Academia

Education   |   Teaching & Public Scholarship   |   Research

Dylan is a Teaching Excellence Fellow, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Public Relations in the School of Communication at the University of Central Arkansas. He publishes and presents research on media effects in both scholarly and popular arenas.

Education

Dylan completed his Ph.D. in the School of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama, where he was a graduate research fellow, graduate teaching fellow, and National Communication Association doctoral honors scholar.

He received his Master’s and Bachelor’s in Communication from Mississippi College, receiving the Graduate Research Award and the Todd Award – the highest student honor in the MC Department of Communication.

Teaching & Public Scholarship

Dylan has experience teaching a wide range of courses, from 200-person introductory surveys to seminars on Political Communication and Media Globalization – in all over a dozen different courses taught everywhere from large public research universities to small private continuing education programs.

He is currently the Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Public Relations in the School of Communication at the University of Central Arkansas. He welcomes new majors and minors in the introductory PR course, sharpens skills in writing and research methods in intermediate courses, and offers cross-disciplinary media law and special topic seminars to advanced students.

His students nominated him as a UCA Career Champion and he received the 2020 Promising Professor Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2021, he was part of the inaugural class of UCA Teaching Excellence Fellows. Dylan spoke about why he loves teaching for the Revise and Resubmit podcast:

Dylan is certified as an online educator through Quality Matters and Blackboard Learn, producing multimedia content and using synchronous and asynchronous technologies to create engaging online courses. His strategies for transitioning online during the COVID-19 pandemic were used by the National Education Association and its state chapters, as well as numerous universities in the U.S. and Europe.

On the administrative side, he has developed curriculum, created new courses, advised student publications, secured various funding streams, and improved program marketing.

What do his students think? One wrote about him in the school paper!

Guest Lectures & Panels

Dylan has given guest lectures and participated in panels around the country on journalism’s past, present, and future, as well as communication aspects of religion and sports. Select recent talks include:

Farrish, K., McLemore, D.M., Watson, J., Whitt, W., & Fitzpatrick, K.R. (2022). The new public affairs reporting: Journalists as advocates? Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Detroit, Mich.

Maresh-Fuehrer, M.M., McLemore, D.M., Rozelle, A., Wallace, A.A., & Smith, C. (2022). Partnering with PR and ad agencies. Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Detroit, Mich.

Hoke, H.G., Schnabel, E.S., Pauly, J., Bourne, J., McLemore, D.M., & Daniels, A.H. (2021). Faith practices and their effects: Religion in the midst of COVID-19. Presented at the annual conference of the National Communication Association, Seattle, Wash.

Atkins, A., Miller, K.J., Perreault, M., & McLemore, D.M. (2021). Local sports communication and communities. AEJMC Community Journalism Interest Group Virtual Conference.

McLemore, D.M., Mackel, T., Maxwell, L.C., Robinson, N., Schleifstein, M., & Usher, N. (2021). Hurricane Katrina: A look back at reporting and how the storm changed the media landscape in New Orleans and the Gulf South. Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, New Orleans, La. (virtual).

McLemore, D.M., Hawkins, A., Lockings, J., & Tennison, T. (2020). Stakeholder prioritization and student activism: How silencing inclusive campus speech propelled students to action. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Norman, Okla.

McLemore, D.M., Perreault, G., Glader, P., & Longinow, M. (2019). Political messages in religious broadcasting. Panel at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference, Toronto, On., Canada.

Silcock, B., Geisler, J., Usher, N., Boyle, K., Rogers, R., & McLemore, D.M. (2017). Teaching about trust in a fake news world. Panel at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference, Chicago, Ill. | Blog Summary

Sports on Pinterest? Social media content analysis and sports marketing. Digital Media Strategies [Graduate Course]. Columbia University.

Media bias: Real and imagined. Seminar in Radio-Television Journalism [Graduate Course]. University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Public Scholarship

Dylan believes strongly in sharing our research and expertise outside of the academy, in a manner that makes it useful to practitioners and everyday people. That’s why his teaching goes beyond the classroom, through popular and trade publications. See his media appearances here.

Research

Dylan’s research considers the dissemination of persuasive information, perceptions of that information, and its effects. His ongoing studies focus on perceptual media effects among partisans, as well as frame building in traditional and new media. Contexts include politics, health, sports, and current events. His work has been presented at conferences and symposia across North America. His research agenda led to his selection as a multi-disciplinary Graduate Council Research Fellow by the University of Alabama and as a doctoral honors scholar by the National Communication Association.

He was also a member of the University of Alabama Health Communication Lab, working to understand coverage of and reaction to mental illness, as well as engaging in the community to discover ways media can encourage healthy behaviors in children.

