Biography
Dr. Kate Kenski (Ph.D. 2006, University of Pennsylvania) is a Professor in the Department of Communication and School of Government & Public Policy where she teaches political communication, public opinion, and research methods. Prior to teaching at the University of Arizona, she was a senior analyst at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She is co-author of The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Message Shaped the 2008 Election (2010, Oxford University Press), Capturing Campaign Dynamics: The National Annenberg Election Survey (2004, Oxford University Press), and Democracy Amid Crises: Polarization, Pandemic, Protests, & Persuasion (2023, Oxford University Press). She is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Political Communication with Kathleen Hall Jamieson (2017). Dr. Kenski has published over 70 book chapters, articles, and research notes in publications such as the American Behavioral Scientist, Communication Research, Human Communication Research, the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, and Public Opinion Quarterly. Her current research focuses on social media and incivility, gender and politics, and presidential campaigns. She is the chair of the International Communication Association’s Political Communication Division.Degrees
- Ph.D. Communication
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- The Gender Gap in Political Knowledge: Do Women Know Less Than Men About Politics?
- M.A. Communication
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- The Framing of Networks News Coverage During the First Three Months of the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal
- B.A. Rhetoric & Media Studies
- Willamette University, Salem, Arizona, United States
- Messages of Intolerance: An Examination of the OCA’s Gay Pride?
Awards
- Eastern Communication Association Article of the Year
- Eastern Communication Association, Spring 2023
- OpEd - Thought Leadership Tucson Fellow
- Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona, Spring 2015
- Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona, Fall 2014
- Annenberg Public Policy Center Distinguished Research Fellow
- The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2014
- The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Spring 2014
Interests
Teaching
political communication, public opinion, research methods, statistics, presidential campaigns, gender and communication
Research
political communication, public opinion, social media and incivility
Courses
No activities entered.
Scholarly Contributions
Chapters
- Bethard, S. J., Coe, K., Shmargad, Y., Rains, S. A., & Kenski, K. M. (2024). Incivility in 2020 Presidential Candidate Social Media Posts and Posts that Cite them. In Social Media Politics.
- Kenski, K. M., & Earl, J. S. (2021). Online Participation. In Oxford Handbook of Political Participation. Oxford University Press.More infoEarl, Jennifer and Kate Kenski. forthcoming. "Online Participation" Forthcoming in Oxford Handbook of Political Participation, Maria Grasso and Marco Giugni, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Shmargad, Y., Rains, S. A., Coe, K., Kenski, K. M., & Bethard, S. J. (2024).
Detecting Antisocial Norms in Large-Scale Online Discussions
. In Social processes of online hate(pp 220--249). - Kenski, H. C., & Kenski, K. M. (2014). Mitt Romney and the 2012 Republican nomination. In Studies of communication in the 2012 presidential campaign(pp 15-39). New York: Lexington Books.
- Kenski, K. (2014). The gender gap in presidential vote preference. In alieNATION: the divide & conquer election of 2012(pp 225-241). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Journals/Publications
- Rains, S. A., Coe, K., Kenski, K. M., & Shmargad, Y. (2025).
Incivility in Online Discussion as a Collective Phenomenon: A Dynamic Systems Perspective Examining Sequences of Uncivil Messages
. Social Media + Society. - Coe, K., Bethard, S. J., Shmargad, Y., Kenski, K. M., Rains, S. A., & Barbati, J. L. (2024). Examining the Dynamics of Uncivil Discourse Between Sub-National Political Officials and the Public on Twitter. Mass Communication and Society.
- Rains, S. A., Kenski, K. M., Dajches, L., Duncan, K., Yan, K., Shin, Y., Barbati, J. L., Bethard, S. J., Coe, K., & Shmargad, Y. (2023). Engagement with incivility in tweets from and directed at local elected officials. Communication and Democracy.
- Bethard, S. J., Coe, K., Kenski, K. M., Kenski, K. M., Shmargad, Y., Harwood, J. T., & Rains, S. A. (2022). Engagement with partisan Russian troll tweets during the 2016 U.S. presidential election: a social identity perspective. Journal of Communication.
- Shmargad, Y., Kenski, K. M., Tsetsi, E., & Conway, B. A. (2022). Tipping the Twitter vs. news media scale? Conducting a third assessment of intermedia agenda-setting effects during the presidential primary. Journal of Political Marketing.
- Bethard, S. J., Kenski, K. M., Coe, K., Shmargad, Y., & Rains, S. A. (2021). Assessing the Russian Troll Efforts to Sow Discord on Twitter during the 2016 US Election. Human Communication Research.
- Rains, S. A., Kenski, K. M., Coe, K., & Shmargad, Y. (2021). Social Norms and the Dynamics of Online Incivility. Social Science Computer Review.
- Coe, K., Kenski, K., & Rains, S. A. (2014). Online and uncivil? Patterns and determinants of incivility in newspaper website comments. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 658-679.More infoDOI: 10.1111/jcom.12104
- Martey, R. M., Kenski, K., Folkestad, J., Feldman, L., Gordis, E., Shaw, A., Stromer-Galley, J., Clegg, B., Zhang, H., Kaufman, N., Rabkin, A. N., Shaikh, S., & Strzalkowski, T. (2014). Measuring game engagement: Multiple methods and construct complexity. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory, Practice and Research, 45(4-5), 528-547.More infoDOI: 10.1177/1046878114553575
- Romer, D., Pasek, J., Kenski, K., & Jamieson, K. H. (2006). America's Youth and Community Engagement How Use of Mass Media Is Related to Civic Activity and Political Awareness in 14- to 22-Year-Olds. Communication Research, 33(3), 115-135. doi:10.1177/0093650206287073More infoThis research examines the role of the mass media in young people's disengagement from politics. In a nationally representative telephone survey (N = 1,501), young people (ages 14 to 22) reported their habits for 12 different uses of mass media as well as awareness of current national politics and time spent in civic activities. Following Putnam's hypothesis about the beneficial effects of civic ties on political involvement, the authors predict and find that civic activity is positively associated with political awareness. Contrary to Putnam, they find that media use, whether information or entertainment oriented, facilitates civic engagement, whereas news media are especially effective in promoting political awareness. Although heavy use of media interferes with both political and civic engagement, the overall effect of media use is favorable for each outcome. The results are discussed in regard to the potentially greater use of the media to build community engagement in young people.
Presentations
- Rains, S. A., Kenski, K. M., Coe, K., & Shmargad, Y. (2019, Fall). Backing Off or Ramping Up? Community Feedback and the Dynamics of Online Incivility. Research Convening, National Institute for Civil Discourse.
- Clegg, B. A., Martey, R. M., Stromer-Galley, J., Kenski, K., Saulnier, T., Folkestad, J. E., McLaren, E., Shaw, A., Lewis, J. E., Patterson, J. D., & Strzalkowski, T. (2014, December). Game-based training to mitigate three forms of cognitive bias. Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference. Orlando, FL.More infoDecember 1-5, 2014
- Conway, B. A., Filer, C. R., & Kenski, K. (2014, November). Impression management on Twitter: How candidates and their campaigns post strategically. National Communication Association Annual Convention. Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.More infoNovember 20-23, 2014
