Porismita Borah was drawn to the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication for its reputation in research and the chance to work with notable research faculty and students.
Borah earned her master’s degree from Iowa State University in journalism and mass communication and earned her doctorate in the same field from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She completed undergraduate studies in English and political science at the University of Delhi in India.
In addition, Borah had worked for New Delhi Television as a production executive in the news division. Before joining the Murrow College in 2012, she taught from 2010-12 at Maryville University in St. Louis as an assistant professor. She joined Washington State University in 2012 and gained tenure and a promotion to associate professor in 2017.
In the Murrow College, she teaches undergraduate PR Management and Campaign Design. Borah also teaches Quantitative Research Methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels, along with Communication Theory, Crisis Communication in Global Contexts, and Emerging Communication Technology at the graduate level.
Borah’s research focuses on emerging communication technology in the context of politics and health. She has won multiple awards and grants for her work, including a grant from NIH. She also has published in several top journals in the field, including the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and the Journal of Communication. Borah serves on four journal editorial boards, as well as being a reviewer for over two dozen journals.
She is part of the executive council of the World Association for Public Opinion Research and is the current head of the Communication Technology division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is also a member of various committees and subcommittees at the College and university level, including serving on the WSU Faculty Senate and the College Graduate Committee.
While she is not working, Borah said she likes to spend time with Calvin, her dog, and Hobbes, her cat. She also enjoys photography, traveling and cooking when she has spare time.
Bio authored by Ian Smay, Class of 2019
Education:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison (Journalism and Mass Communications)
M.S., Iowa Sate University (Journalism and Mass Communications)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Emerging Technology in the context of Politics and Health
Political Communication
Framing Effects
Psychological Mechanisms
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Porismita’s main areas of research interests are emerging technology in the context of politics and health. She is part of the graduate faculty in the Murrow College and in the Prevention Science program in WSU. She is also affiliated with the Murrow Center for Media and Health Promotion Research. Her research has been published in many prestigious journals including Journal of Communication and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. She regularly serves as a reviewer for some of the highly-ranked journals in communication and political science. She serves in the editorial boards of journals including Journal of Communication and Journal of Information Technology and Politics. She serves in the WAPOR council is the past Head for the Communication Technology division in AEJMC.
Before joining graduate school, Porismita worked as a production executive in New Delhi Television (NDTV), in Delhi, India. Outside of academia, Porismita loves photography, travel, music, the Internet, politics, animals, and cooking. To learn more about Porismita’s work, please visit her website at http://porismitaborah.com
TEACHING:
COM 570: Communication Theory (Graduate seminar)
COM 552: Emerging Technology in Communication (Graduate seminar)
COM 564 Quantitative Research Methods (Graduate, Online only)
COM 562 Crisis Communication (Graduate, Online only)
COMSTRAT 309 Quantitative Research Methods (Undergraduate)
COMSTRAT 485 PR Management and Campaign Design (Undergraduate)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Borah, P. (Accepted). Competitive Frames and Accuracy Motivations: Testing the Role of Ambivalence in Value Framing Effects. Journal of Media Psychology.
Borah, P. & Shah, D. (Accepted). The Origins of Media Perceptions: Judgments of News Accuracy and Bias Among Adolescents. Political Socialization in a Media Saturated World, Esther Thorson, Mitchell McKinney, & Dhavan Shah (Eds). Peter Lang Press.
Borah P. (Accepted). News framing within the contemporary media landscape: Where we’ve been and where we’re going. Doing News Framing Analysis 2: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives, Paul D’Angelo (eds). Routledge
Borah, P. (2017). Emerging communication technology research: Theoretical and methodological variables in the last 16 years and future directions. New Media & Society, 19(4), 616-636.
Borah, P. (2016). Political Facebook use: Campaign strategies used in 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 10.1080/19331681.2016.1163519
Borah, P., Thorson, K. & Hwang H. (2015). Causes and consequences of selective exposure among political blog readers: The role of hostile media perception in motivated media use and expressive participation. Journal of Information Technology and Politics. doi: 10.1080/19331681.2015.1008608
Borah, P. (2015). Media effects theory: Framing effects, agenda setting and priming. International Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Wiley-Blackwell.
Borah, P. (2015). Blog credibility: examining the influence of author information and blog “reach”. Atlantic Journal of Communication. doi:1080/15456870.2015.1092740
Borah, P. (2014). The hyperlinked world: A look at how the interactions of news frames and hyperlinks influence news credibility and willingness to seek information. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 19 (3), 576-590. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12060
Borah P. (2014). Does it matter where you read the news stories? Interaction of incivility and news frames in the political blogosphere. Communication Research. 41(6), 809-827. doi: 10.1177/0093650212449353 Borah,
P. (2014). Facebook use in the 2012 Presidential campaign: Obama vs. Romney. Social Media in Politics: Case Studies on the Political Power of Social Media, Bogdan Patrut (Eds), New York, NY: Springer Science +Business Media, LLC.
Borah, P. (2014). Interaction of incivility and news frames in the political blogosphere: Consequences and psychological mechanisms in Jonathan Bishop and Ashu M. Solo (Eds.) Political Activism in the Information Age, IGI Global.
Bode, L., Vraga, E., Borah, P., & Shah, D. (2014). A new space for political expression: Predictors of political Facebook use and its democratic consequences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.19(3),414-429. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12048
Borah P. (2013). Interactions of news frames and incivility in the political blogosphere: Examining perceptual outcomes. Political Communication, 30, 456-473. doi:10.1080/10584609.2012.737426
Borah, P., Edgerly, S., Vraga, E., & Shah, D. (2013). Hearing and talking to the other side: Antecedents of cross-cutting exposure in adolescents. Mass Communication and Society, 16(3), 391-416. doi:10.1080/15205436.2012.693568
Borah P. (2011). Seeking more information and conversations: Influence of competitive frames and motivated processing. Communication Research, 38 (3), 303-325. doi: 10.1177/0093650210376190
Borah, P. (2011). Conceptual issues in framing: A systematic examination of a decade’s literature. Journal of Communication, 61(2), 246-263. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01539.x
RECENT GRANTS:
Letting go and staying connected. NIH, Co-Investigator, 2016-2020; $3,169,671
Faculty Seed Grant, Washington State University, Principle Investigator, 2015-2017; $22,438
Pilot grant from The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program, Washington State University, Principle Investigator, 2014-2016; $29,987
SELECTED AWARDS:
Top Faculty Method Paper Award, Communication Theory and Methodology Division, AEJMC, 2017.
Top 2 Faculty Paper Award, Communication Theory and Methodology Division, AEJMC, 2017.
Outstanding mentorship for communication graduate students, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, 2015.
Rossy Award for outstanding mentorship, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, 2014.
Promising Professors Teaching award, Mass Communication and Society Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2011.
Top Student Paper, Guido Stempel Prize; AEJMC, 2010.