Dylan talked about his research agenda with GuerrillaReads for their #ResearchMatters edition.

Select Publications

McLemore, D.M. (2022). Book review: Creative Expression and the Law by Nancy J. Whitmore. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 77.

McLemore, D.M. (2021). The Free Speech Center, Middle Tennessee State University [Digital Media Review]. American Journalism, 38(3).

McLemore, D.M. (2021). A Nation Fragmented: The Public Agenda in the Information Age [Book review]. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 65(2).

McLemore, D.M. (2020). Book review: Public Relations by Tom Kelleher. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 75(1), 146-148.

McLemore, D.M. (2020). Dangerous and disturbed: Media mis-portrayals of mental illness. In Lippert, L., & Miller-Ott, A. (Eds.) Communicating Mental Health. Lexington Books. | Blog Summary

Bissell, K., Conlin, L., Bie, B., & McLemore, D.M. (2017). Let go of my iPad: Testing the effectiveness of new media technologies to measure children’s food intake and health behaviors. Mass Communication and Society, 20(4), 550-572. doi: 10.1080/15205436.2016.1274404 | Blog Summary

Zhang, X., Bie, B., McLemore, D.M., Conlin, L., Bissell, K., Parrott, M.S., & Lowrey, P. (2017). Active video game play in African American children: The effect of gender and BMI on exertion and enjoyment. Howard Journal of Communication, 28(3), 280-296. doi: 10.1080/10646175.2016.1270860| Blog Summary

Kim, Y., McLemore, D.M., Greer, J.D., Blankenship, J.C., & Lee, A.R. (2016). A cross-cultural comparison of campaign tweets in the 2012 U.S. and South Korean presidential elections. Asian Journal of Information and Communications, 8(1), 1-16.

Conlin, L., McLemore, D.M., Zhang, M., Bie, B., & Bissell, K. (2016). Pin it for yourself: Women’s health and fitness content on Pinterest. Journal of Social Media in Society, 5(1), 5-37. Open-access

McLemore, D.M. (2015). Institutional isomorphism and the community structure approach in visual framing of the Trayvon Martin shooting. Journalism Practice, 9(5), 721-740. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2014.988993 | Blog Summary

Conlin, L., McLemore, D.M., & Rush, R. (2014). Pinterest and the female sports fan: Gaining a foothold in the male-dominated sports world. International Journal of Sport Communication, 7(3), 357-376. doi: 10.1123/IJSC.2014-0027

Dissertation

McLemore, D.M. (2015). Hostile Media Perception and Partisan Processing of Media Messages: Self-Categorization and Involvement in Political and Religious Debate over Same-Sex Marriage and Poverty. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama.
Open Access through University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Master’s Thesis

McLemore, D.M. (2010). Perceived Media Bias and Cable News Branding: The Role of Differentiation in the Marketplace of Information. Clinton, MS: Mississippi College.

Select Conference Papers

McLemore, D.M. (2021). 10 days of Twitter’s “Who to Follow” algorithm as the architect of an election season social network. Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, New Orleans, La. (virtual).

McLemore, D.M., & Roland, C.R. (2021). The role of self-categorization and perceptual media effects in selective exposure to election fact-checking. Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, New Orleans, La. (virtual).

Medeiros, B., & McLemore, D.M. (2020). Regulating the use of campus property for expression: A case study. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Southeast Colloquium, Memphis, Tenn.

McLemore, D.M. (2019). Media selection and usage of public opinion polls in coverage of the 2016 U.S. presidential election: An analysis of Sunday morning political programs. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Southeast Colloquium, Columbia, S.C.

McLemore, D.M. (2017). Assimilation versus contrast: Making sense of the relationship between biased assimilation and hostile media perception. Presented at the International Communication Association Annual Conference, San Diego, Calif., May 2017. | Blog Summary

McLemore, D.M. (2016). Sunday morning talk shows and portrayals of public opinion during the 2012 presidential campaign. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Norman, Okla. [Top Paper – Mass Communication and Society Division], and at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference, Minneapolis, Minn. | Blog Summary

McLemore, D.M. (2016). Dangerous and disturbed: Media mis-portrayals of mental illness. Presented at the Southern States Communication Association Annual Conference, Austin, Texas.

Conlin, L., McLemore, D.M., Bie, B., Bissell, K., & Parrott, M.S. (2016). The celebrity effect: Identification and perceptions of mental health. Presented at the Southern States Communication Association Annual Conference, Austin, Texas. [Top Faculty Papers – Mass Communication Division]