Ashley Walter, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Communication

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Courses Taught

Editing; Journalism: News Writing; Multiplatform Journalism

Education

Ph.D., Mass Communications, Pennsylvania State University

B.A., Integrated Marketing Communication, Duquesne University

Research Interests

• Media history
• Journalism and women's labor
• Intersectional gender studies
• Gender discrimination

Publications and Media Placements

Walter, Ashley. Settling: How Women Journalists Changed U.S. Democracy and the News. Contracted with University of Massachusetts Press, Journalism and Democracy book series. Forthcoming 2026. 

Risley, Ford and Walter, Ashley. How America Gets the News: A History of U.S. Journalism. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield, 2024.
 
Davis Kempton, Stefanie and Walter, Ashley. “Deadlines and due dates: The impact of pregnancy and motherhood on working journalists from the 1950s to the 2020s.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Online first April 8, 2024.

Walter, Ashley. “Rethinking How We Collect Stories.” American Journalism 40, no. 4 (Fall 2023).

Davis Kempton, Stefanie and Walter, Ashley, "Pregnant and Parenting Journalists Are Still Fighting for Fairness, Study Finds", Women's Media Center.
 
Walter, Ashley and Andersen, Karlin. “All the President’s Media: How the Traditional Press Responded to New Communications Technology Adopted by U.S. Presidents.” American Journalism 40, no. 1 (Winter 2023).
 
Walter, Ashley. “On the Cover of the Rollin’ Stone: How Rolling Stone Magazine Frames Politics and News.” Journal of Magazine Media 19, no. 2 (December 2019): 25-49. 
 
Walck, Pamela and Walter, Ashley. “Soaring Out of the Private Sphere: How Flyin’ Jenny and her Comic Strip Helped Pioneer a New Path for Women’s Work During World War II.” Journalism History 44, no. 4 (2019): 195-206.

Honors and Awards

• Joseph McKerns Research Grant, American Journalism Historians Association, Pittsburgh 2024
• Hazel Dicken-Garcia Research Grant, American Journalism Historians Association, Pittsburgh 2024
• Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication Fellowship, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2024.
• Second-place Top Faculty Paper Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (History Division), 2024.
• 2023 Best Article Award finalist. “All the President’s Media: How the Traditional Press Responded to New Communications Technology Adopted by US Presidents,” published in Vol. 40-1 (Winter 2023) of American Journalism.
• 50 Most Influential Aggies at Utah State University, The Statesman (student newspaper), awarded for contributions to Utah State University, 2023
• Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize (honorable mention), American Journalism Historians Association, 2023
• Maurine Beasley Award for the Outstanding Paper on Women’s History, American Journalism Historians Association, 2022
• Second-Place Top Graduate Student Paper Award, American Journalism Historians Association, 2022
• Excellence in Communications Doctoral Award, Bellisario College of Communications, 2021-2022
• Sidney and Helen Friedman Endowed Scholarship in the Bellisario College of Communications,  2020-2021
• Marlowe Froke Graduate Scholarship in Education and Public Affairs in Public Broadcasting in the Bellisario College of Communications, 2019-2020.
• Robert Lance Memorial Award for the Top Graduate Student Paper (first place), American Journalism Historians Association, 2019.
• Students’ Choice Award for Extraordinary Faculty, Community College of Allegheny County, 2019.
• Top Graduate Student Paper (first place), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (Magazine Division), 2019.
• Top Podcast Guest Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (History Division), 2019.
• Elliot King Top Research-in-Progress Panel, Joint Journalism & Communication History Conference, 2019.
• Honorable Mention Wally Eberhard Award for Outstanding Paper in Media and War, American Journalism Historians Association, 2017.
• Top Graduate Student Paper (third place), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (Magazine Division), 2017.