Melissa Tully

Melissa Tully is a Professor and CLAS Collegiate Scholar at the University of Iowa, serving as Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She holds the Easton Professorship of Research and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Public Policy Center. Her research focuses on news literacy, misinformation, and global media with emphasis on African contexts. She teaches courses on social/digital media and leads the Global Media Studies Working Group at the Obermann Center. Tully earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011. Recent grants include projects on media literacy impact measurement and combating misinformation in Kenya/Senegal. She has advised numerous grants totaling over $2M, including roles as Principal Investigator for studies on WhatsApp misinformation and news literacy frameworks. Her work spans Sub-Saharan Africa and the U.S., addressing topics like mobile money adoption, cyberbullying, and sponsored content ethics.

Key research themes include media literacy behaviors, misinformation countermeasures, and digital inequalities. Over 60 peer-reviewed articles highlight her contributions to Science Communication, Journalism Theory, and African media studies. Collaborations with international organizations like Innovations for Poverty Action reflect her commitment to applied research.