate student at UNC-CH. She earned her B.A. from NC State University in Communication Media with minors in Journalism and Rhetoric, Writing and Professional Communication. Previously, Mollie served as the photo editor for Technician, NC State’s student newspaper, and worked in the creative services department for NC State Athletics. Currently, she is the graduate research assistant for CareerWell in The Graduate School.
Montia Daniels, Contributing Writer
Montia (she/they) is a Ph.D. student in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland. A McNair Graduate Fellow with an interest in Black feminist theory, oral history, and religious studies, she studies Black queer women’s and nonbinary folks’ interactions with religion and spirituality using oral history methods. They received her B.A. in Media and Journalism with a focus on reporting with highest honors from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also has a B.A. in Women’s Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Ashley Hedrick McKenzie, Senior Research Affiliate
Dr. McKenzie is an assistant professor of health communication at Clemson University. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and she graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Ph.D. in media and communication and a M.A. in mass communication. Dr. McKenzie’s research explores the relationship between attitudes and beliefs—such as stigma, gender role ideologies, victim blaming, and rape myths—and a variety of sexual health issues, including cervical and breast cancer prevention, sexual violence prevention, HIV prevention, and human trafficking education. She is particularly interested in using online spaces and digital health interventions to change attitudes, beliefs, and health outcomes.
Andrea Lorenz, Senior Research Affiliate
Dr. Lorenz is an assistant professor of journalism in the School of Media and Journalism at Kent State University. Her research explores issues surrounding interactions between media and democracy, especially those related to local news, gender, technology, and political communication. She has worked as a reporter for newspapers and newswires, and as a journalism instructor. She holds a Ph.D. in Media and Communication from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill, with a graduate certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies.
Emily “Em” Hagstrom, Contributing Writer
Emily is an advocate for violence prevention and gender equity with a background in public policy and media production. She most recently managed the publication of The Status of Women in NC: Health and Wellness Report and has written for the National Women’s Law Center, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and Women AdvaNCe, among other organizations.
Twitter: @emhagstrom.
Dr. Anne Johnston, Co-Founder of TIP
Many thanks are due to Anne Johnston, PhD, co-founder and co-director emerita of TIP. She is professor emerita of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she was the James Howard and Hallie McLean Parker Distinguished Professor. She continues her important role in TIP, co-authoring selected research and assisting with grant projects.