William J. Brown, Ph.D.

Bio

Dr. William Brown is a professor and research fellow in the Journalism & Communication Studies Department in the School of Communication & the Arts. He specializes in the study and use of entertainment-education for social change, health communication, and media and social influence. He has conducted academic and professional research in more than 40 nations for the past 30 years.

In addition to his tenure at Regent University, Brown has taught communication courses at the University of Southern California, the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and at the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii. He also has served as the dean of the School of Communication & the Arts of Regent from 1992 to 2002; and as chair of the Department of Strategic Communication & Journalism and Director of the Ph.D. Program from 2003 to 2016. He currently teaches courses on doctoral research methods, communication theory, entertainment-education for social change, media and social influence, C.S. Lewis and communication, and strategic communication. Brown also completed a five-year appointment as a Fulbright Senior Specialist with the Fulbright Scholar Program in Washington, D.C.

Credentials

B.S. Purdue University, 1978; M.A. University of Southern California, 1986; M.A. University of Southern California, 1987; Ph.D. University of Southern California, 1988

Publications

Khoo, F., & Brown, W.J. (2018). Tweeting the election: Comparative uses of Twitter by
Trump and Clinton in the 2016 election. In A.S. Hayes (Ed.), Communication in the Age
of Trump. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang Publishing.

Brown, William J., Simonnes, Asbjørn (2018). Hans Nielson Hauge’s prescription for social
change: Personal devotion, media literacy and community transformation. In R.H.
Woods & N. Wood (Eds.), Ancient-future communication: Communication wisdom from
influential Christian thinkers and theologians throughout history (4 vols.).

Brown, William J., & Jeffress, Michael S. (2018). The impact of having a teacher with a
disability on student attitudes toward persons with disabilities. In M.S. Jeffress (Ed.),
Teaching with a disability: Perspectives on teaching from differently-abled instructors. Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Series. New York: Routledge.

Jeffress, M., & Brown, W.J. (2017). Opportunities and benefits for powerchair users through
power soccer. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 34(3), 235-255.

Brown, W.J. (2017). Celebrity involvement: Parasocial interaction, identification and
worship. In A. Elliott (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies. London, UK:
Routledge Publishing.

Jeffress, M., & Brown, W.J. (2017). Freedom of choice in The Great Divorce: C. S. Lewis’
rhetorical vision of afterlife. CSL: The Bulletin of the New York C.S. Lewis Society, 48(2),
1-14.

Brown, W.J. (2017). Entertainment-Education. In Oxford Bibliographies in Communication. Ed. Patricia Moy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kim, C., & Brown, W.J. (2015). Conceptualizing credibility in social media spaces of public
relations. Public Relations Journal, 9(4).

Brown, W.J. (2015). Examining four processes of audience involvement with media personae:
Transportation, parasocial interaction, identification and worship. Communication Theory, 25(3), 259-283.

Affiliations

International Communication Association
National Communication Association
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

MEMBERSHIPS

Institutional Review Board

Awards

Fulbright Specialist, Norway, October, 2011

Fulbright Specialist, the Netherlands, April-May, 2009

Fulbright Specialist Program nominee (five-year recognition), August 2007

The Chancellor's Award, 2003, Regent University

Faculty Fellow, Aug-Dec, 1989, Center for Arts & Humanities at the University of Hawaii