Rachel Grant, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor - Department of Journalism

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Grant previously served as an assistant professor in Xavier University of Louisiana’s Mass Communication Department teaching classes in strategic communication, social media management and media law.

Her academic research looks at media studies of race, gender and class and she has conducted extensive research with social movements, social justice, and Black feminism.

She has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Celebrity Studies, Visual Communication Quarterly, American Journalism and Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication Journal.

Grant has worked professionally as a news reporter for local daily newspapers and statewide magazines and has worked in corporate advertising as a digital copywriter.

Education

B.A. Journalism, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
M.A. University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Ph.D. University of Missouri

News

• UFCJC Alumni, Faculty, Staff and Students Honored at 2025 College Awards Banquet (April 4, 2025)
• How “The Wonder Years” Reboot Redefined Black Masculinity (February 25, 2025)
• Rachel Grant Authors the Foreword for a New Book Celebrating Black Women and Girls (January 29, 2025)
• How Gender and Race Shaped Stacey Abrams’ Campaign to Court Black Male Voters (January 10, 2025)
• Study: Communication Surrounding U.S. Black Female Candidates Can Potentially Reshape Perceptions of Black Women as Leaders (December 5, 2024)
• All News About Rachel Grant

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

Grant, R., & Halaly, A. (2024). Paralleling The Gay Man’s Trauma: Monkeypox Stigma and the Mainstream Media. Journal of Communication Inquiry..

Grant, R., Addie, Y., & Ezeh Aruah, D. (2024). From #Rona to #Omarion: Black Twitter’s hashtag activism and critical discourse of COVID-19 pandemic. New Media & Society.

Grant, R., & Johnson, B. K. (2024). It All Begins With a Name: Examining News During the Ketanji Brown Jackson Judicial Nomination. Journalism Practice.

Grant, R., & Ezeh, D. (2023). With Pride:” Media Coverage of Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union’s Black Parenting of Zaya. Journal of Communication Inquiry.

Grant, R., Byer, C., & Sha, B. (2023). “Fighting Strength with Strength: Uncovering Intersectionality and the Strong Black Woman Myth in Black Women’s Mental Health Coverage. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly..

Grant, R. (2023). "City by City:” Reclaiming POC Voices Through the Narrative Justice Project. Human Communication. Research.

Grant, R., Jenkins, J., & Cabas, A. (2022). Selling Breonna Twitter Responses to Breonna Taylor on the Covers of O, The Oprah Magazine and Vanity Fair. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

Cabas, A., & Grant, R. (2020). “Toward a Transnational Queer Politics of Visibility”. Visual Communication Quarterly.

Grant, R., & Mislan, C. (2020). "‘Improving the Race’: The Discourse of Science and Eugenics in Local News Coverage, 1905-1922". American Journalism.

Grant, R. (). “As High as I Could:” Media Discourse Shaping Patricia Okoumou’s Statue of Liberty Protest. Howard Journal of Communication.

Grant, R. (). Is This Justice?”: Charlotta Bass and the Wesley Robert Wells case, 1950-1954. Media History.

Mislan, C., Grant, R., & Broussard, J. (2017). "Larger than Life”: Celebrity Journalism, Gender and Black Politics in Fay M. Jackson’s Hollywood Adventures, 1933-1935. Celebrity Studies.

Grant, R. (2010). The Revival: The "New" Arkansas State Press, 1984-1988. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal.

Book Chapters

Grant, R. (2022). Don’t Scare Me Like That, Colonizer!” : Black Panther’s Shuri Through a Post-Colonial Feminist Lens. In Gendered Defenders. .

Grant, R., & Markovich, H. (2021). “Then We Show Ourselves:” Resisting Immigration in Party of Five Reboot. .

Presentations

Grant, R. (2020). Narrative Justice Project. Lecture at Journalism & Women Symposium.

Grant, R. (2020). Resist, Recover and Reimagine: Black and Indigenous Women for Climate Change.”. Oral Presentation at Sustainable Online Network for Global Cultural Studies Fall Symposium, .

Grant, R. (2020). “Black Women, Black Media and the Legacy of Women’s Suffrage.”. Oral Presentation at American Journalism Historians Association Annual Conference.

Grant, R. (2020). “Contextualizing the History of Black Lives Matter”. Keynote/Plenary Address at Diversity & Inclusion Week 2020 Communication Why Black Lives Matter.

Grant, R. (2020). “Connecting Today’s Students with Jim Crow-era Media History,”. Oral Presentation at Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Grant, R. (2020). The Primary Contradiction We Live With. It is Not the Only Contradiction:” Feminist Media in Iowa City’s Ain’t I a Woman?, 1970-1974. Paper/Poster at International Communication Association, Sydney, Australia.

Cabas, A., & Grant, R. (2020). “Toward a Transnational Queer Politics of Visibility”. Paper/Poster at International Communication Association, Australia.

Grant, R. (2020). Stepping Out of the Shadow: the UndocQueer Movement. Lecture at FRANK, Gainesville, FL.

Grant, R. (2019). The Politics of Justice Reform (Part 2): What To Prioritize. Oral Presentation at "Florida's Path to Criminal Justice Reform".

Grant, R. (2019). The Primary Contradiction We Live With. It is Not the Only Contradiction:” Feminist Media in Iowa City’s Ain’t I a Woman?, 1970-1974. Paper/Poster at American Journalism Historian Association, Dallas, TX.

Research

Specialization

Media History, Critical/Cultural Media Studies, Intersectional Studies

Courses

• MMC 6485 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods - Spring 2025 (PDF)
• MMC 6485 - Advanced Qualitative Research Methods - Spring 2024 (PDF)
• MMC 6936 - Critical and Cultural Theories in Media Studies - Spring 2024 (PDF)
• MMC 6936 - Critical and Cultural Theories in Media Studies - Spring 2024 (PDF)