Rekha Sharma

Rekha Sharma (Ph.D., Kent State University) is an associate professor in the School of Communication Studies in the College of Communication and Information at Kent State University. Her primary research area is mass communication, with a secondary specialization in political communication. Building upon an educational background in journalism and information use, she has explored a range of media topics, including news, film, cartoons, infotainment, political social media use, viral marketing, fandom, and government-conspiracy-theory-oriented media.

Her academic research has been published in journals such as the Ohio Communication Journal; Mass Communication & Society; Electronic News; Global Media Journal—Canadian Edition; Media, War, & Conflict; and the Journal of Fandom Studies. Additionally, she has contributed to the published anthologies War and the Media: Essays on News Reporting, Propaganda and Popular Culture (McFarland); We Are What We Sell: How Advertising Shapes American Life … and Always Has (Praeger); Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture (Scarecrow Press); Debates for the Digital Age: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Our Online World (Praeger); and Remapping South Asian Cinema and Theatre: An Anthology of 21st Century Criticism (Rawat, in press).

Sharma also teaches several undergraduate courses, including Communication Grammar Review, Communication & Influence, Freedom of Speech, Foundations of Communication, High Impact Professional Speaking, Public Communication in Society, Business and Professional Communication, Interviewing, Media Use & Effects, and Introduction to Human Communication.

SCHOLARLY, CREATIVE & PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Academic Publications

• Clark, D., & Sharma, R. (2021). Teaching tools in a flash – Fostering cultural humility in the classroom. Kent State University Center for Teaching and Learning. https://www.kent.edu/ctl/teaching-tools-in-a-flash
• Sharma, R., & Workneh, T. (2020). The spice of life: Discussing diversity and disparity in Mississippi Masala. In J. D. Hamlet (Ed.), Films as rhetorical texts: Cultivating discussion about race, racism, and race relations (pp. 29-46). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
• Sharma, R., & Bhaduri, G. (2019). How homespun cotton cloth became the fabric of Indian political life. In H. Mandell (Ed.), Crafting dissent: Handicraft as protest from the American revolution to the pussyhats (pp. 123-137). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Hoak, G., & Sharma, R. (2019). An epitaph in 140 characters: TV journalists’ Twitter use following the Roanoke shootings. Ohio Communication Journal, 57, 58-74.
• Sharma, R. (2017). Desi films: Articulating images of South Asian identity in a global communication environment. In A. K. Chaubey & A. I. Devasundaram (Eds.), South Asian diasporic cinema and theatre: Re-visiting screen and stage in the new millennium (pp. 48-70). Jaipur, India: Rawat.
• Sharma, R. (2017). Media effects. In J. D. Ponder (Ed.), COMM 20000: Foundations of communication. (pp. 179-195). Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press.
• Ponder, J. D., & Sharma, R. (2016). You say you want a revolution? The Internet’s impact on political discussion, activism, and societal transformation. In D. S. Coombs & S. Collister (Eds.), Debates for the digital age: The good, the bad, and the ugly of our online world: Vol. 1: The good (pp. 183-201). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
• Savery, C. A., & Sharma, R. (2016). For love or money: Exploring personal matrimony ads, sugar websites, and catfishing through social exchange theory. In D. S. Coombs & S. Collister (Eds.), Debates for the digital age: The good, the bad, and the ugly of our online world: Vol. 2: The bad and the ugly (pp. 227-248). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
• Sharma, R. (2016). Leaks, whistle-blowers, and radical transparency: Government accountability in the Internet age. In D. S. Coombs & S. Collister (Eds.), Debates for the digital age: The good, the bad, and the ugly of our online world: Vol. 1: The good (pp. 119-140). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
• Sharma, R. (2014). Account overdrawn: Articulating consumerism in animated media. Ohio Communication Journal, 52, 1-19.
• Sharma, R., & Savery, C. (2014). Bollywood marriages: Portrayals of matrimony in Hindi popular cinema. In N. Jones & M. Bajac-Carter (Eds.), Heroines of film and television: Portrayals in popular culture (pp. 147-162). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Sharma, R. (2014). Infecting the Internet: The influence of online viral marketing techniques on public opinion. In D. S. Coombs & B. Batchelor (Eds.), We are what we sell: How advertising shapes American life … and always has: Vol. 3 (pp. 184-203). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.