Autumn Shafer is a native of the Pacific Northwest. Her research seeks to address important social, theoretical, and practical issues related to public health promotion and social issues advocacy. She has a student-centered approach to teaching and seeks to create a collaborative and inclusive classroom environment where students feel both challenged and supported as they learn.

Her research has included grant-funded projects creating an inherited cancer risk study recruitment campaign, developing a sexual consent awareness campaign, encouraging parents of children with eating disorders to take care of themselves to prevent caregiver fatigue, and cervical cancer prevention through the promotion of HPV vaccines.

Shafer’s professional experience includes being a political campaign manager, field director, and legislative aide in Washington state. As a campaign manager and a field director overseeing several campaigns, she gained experience in public relations writing, print and video advertisement design and buying, online outreach, fundraising, crisis communication, political field research, and strategic campaign management. As a state legislative aide for four sessions, she understands the legislative process and has experience in governmental public information dissemination including media, agency, and constituent relations. She has successfully managed policy and budgetary legislation from development with community and policy stakeholders through both legislative chambers to the governor’s desk.

Shafer has led two summer study-abroad classes to London with a focus on public relations and media culture. The nature of her research lends itself to working in collaborative multidisciplinary teams that  frequently are not place based, and she has collaborated with researchers in social sciences, public health, and medicine who are located all over the world. 

• PhD, Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Graduate Certificate, Interdisciplinary Health Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• MA, Communications (emphasis in public relations, health campaigns), Washington State University
• BA, Communications (emphasis in speech communication/double major in political science), Washington State University

Shafer, A., & Macary, J. (2020). Formative research on promoting car-free youth transportation. Journal of Public Interest Communications, 4, 37-60.

Chansiri, K., Wongphothiphan, T., & Shafer, A. (2020). The indirect effects of Thinspiration and Fitspiration images on young women’s sexual attitudes. Communication Research. 

Teala, A. W., Marriott, L. K., Nguyen, P. T., Shafer, A., Brown, K., Stoller, W., Volpi, J. L., Vandehev-Guerrero, J., Ferrara, L. K., Blakesley, S., Solomon, E., Kuehl, H. Palma, A. J., Farris, P. E., Cotter, M., & Shannon, J. (2020). Public perception of cancer genetic screening and research in Oregon. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 29, 259-281.

Chansiri, K., Wongphothiphan, T., & Shafer. A. (2019). Dying for clear skin: A content analysis of acne sufferers' attitudes toward isotretinoin on acne message boards visa health belief model lens. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 12(1), 68-79. 

Shafer, A., Kaufhold, K., & Luo, Y. (2018). Applying the health belief model and an integrated behavioral model to promote breast tissue donation among Asian Americans. Health Communication, 33(7), 833-841.

Shafer, A., Ortiz, R. R., Thompson, B., & Huemmer, J. (2018). The role of hypermasculinity, token resistance, rape myth, and assertive sexual consent communication among college men. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62, 44-50.

Shafer, A., & Looney, B. (2018). Victim profiles: Direct and indirect effects of narrative exemplars and responsibility attribution on support for sex trafficking victims. Journal of Human Trafficking, 4(1), 21-34.

Ortiz, R. R., Shafer, A., Cates, J. R., & Coyne-Beasley, T. (2018). Development and evaluation of a social media health intervention to improve adolescents’ knowledge about and vaccination against the human papillomavirus. Global Pediatric Health, 5, 1-10.

Ortiz, R. R., & Shafer, A. (2018). Unblurring the lines of sexual consent with a college student-driven sexual consent education campaign. Journal of American College Health, 6, 450-456.

Shafer, A., Patel, S., Bulik, C. M., & Zucker, N. L. (2017). Experimental pretesting of message framing to motivate caregiver self-care among parents of children with eating disorders. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 22(4), e12092.

Kiambi, D. M., & Shafer, A. (2017). Country reputation management: Developing a scale for measuring the reputation of four African countries in the United States. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 14(3), 175-186.

