Emily Metzgar, Ph.D.

Emily Metzgar, Ph.D., joined the School of Media and Journalism at Kent State University as director in 2020. Since assuming this role, she has led the school’s efforts to remove barriers to student retention, review course offerings and prerequisites, develop new minors and certificates, update school facilities, create new channels for communication with stakeholders, and identify opportunities for the school to meet the needs of communities served by the university.

Prior to joining Kent State, Metzgar was director of undergraduate studies at Indiana University’s Media School.  She also served as director of the school’s honors program and as chair of its journalism advisory board. In her various roles at IU, Metzgar facilitated curricular reform and led efforts to create new degrees and majors, including establishment of the school’s Media Scholars Program, creation of a BFA in film production, and development of curricula for high-performing students across the school’s twelve undergraduate majors.

Metzgar earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from the University of Michigan; a master’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs; and a doctorate in media and public affairs from Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication. She is a former diplomat, policy analyst, opinion writer, and youth advocate. She has spent time at organizations as varied as the U.S. Information Agency, the National Defense University, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

While living in Louisiana, Metzgar wrote a weekly opinion column focused on the state’s political and public policy environment, maintaining a blog and producing a podcast on the same subjects, attracting a statewide audience. This experience led to her dissertation research focused on the role of state-oriented political blogs across the United States. Insights derived from that study about ways user-generated content can disrupt established political and media institutions continue to inform her work.

Metzgar’s writing and research focuses on the intersection of media and foreign affairs and the role of media in society. She is especially interested in the practice of public diplomacy as part of a country’s larger foreign policy strategy and has published work emphasizing the “hard power” implications of activities traditionally considered “soft.” 

She is president-elect of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) and serves on the board of directors for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). She is an elected member of AEJMC's Standing Committee on Teaching and recently served a term as its chair. Metzgar also serves as editor of CPD Perspectives, a publication of the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.