Congratulations to Assistant Professor Teresa Lynch for winning the 2023 Mattox Research Award. The Sarah Evans Mattox Faculty Research endowment provides support on a competitive basis for a faculty member’s research. The award is given to a highly productive and innovative faculty member who researches “the impact of media on public opinion and/or society.” 

Research area examples include media effects, media entertainment, public opinion, political communication, advertising, public affairs journalism, strategic communication, health communication and communication technology. 

The school director appoints a committee to determine the winner of the award. The committee considers the relevance to the purpose of the Mattox endowment as well as the creativity, productivity, scholarly and/or social impact of the candidate’s articles. 

Lynch’s 2023 publications include: 

• (Men)tal health: Perceptions of depression in men and women
• The Effects of Side-Taking on Narrative Entertainment and the Perceptions of Events and Characters
• Formidability of male video game characters over 45 years
• Threat and enhancement: Strength of gamer identity moderates affective response to messages about gaming.