Rasmussen, E., Shafer, A., Colwell, M., White, S., Densley, R., Punyanunt, N., & Wright, H. (2016). Relation between active mediation, exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and preschoolers’ social and emotional development. Journal of Children and Media, 10(4), 443-461. *ICA 20108 CAM Division Best Published Article Award.

Dotson, W. H., Rasmussen, E., Shafer, A., Colwell, M., Densley, R., Brewer, A., Alonzo, M., Martinez, L. A. (2016). Evaluating the ability of the PBS children’s show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood to teach skills to two young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 10(1), 67-71.

El-Khoury, J., & Shafer, A. (2016). Narrative exemplars and the celebrity spokesperson in Lebanese anti-domestic violence public service announcements. Journal of Health Communication, 21(8), 935-943.

Bobkowski, P., Shafer, A., & Ortiz, R. R. (2016). Sexual intensity of adolescents’ online self-presentations: Joint contribution of identity, media consumption, and extraversion. Computers in Human Behavior, 58, 64-74.

Ortiz, R. R., Shafer, A., & Murphy, A. (2016). Define Your Line: A case study on student-driven sexual consent education. Journal of Campus Title IX Compliance and Best Practices, 1, 16-20.

Kiambi, D. M., & Shafer, A. (2016). Corporate crisis communication: Examining the interplay of reputation and crisis response strategies. Mass Communication & Society, 19(2), 127-148.

Scull, T. M., Ortiz, R. R., Shafer, A., Brown, J. D., Kupersmidt, J. B., & Suellentrop, K. (2015). Investigating how MTV’s 16 & Pregnant may be used as media literacy education with high-risk adolescents. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 7(2), 1-11.

Patel, S., Shafer, A., Bulik, C. M., Brown, J. D., & Zucker, N. L. (2014). Parents of children with eating disorders: Developing theory-based health communication messages to promote caregiver wellbeing. Journal of Health Communication, 19(5), 593-608.

Johnston, A., Friedman, B., & Shafer, A. (2014). Framing the problem of sex trafficking: Whose problem? What remedy? Feminist Media Studies, 14(3), 39-47.

Shafer’s research agenda focuses on the intersection of communication, persuasion, and health behavior theories. She has two complimentary streams of research:

• Theory-based health communication campaign design, implementation, and evaluation.
• Individual message processing and effects specifically related to health outcomes.

Her topical focus often involves cancer or vaccinations, and she has also studied communication about sexual health, tobacco, diabetes, transportation safety, and eating disorders. She often approaches research questions from an interdisciplinary perspective that draws from communication, public health, social psychology, and consumer behavior.

Selected as the 2020 University of Oregon Early Career Award Recipient for Outstanding Research

International Communication Association

Children and Media Division's Best Published Article Award, 2018

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

• Top Poster Award, Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risks Division, 2019
• Ecquid Novi African Journalism Studies Best Paper Award for Journalism Research, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, 2014

National Institutes of Health

• Fellow (competitive selection), NIH Advanced Training Institute on Health Behavior Theory, 2012

Texas Tech University

• Faculty Member of the Year Award, Public Relations Department, College of Media and Communication, TTU, 2014-2015
• New Faculty Award, Alumni Association, TTU, 2015
• Billy I. Ross Faculty Achievement Award (faculty select one faculty member each year in recognition of excellence in research, teaching, and service), College of Media and Communication, TTU, 2014

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Minnie S. and Eli A. Rubinstein Dissertation Research Award, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2011
• Impact Award for Graduate Research, Graduate Education Advancement Board, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2011

• Health communication
• Health promotion
• Social issue advocacy
• Message testing
• Media psychology
• Sexual media effects
• Communication campaign evaluation
• Narrative persuasion
• Public relations
• Communication methods

Strategic Communication Research Methods

Strategic Public Relations Communication

Strategic Planning and Cases