Directors and Staff
Dr. Barbara Friedman, Ph.D., director and co-founder of TIP, is a former journalist and, currently, an associate professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill, where her research focuses broadly on media and race/class/gender. Her research has appeared in Journal of Human Trafficking, Feminist Media Studies, and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, among others. She is a former editor of the peer-reviewed journal American Journalism. She teaches undergraduate courses on writing and reporting, media literacy, media history and race/gender/class. At the graduate level, she teaches courses in media studies and qualitative research methods. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in journalism and a minor in women’s and gender studies from the University of Missouri.
Ashley Hedrick, Senior Research Assistant, is a Roy H. Park Doctoral Fellow in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ashley’s research focuses on the impact that social norms—such as rape myths, gender role ideologies, victim blaming, and stigma—have on a variety of sexual health issues, including sexual violence prevention, HIV prevention, and human trafficking education. She is particularly interested in how social media and online communities may be used to learn more about the relationship between social norms and health outcomes, especially among adolescents.
Farnosh Mazandarani, Strategy Coordinator, is a Roy H. Park Doctoral Fellow in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill. She holds an MA and BA from California State University-Fullerton and previously worked in broadcast standards and practices at Disney/ABC and MTV. She is completing her dissertation, a 50-year longitudinal content analysis exploring performer familiarity and relationship dynamics in sexually explicit media.
Emily “Em” Hagstrom, Contributing Writer, is an advocate for violence prevention and gender equity with a background in public policy and media production. She most recently managed the publication of the Status of Women in NC: Health and Wellness Report and has written for the National Women’s Law Center, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and Women AdvaNCe, among other organizations. Twitter: @emhagstrom.
Dr. Anne Johnston, Many thanks are due to Anne Johnston, Ph.D., co-founder and co-director emerita of TIP. She is professor emerita of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she was the James Howard and Hallie McLean Parker Distinguished Professor. She continues her important role in TIP, co-authoring selected research and assisting with grant projects.
