Dr. Maja Krakowiak is a Professor in the Department of Communication. She teaches courses in mass media, advertising, research methods, and law. Her research interests include the psychological and social effects of media, with a focus on entertainment and morality. Specifically, her recent work has examined audience responses to morally ambiguous characters, such as Dexter Morgan on the television show "Dexter" and Walter White on "Breaking Bad." Her work has appeared in the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Mass Communication and Society, and Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, among others. She serves on the editorial board of Mass Communication and Society, and is an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals in the field. She has also served as a Co-Chair of the Entertainment Studies Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

• Ph.D., Penn State University (Mass Communication)

• B.S., University of Utah (Communication)
• B.S., University of Utah (Political Science)