Rate My Professor Erika Fowler

Erika Franklin Fowler is Professor of Government at Wesleyan University, where she directs the Wesleyan Media Project, tracking political advertising and local television news nationwide. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2007), with a dissertation entitled "Missing Messages? Elections on Local Television News"; an M.A. in Political Science from the same institution (2002); and a B.A. summa cum laude in Political Science and Mathematics from St. Olaf College (2000). Before joining Wesleyan as Assistant Professor in 2009, she served as Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (2007-2009) and as Research Director of the University of Wisconsin NewsLab for five years. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016 and to Professor thereafter.

Her research examines political and health communication through large-scale analyses of campaign ads, local TV news, and digital advertising. Fowler co-authored the book Political Advertising in the United States (Westview Press, 2016) with Michael M. Franz and Travis N. Ridout. Prominent publications include "Loose Cannons or Loyal Foot Soldiers? Toward a More Complex Theory of Interest Group Advertising Strategies" (American Journal of Political Science, 2016, with Franz and Ridout), recipient of the 2017 APSA Political Organizations and Parties Section Jack Walker Award; "Media Messages and Perceptions of the Affordable Care Act During the Early Phase of Implementation" (Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 2017, with Baum, Barry, Niederdeppe, and Gollust); and "Local Television News Coverage of the Affordable Care Act: Emphasizing Politics Over Consumer Information" (American Journal of Public Health, 2017, with Gollust, Baum, Niederdeppe, and Barry). Additional works cover HPV vaccine messaging and local news effects on public perceptions. Awards include the Wesleyan Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2019) and Carol A. Baker ’81 Memorial Prize (2012). The Media Project under her direction has obtained nearly $5 million in grants, with findings cited extensively in major media; she contributes to the ABC News Election Night Decision Desk.