Title: Professor
Company: University of Southern California
Location: Marina Del Rey, California, United States
Sheila T. Murphy, professor for the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in research and social psychology.
With nearly three and a half decades of experience to her credit, Dr. Murphy excels in academia, specializing in research and social psychology. She currently serves as an adjunct professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California, a role she has held since 2015, and a professor with the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California since 1990. Her responsibilities include teaching PhD and master’s level students and preparing PhD-level students for academic careers. She is also dedicated to research, primarily securing significant research grants for the university. As the primary professor of quantitative research methods, she teaches research methods, experimental design, survey construction and design, and persuasion.
Throughout her career, Dr. Murphy has taken pride in mentoring nearly 30 students who have secured tenure-track professorships at prestigious institutions such as Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego, and in her ongoing research on narrative persuasion and addressing tobacco use among LGBTQ youth. The research, based on her research paper “A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Messages Go Down,” involves efforts to discourage smoking by introducing virtual affirmation programs designed to boost self-esteem and provide factual information about smoking’s harmful effects. She has also co-authored “Narrative Versus Nonnarrative: The Role of Identification, Transportation, and Emotion in Reducing Health Disparities,” published in the Journal of Communication, and produced several educational films, including “Tamale Lesson,” “It’s Time,” “Of Reasons and Rumors,” “Happy Birthday, Granny,” and “Team Player.” Additionally, she secured over $50 million in research grants and is working on a project with Stanford and Cedars Sinai, with a potential grant value of $25 million.
Dr. Murphy holds several memberships in relation to her area of expertise. She is the co-chair of the NIH Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities and serves on the USC Center for Translational Science advisory board. She is a co-investigator for Vaccinate LA and a member of the President’s COVID-19 Advisory Council. Additionally, she is involved with the Population Health Sciences COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center and the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research. She is also an active member of professional associations, including the International Communication Association, The American Public Health Association, and The American Psychological Association.
In light of her impressive undertakings, in 2023, Dr. Murphy received the Gamechanger Award and was honored with the Dissertation of the Year Award by the National Communication Association and International Communication Association Health Communication Division in 2019 and 2016. In 2018, she was elected a fellow of the International Communication Association. Other accolades include the Top Paper Award from the Health and Ethnicity Division of the International Communication Association in 2017, the Everett M. Rogers Award from the American Public Health Association in 2015, and the National Institutes of Health Director’s Transformative Research Award in 2009. She was also recognized with the Phi Kappa Phi Research Mentorship Award in 1992 and 1998. Her work has been celebrated at multiple conferences, with top paper and translational research awards, and her project “Tamale Lesson” won the American Public Health Association’s Public Health Education and Health Promotion Award in 2013. Additionally, she has earned various awards for her groundbreaking research and contributions to the field of health communication.
Dr. Murphy attributes her success to hard work and fortunate opportunities throughout her career. Looking to the future, she aims to pass on her knowledge to the next generation. She aspires to earn an endowed chair in narrative, storytelling, communication, or psychology as recognition for her work. She also hopes to continue contributing to research by providing financial support, expertise, and decision-making through serving on various foundations and boards.
For more information, please visit:
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism – Sheila Teresa Murphy
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