Nina Kelly has joined the Center for Community-Engaged Media (CCEM), housed in Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication, as a postdoctoral research fellow.
Kelly brings a wealth of experience to the CCEM, working as an urban planner for 15 years, a time during which she found her place in facilitating community connections, making her a natural fit for the CCEM, whose work utilizes the power of community engagement and connections.
“We are pleased to bring Dr. Kelly to our center,” said Letrell Crittenden, director of the CCEM. “Her work as a communication scholar and experience as an urban planner will be an asset to our efforts to transform how people think about community engagement in media.”
Kelly recently graduated from Wayne State University with her PhD in Communication and Urban Sustainability, where she also earned her master’s degree in urban planning.
She served as a research assistant for the Citizenship for Health project, an interdisciplinary initiative wherein residents in two Detroit neighborhoods and one exurban community were trained in deliberation techniques and given financial support to develop and implement action plans for improving their health and the health of their neighbors. She was also named a Thomas C. Rumble Fellow during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Kelly authored several articles, including “Bridging the Civic Information Gap: A Comparative Study of Documenters’ Notes and Meeting Minutes,” and “Teaching Local Media Literacy for Empowerment.”
For her dissertation, “Civic Media Practice and Local Democratic Effects: A Mixed Methods Study of The Rapidian and the Grand Rapids Community Media Center”, she used an engaged research approach to examine the practices and roles of the civic media practitioners affiliated with the organization, website and social media analytics, and the impact of their work on the Grand Rapids community.
“As a postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Kelly will help the CCEM conduct engaged research that will inform community-centered initiatives,” said Andrea Wenzel, associate professor at Klein and research director for the CCEM. “We’re excited for the valuable perspective she brings from her ongoing research on participatory civic media and the experience she brings as a former urban planner.”
Kelly will be working with the CCEM’s staff to support a project in nearby Delaware County. The team will investigate how residents of Delaware County engage with news, starting by identifying local community influencers like key voices in local social media groups, podcast hosts, leaders of community organizations and others who generate media in the area.
“It’s fascinating to learn about people’s lives and how they are so different but also some of the commonalities that we can find across these differences that really do tie us together,” Kelly said. “Those commonalities open up a world of possibilities with connection, so doing this community-based work is really gratifying.”