Carrie Brown is an associate professor of journalism in the School of Communication and Media who specializes in engagement journalism. Her courses focus on understanding and meeting community information needs and building trust, particularly with groups undeserved or ill-served by traditional media. Her teaching also often involves partnering with New Jersey local news organizations to help fill information gaps and using a variety of creative strategies to make sure people get the news they need, whether it is social media or newsletters or WhatsApp groups or events and more.
Her research and recent book, Transforming Newsrooms, co-authored with Jonathan Groves, centers on how news organizations can change their cultures and adapt to the changing media landscape. Before coming to Montclair State, Brown was the founding director of the pioneering engagement journalism Master’s program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She has also worked as a daily newspaper reporter and editor and served as the traveling curriculum manager for the Committee of Concerned Journalists before receiving her Ph.D in journalism at the University of Missouri. She has a Master’s degree in communication from the Annenberg School at Penn and an undergraduate degree in journalism and conservation biology from the University of Wisconsin. She has received three teaching awards.