Alyssa Appelman

Alyssa Appelman is an associate professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. She is a faculty affiliate of KU’s Institute for Policy and Social Research and Jewish Studies program. 

Alyssa teaches undergraduate courses in writing, editing and fact-checking, and she advises graduate students. She also chairs the Elected Standing Committee on Publications for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Alyssa received a Keeler Family Intra-University Fellowship in 2025-2026, and she participated in KU’s Senior Administrative Fellows program in 2024-2025. Alyssa is a U.S. Fulbright Specialist in Journalism and Mass Communications/ Media Studies.

Alyssa conducts social-science research on journalism practices and their effects on audiences. Her research focuses mostly on perceptions of news accuracy and credibility. She has conducted projects on the effects and significance of grammatical errors, stylistic errors and factual errors in news articles. She also examines message effects and information processing in digital and social media. Her most recent work looks at journalistic transparency, as well as perceptions of journalists’ use of AI. Alyssa’s research has been published in her field’s top peer-reviewed journals, including Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, Journalism Practiceand News Research Journal. Her work has been funded by The Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication.

Before joining KU, Alyssa taught in the College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University. She also worked as a copy editor and page designer for multiple community news outlets, including the Northwest Florida Daily News and the Panama City News Herald. Alyssa interned at The Washington Times and The Washington Post, and she freelanced for Voices of Central Pennsylvania, the Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., and Samsung Research America.