Elizabeth Perse
Professor Emerita
Biography
Elizabeth M. Perse (Ph.D.,
Kent State University, 1987) is Professor and Chair of the Department of
Communication at the University of Delaware, Newark. She is currently
researching and teaching mass communication theory and the uses of newer
communication technologies. She has been identified as a prolific
researcher in Communication, having published one scholarly book, two
textbooks, and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters. Her
research has been published in such journals as Journal of Broadcasting
& Electronic Media, Communication Research, Journal of
Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Quarterly,
Communication Research Reports, Journalism Quarterly, and Health
Communication. She serves on several editorial boards and is a past
Chair of the Mass Cmmunication Division of NCA.
Research
My research is grounded in
Uses and Gratifications, a theoretical perspective that focuses on why
people use the mass media. I find this perspective especially
interesting because it has allowed me to focus on the appeal of specific
television genres (e.g., soap operas and local television news),
compare how different communication channels differ in their utilities,
and even why people use pornography.
I have enjoyed applying uses
and gratifications research to new mass media technologies. In the mid
1980s, I began studying why people used remote control devices. This
research explored gender differences in remote use, how remote use could
intervene in different media effects, and how people’s predispositions
affected how much they changed channels.
Most recently, my research has
shifted to a focus on the mass media aspects of the Web. That research
has explored if the Web can displace television use (probably not too
much, for now). Doug Ferguson and I have collected data on the use of
the Web for television-like activities, especially watching video on the
Web.
Courses Taught
​COMM 200 in London: Comparative U.S. - British Media (Perse)
COMM245: Mass Communication and Culture
COMM370: Theories of Mass Communication
COMM418: Broadcast Television History (Courtright & Perse)
COMM450: Mass Media Effects
COMM670: Mass Communication Theory
This Page Last Modified On: