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Marilyn Cohen Research Associate Professor, Educational Psychology Room 107 Experimental Education Unit Phone 206-543-9414 macohen@u.washington.edu

Education Publications Curriculum Vitae

My primary research interest as well as much of my teaching and service to the community currently center on the area of media literacy education. While media literacy is considered a part of the curriculum in many countries around the world, here in the United States where we produce a great deal of the world’s media, curiously enough, media literacy lags far behind.

Those of us who are deeply committed to this field of study strongly believe that it is difficult to discuss literacy without including the media, since our students live in a world surrounded by electronic wallpaper. It is no longer possible for us to leave the media at the classroom door, for they too are "teaching our children" and their messages and potential impact can in no way be ignored.

As director of the NW Center for Excellence in Media Literacy I am greatly involved with in the field of media literacy education. Our center has been very active since the early 1990s in using media literacy as a strategy to address health issues such as teen pregnancy prevention, substance abuse prevention and violence prevention as well as more recently, the areas of nutrition and fitness. With support from the Washington State Department of Health, I am currently able to continue my work in the area of teen pregnancy prevention, which has been one of my focus areas since 1994. With support of an NIH grant, we are also currently working with the UW’s Center for Public Health Nutrition to develop curriculum materials for elementary school youth in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. I remain committed to fostering and promoting the area of media literacy education research and have served as chair for the nation’s first media literacy education summit sponsored by the National Association for Media Literacy Education held in St.Louis, June 2007.  Our center here in the College of Education has also been responsible for organizing the region’s first conferences for teachers and health professionals focused on the areas of teen health and media literacy.  The center continues to offer numerous media literacy workshops and institutes throughout the region. 

Education

Ph.D., University of Washington, 1975

Publications

Pinkleton, B., Austin, E, Cohen, M., Chen, Y. & Fitzgerald, E. (2008). Effects of a peer-led media literacy curriculum on adolescent knowledge and attitudes regarding sexual behavior and media portrayals of sex.  Heath Communication, in press.

Pinkleton, B., Austin, E., Cohen, M., Miller, A, & Fitzgerald, E. (2007). Statewide evaluation of the effectiveness of media literacy to prevent tobacco use among adolescents. Health Communication, 21: 23-34.

Austin, E., Pinkleton, B., Hust, S. and Cohen, M. (2005) Evaluation of an American Legacy  Foundation/Washington State Department of Health media literacy pilot study. Health Communication, 18:75-95.

Lisosky, J. and Cohen, M. Part of the Solution:  Media and Violence Curriculum in Seattle Public Schools.  Submitted to the Broadcast Education Association National Conference, April 2002.  Awarded 1st Place in the Research Division for the 2002 Conference.