FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- June 28, 2017 Pooley wins of 2017 James Carey Award IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Dr. Jefferson Pooley, associate professor and chair of media and communication at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is the winner of the 2017 James W. Carey Media Research Award competition sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research ( www.cccsir.com). Pooley is the author of the book, James W. Carey and Communication Research: Reputation at the University’s Margins, published in 2016 by Peter Lang. The Carey Award, established in 2004, is presented annually from among nominated or submitted books or journal articles published in the previous year. The award honors the late Dr. James W. Carey (1934-2006). Dr. Carey was recognized as one of the North American pioneers in applying cultural approaches to the study of mass media. To be worthy of the award, the work must be of highest quality and employ Carey's theories to focus on communication and public life, journalism, or popular culture. The winning entry this year was chosen from an exceptionally strong field of works submitted by a long list of outstanding scholars. As the book cover notes, "Pooley provides a critical introduction to Carey’s work, tracing the evolution of his media theorizing from his graduate school years through to the publication in 1989, of his landmark Communication as Culture. The book is an attempt to understand the unusual if also undeniable significance that Carey holds for so many communication scholars, as well as making his work accessible to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students." A member of the review committee commented, "One of the virtues of Jeff’s book is that its organization matches the way Carey thought about his intellectual life. Carey would choose, for some number of years, to think about a topic through the work of a particular group of thinkers whose perspectives and voices he found congenial. That is a different and more literary approach to talking about theory than most scholars take. He was less interested in parsing all the nuances of different schools of thought and more concerned with capturing the essence of a writer’s voice and insight. Jeff’s book accurately captures and makes sense of that trajectory of thought." The committee also wishes to honorably mention Dr. Holly Kruse, associate professor of communication at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma for her book, Off-Track and Online: The Networked Spaces of Horse Racing, for outstanding application of Carey’s theories. The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is a non-profit organization established to promote the scholarship of the late Carl J. Couch and his academic associates. Couch is recognized as the founder of The New Iowa School in sociological and communication inquiry, and was a pioneer in the qualitative research of information technologies. The Center provides networking opportunities for students and scholars who conduct social and Internet research, inspired by Couch's work. - 30 - Contact: Dr. Mark D. Johns, Executive Director Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research c/o Department of Communication Studies, Luther College Decorah, Iowa 52101 USA Tel: (563) 419-5639 email: mjohns [at] luther.edu