School of Journalism and Media Director Amy Jo Coffey (left) and College of Communication and Information Dean Joe Mazer (right) present Julie Andsager (middle) with an award to celebrate her retirement and being named Professor Emerita.
After more than three decades of teaching—10 years at the School of Journalism and Media— Professor Julie Andsager was named as a professor emerita of the school.
“I enjoy the fact that my career came full circle at UT Knoxville,” Andsager said. “Though there were decades between my doctoral program and my retirement, the consistency in the School and the College is the great people who work and study here.”
An alumna of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Andsager joined the School of Journalism and Media faculty in 2014, where she also earned her doctorate.
Prior to her time with the School of Journalism and Media, she was on the faculty at the University of Iowa, where she served as director of graduate studies and was an investigator with the University of Iowa Prevention Research Center for Rural Health, among other roles. Prior to this, she served on the faculty at Washington State University and Middle Tennessee State University.
Andsager has been an integral part in advancing the scholarship at the School of Journalism and Media through her work on various committees and course development. Playfully described as the “assessment guru,” Andsager has guided the school through several Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) evaluations as she led the school’s self-studies and analysis for accreditation reports. She also served on the university-level meta-assessment committee.
In addition, countless students have benefitted from Andsager’s expertise and mentorship in the classroom. She has played an instrumental role in many theses or dissertations, supervising approximately 30 graduate student committees, and guided many toward their first publications.
She officially retired December 31, 2024.
“Julie has been a constant in our school for more than a decade—a constant presence, a constant ally, and a constant friend,” said Amber Roessner, professor and colleague of Andsager. “From her office looking out over Rocky Top, she often offered advice, encouragement, and support to her friends and colleagues. She often reminded us to take care of ourselves—to consider our own well-being—and in order to facilitate that, she often took on a heavier service workload for the collective good.”
Andsager is the co-author of two books, Self Versus Others: Media, Messages, and the Third-Person Effect and Free Expression in Five Democratic Publics: Support for Individual and Media Rights. Her work in health, science, and public opinion has been widely published in multiple journals including Health Communication, Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication, and Women & Health.
She has earned several accolades for her work including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) Hillier Krieghbaum Under-40 Award and the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women’s “Outstanding Woman in Journalism & Mass Communication Education” award. She was also honored with an academic fellowship from the Association for Health Care Journalists in 2018 and was named a Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (MAPOR) Fellow for distinguished scholarship and exceptional service to the association in 2016. She amassed several paper awards and other honors throughout her academic career and several external funding awards to support her scholarship.
Andsager has served as associate editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, was a former head of AEJMC’s Communication Theory & Methodology Division and the Commission on the Status of Women,and served as a former MAPOR president. She has presented at several prestigious conferences in the field and received numerous external funding awards to support her scholarship.
“Most mass communication scholars know the name of Julie Andsager,” said Amy Jo Coffey, director of the School of Journalism and Media. “Her scholarly impact is wide-ranging and she has shaped our field and its literature, both in her role as a scholar and in her service to the profession as a reviewer and editor. Our students and our field are better off as a result of Julie’s scholarly footprints.”