Kathy Merlock Jackson, Ph.D.

Communications
Virginia Wesleyan College
1584 Wesleyan Drive
Norfolk, VA  23502

Office: Birdsong Hall Room 205
Phone: (757) 455-3308
Fax: (747) 461-5025

E-Mail Address

Kathy Merlock Jackson is Professor and Coordinator of Communications at Virginia Wesleyan College, where she teaches courses in media studies and coordinates the communications internship program. She received her B.A. from West Virginia University in English and Spanish, her M.A. from Ohio State University in English, and her Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University in American culture. She is the author of four books, Images of Children in American Film: A Socio-Cultural Analysis (1986), Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography (1993), Rituals and Patterns in Children's Lives (2005), and Walt Disney: Conversations (2006), as well as numerous articles and reviews. A former president of the American Culture Association, she currently edits The Journal of American Culture; she also writes a monthly column on television for Port Folio Weekly, a local lifestyle magazine. In 1984 she received the college's Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Teaching Award and in 2004 became its first recipient of the Batten Distinguished Scholar Award. She was named to the first class of Virginia Wesleyan College's Batten Professors, serving in that capacity from 2004-2007. In 2006 the American Culture Association presented her with the President's Award for Extraordinary Service to the American Culture Association, and in 2007 she was awarded the association's highest award, the Governing Board Award, for scholarly contributions to American culture studies and service to the association. Her main areas of interest are children's culture and animation. She and her husband, Joe Jackson, a writer, have a college-age son, Nick, and live in Virginia Beach.

Courses Taught:

Communications 212: American Film

Communications 214: Directors

Communications 312: Animation

Communications 323: Theories of Mass Communication

Communications 324: Mass Communication Research Methods

Communications 333: Mass Media and American Society (Special Topics)

Communications 327: Children and the Media

Communications 422: The Documentary Tradition

Communications 495: Internships in Mass Communications