Director, Media Psychology Research Center
Adjunct Faculty, Fielding Graduate University

Dr. Rutledge specializes in social media applications and applying positive psychology to technology and media development. She is the Director of the Media Psychology Research Center, a not-for-profit research center, whose mission is to be a force for positive social change and foster human potential using media and technologies (website: http://www.mprcenter.org). Some of their clients include KCET, Fablevision, and Children’s Hospital, Boston.
Dr. Rutledge serves as adjunct faculty at Fielding Graduate University in the new Media Psychology and Social Change Master’s Program, where she developed courses in Media Psychology, Digital Narratives, and Social Media and Emerging Technologies. She is an instructor of Media Psychology at UCLA Extension. She also teaches Social Media and Audience Profiling in the UC Irvine Extension Business School’s Social Media Certificate Program, a program where she is on the advisory board and participated in the design and curriculum of the program.

Dr. Rutledge founded Brown Design, a communications firm specializing in identity development programs and media production for financial and educational institutions. She was the recipient of several awards for creativity and innovation in magazine design.

Dr. Rutledge authors a blog for PsychologyToday.com called “Positively Media”, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Media Psychology Review academic journal. She is a frequent expert source for the media on media psychology and social media issues. She is quoted frequently in the national mass media, among them Good Morning America, ABCnew.com, Daily Finance, Toronto Sun, Education Week, and USAToday.

Dr. Rutledge consults and conducts seminars in social media and communications, such as a series of seminars in cross-cultural communication skills for American dorm residents KEIO Japanese school and focus groups on role models for the Girl Scouts of America. An experienced researcher, her recent work involved the impact of media on measures of cooperation and conflict between the U.S. and China surrounding a major public event, such as the 2008 Olympics. Her current research interest is the psychosocial impact on individuals and groups of social media technologies.

Contact: pam [at] imaginedcommunities.org