Andrew Sutherland

Biography

Biography

Andrew D. Sutherland is a Ph.D. student at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University, where he researches media literacy, political communication, health communication, and psychophysiology. Andrew earned his M.A. in Communication Studies from West Virginia University, where he focused on Instructional and Mass Communication.

Before his admission to Murrow College, Andrew taught Public Speaking and Introduction to Communication Studies at Blinn Community College in Bryan, Texas. During his five years at Blinn Community College, he created an energetic and stimulating learning atmosphere that inspired students to approach the content practically and experience a sense of purpose in their education, in-person and online. To assist his students in overcoming their fear of public speaking, he created a collaborative and encouraging environment in his classes. While at his prior institution, Andrew also helped develop curriculum focusing on media literacy and served as the advisor for the Blinn Gaming Club and Blinn’s AV Club.

Andrew’s research interests focus on media literacy, psychophysiology, and the intersections of health and political communication. He specifically looks at how manipulative persuaders and ideological entrepreneurs use dis/misinformation to influence perceptions within various contexts, including political extremism, conspiratorial thinking, and deceptive healthcare marketing/”snake oil” cures.

Focusing on psychophysiology, Andrew explores the effects of misinformation on the human mind as it relates to cognition and emotion around decision-making and how media literacy interventions and education can develop critical thinking skills. Andrew hopes to understand how individuals respond to media and information in real time by studying psychophysiology to explore the gaps within media literacy. He also explores how messaging approaches can differ in audience responses to fact-checking.

Andrew has a strong passion for education, and with that passion, Andrew hopes to find pragmatic approaches to teaching and applying media literacy education using psychophysiology to develop “brain-friendly” media literacy approaches and find ways to limit the effects of manipulative persuaders, political extremists, and conspiratorial thinking. His research explores education and media literacy’s role in democracy and civic engagement.

Andrew enjoys board games, video games, reading, hiking, and politics. He uses TikTok to educate his audience about communication studies, public speaking, and media literacy. He has prior experience serving as a judge at the 2018 Houston Livestock and Rodeo Public Speaking Competition. He has a dog named Lucy-Que and a cat named Jasper. He currently is the Communication Chair for WSU Graduate and Professional Student Association.

Education

• M.A., Communication Studies Theory and Research, West Virginia University
• B.A., Communication Studies (Minor in Leadership Studies), West Virginia University

Classes Taught

• COM 102 – Public Speaking in the Digital Age (Instructor-of-record)
• COM 105 – Communication in a Global Context (Instructor-of-record)

Research Interests

• Media/Information Literacy
• Media Psychophysiology
• Political Communication
• Health Communication
• Mass Communication

Selected Publications

• Cohen, E. L., Nicholson, A. L., Seate, A. A., Skerda, K. J., Sutherland, A. D., & Thomas, M. J. (2020). To correct or not to correct? Social identity threats increase willingness to denounce fake news through presumed media influence and hostile media perceptions. Communication Research Reports, 37(5), 263-275. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2020.1841622
• Rittenour, C. E., Kromka, S. M., Saunders, R. K., Davis, K., Garlitz, K., Opatz, S. N., Sutherland, A., & Thomas, M. (2019). Socializing the silent treatment: Parent and adult child communicated displeasure, identification, and satisfaction. Journal of Family Communication, 19 (1), 77-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2018.1543187
• Sutherland, A. D., & Dykstra-DeVette, T. A. (2018). Constructing identification and division through fake news reports of Refugees. Language, Discourse, & Society, 6(1), 19-31. https://www.language-and-society.org/volume-6-number-1-june-2018/
• Myers, S. A., Garlitz, K. T., Kromka, S. M., Nicholson, A. L., Sutherland, A. D., & Thomas, M. J. (2018). Using rhetorical/relational goal theory to examine Millennial students’ academic and relational needs. In A. Atay, & M. Z. Ashlock (Eds.), Millennial culture and communication pedagogies: Narratives from the classroom and higher education (pp. 121-141). Lexington.

Conference Presentations

• Stein, J. B., Vanderbilt, R., Cruz, G. A., Sutherland, A. D., & Mapes, M. (2022, November). #EduTok: Toward a use of TikTok as translational scholarship for communication academics [Paper presentation]. National Communication Association (NCA) conference, New Orleans, LA, USA.
• Metcalf, L., Sorrels, J., Bailey, B., & Sutherland, A. (2022, April). Resisting misinformation: Engaging classroom and information literacy [Paper presentation]. Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) conference, Greensville, SC, USA.
• Erskine, M., Metcalf, L., Sutherland, A., & Valentine, R. (2022, August). You’re not going to believe it! Helping students develop critical thinking skills [Paper presentation]. Blinn College Teaching and Learning conference, Bryan, TX, USA.
• Sutherland, A., Metcalf, L., Valentine, R., & Erskine, M. (2021, August). Stranger than fiction: Telling real news from fake. Teaching students to evaluate sources and distinguish facts from fake news [Paper presentation]. Blinn College Teaching and Learning Conference, Bryan, TX, USA.
• Matthies, T. S., Towns, J., Jumper, R., L., Meek, M., & Sutherland, A. D. (2018, October). A GIFTS panel for teaching in a post-truth era [Panel presentation]. Texas Speech Communication Association (TSCA) convention, Corpus Christi, TX, USA.
• Sutherland, A. D. (2017, March). Empathy on Facebook: Verbal person-centered message quality and emotional support [Poster Presentation]. Eastern Communication Association (ECA), Boston, MA, USA.