November 16, 2010 | Faculty

Ellen Wartella Named Al-Thani Chair in Communication

Researcher a leading scholar on the effects of media on children

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Ellen Wartella, professor of communication studies in the School of Communication and professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, has been nominated for the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Chair in Communication.

Wartella is a leading scholar on the effects of media on the development of children and adolescents and the impact of food marketing in the childhood obesity crisis.

Wartella has been an advocate for children’s interests in national policy discussions. She served on the advisory board of Sesame Workshop (formerly Children’s Television Workshop) for more than 20 years and she currently sits on many national boards concerned with the influence of media on children’s health.

Among other distinctions, she is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Communication Association and is a distinguished scholar of the National Communication Association.