About me

I am Carrie Brown-Smith ( or just Brown, either one works) and I am an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Memphis, where I teach and do research on changing newsrooms, social media, and entrepreneurial and digital journalism.

This is what I look like when I’m being all academic

I recently developed a new graduate certificate in entrepreneurial journalism in partnership our local accelerator LaunchYourCity, and I serve as an adviser and former director of the Teen Appeal, a citywide high school newspaper. In addition to two new courses I developed in social media, I also teach reporting and mass communication theory. My research often involves examining the impact of social media and digital technology on news, or spending time in newsrooms like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Christian Science Monitor to examine how they are grappling with the tumultuous media environment. I was recently named a CUNY research fellow; I will be working with Chris Anderson and Jeff Jarvis to learn more about the skills needed for the journalism jobs of today and the future. I recently won the Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award and the top research paper award at the International Symposium of Online Journalism with my co-author Jonathan Groves.

Before returning to academia, I managed the traveling curriculum program of the Committee of Concerned Journalists for three years, going to newspapers of all sizes across the United States to discuss how journalists could do a better job of upholding their values in their daily work. Our workshops were based on the principles articulated in the book Elements of Journalism by CCJ Chairmen Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. This experience was invaluable and gave me a bird’s eye view of the newspaper industry.

I’ve also spent time working in the newsroom myself, as a reporter for the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram in Wisconsin, an intern at the Philadelphia Inquirer, an associate newsletter editor covering policy developments on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, and, most recently, as an assistant city editor at the Columbia Missourian.

I received my PhD from the University of Missouri, where I had the opportunity to study with the director of the Center for the Study of Organizational Change and learn some lessons from outside our field relevant to challenges facing journalism today. I received my MA in communication from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania and my BA in journalism and biological aspects of conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the state where I was born and raised.

This is more what I look like the rest of the time.

When I’m not writing about, researching or teaching journalism, I’m often running, playing with my lovable but unruly labradors Sam and Pippi, watching Packer football as a proud owner, or enjoying a fine craft beer or a domestic macrobrew. I live in Midtown Memphis with my husband, Grant Smith, who is a data journalist and investigative reporter at the Commercial Appeal and a homebrewer.

You can email me at carrielisabrown@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @brizzyc