Melissa K. Merry, PhD — Department of Political Science

About

Biography

Melissa Merry is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. She received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Hampshire College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington, with specializations in American Politics and Public Policy. Before joining the faculty at University of Louisville, she spent one year as a Visiting Professor at Pacific Lutheran University. Her research interests include public policy theory, environmental politics and policy, gun politics and policy, information technology and politics, and political communication. Her scholarly articles have appeared in American Politics Research, Environmental Politics, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Online Information Review, Policy & Internet, Politics and Policy, Review of Policy Research, Social Science Quarterly, and Policy Studies Journal. She is the author of two books, one examining environmental groups’ communications in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 and the other examining the policy narratives of gun control and gun rights organizations. Her current research projects include studies examining how problems are framed in two policy areas: climate and health care. Dr. Merry also serves as an Associate Editor for the Policy Studies Journal.

Honors and Awards

Highly Commended Paper award for “Making Friends and Enemies on Social Media,” Online Information Review. Emerald Literati Network, Awards for Excellence, 2017.

Arnold Vedlitz Award, Best Book or Article on Environmental Politics of the American South for Framing Environmental Disaster: Environmental Advocacy and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Southern Political Science Association, 2017.

Teaching Areas

Public policy
Environmental policy
American politics
Polarization in American politics

Research Areas and Projects

Public policy
Interest groups
Political communication
Information technology and politics
Environmental politics and policy
Gun politics and policy
Health care politics and policy

Education

PhD, Political Science, University of Washington (2008)

MA, Political Science, University of Washington (2004)

BA, Hampshire College, Major in Environmental Studies (2001)

Recent Publications

Merry, Melissa K., and Mattingly, Hailey. 2023. “Framing the Climate Crisis: Dread and Fatalism in Media and Interest Group Responses to IPCC Reports.” Review of Policy Research, DOI: 10.1111/ropr.12539.
Merry, Melissa K. 2022. “Trump’s Tweets as Policy Narratives: Constructing the Immigration Issue via Social Media.” Politics and Policy, 50(4): 752-772.
Colville, Kathleen, and Melissa K. Merry. 2022. “Speaking from Experience: Medicaid Consumers as Policy Storytellers.” In Narratives and the Policy Process: Applications of Narrative Policy Framework, Michael D. Jones, Mark K. McBeth, and Elizabeth A. Shanahan (eds.), Montana State University Library, https://doi.org/doi.org/10.15788/npf6.
Gainous, Jason and Melissa K. Merry. 2021. “Climate Change as a National Security Issue: Examining Framing Effects Across Party.” American Politics Research, 50(2): 199-212. doi: 0.1177/1532673X211053213.
Gainous, Jason, Rodger A. Payne, and Melissa K. Merry. 2021. “Do Source Cues or Frames Matter? Convincing the Public about the Veracity of Climate Science.” Social Science Quarterly, 102(4): 1894-1906.
Merry, Melissa K. 2020. Warped Narratives: Distortion in the Framing of Gun Policy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.