Robin Jensen

Research and Teaching

Professor Jensen studies historical and contemporary discourses about health and science, focusing specifically on questions dealing with women’s rhetorical history, health education policy, and sexual health practice. Her most recent research has focused on the writings of aviator Amelia Earhart and the ways that Earhart secured support for her famous flights and her message of gender equality.  Jensen's scholarship has involved analyzing Earhart's books and writings, focusing specifically on The Fun of It (1932), and interviewing Purdue faculty, staff, and community members who were on campus during Earhart's tenure as a Purdue career counselor from 1935 to 1937.  Her article, "Theorizing the Transcendent Persona: Amelia Earhart's Vision in The Fun of It," (co-authored with graduate students Erin Doss, Claudia Janssen, and Sherrema Bower) will be published in the February 2010 issue of the journal Communication Theory.

Some of Jensen’s other projects include a book entitled Whispers to Lectures: The Emergence of Public Sexual Education in the United States, interviews with underserved women about fertility-related issues (with Professor Jennifer Bute at Ohio University), and interviews with sexual educators about their classroom experiences and communication techniques.

Representative Publications

• Jensen, R.E., Doss, E.F., Janssen, C.I., & Bower, S.A. (in press).  Theorizing the transcendent persona:  Amelia Earhart's vision in The fun of It.  Communication Theory.
  
• Bute, J.J., & Jensen, R.E. (in press). Low-income women describe fertility-related expectations: Descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and behavior. Health Communication.
  
• Jensen, R.E. (in press). A content analysis of youth sexualized language and imagery in adult film packaging, 1995-2007.  Journal of Children and Media, 4(4).
  
• Jensen, R.E. (2008). Sexual polysemy: The discursive ground of talk about sex and education in U.S. history. Communication, Culture & Critique, 1(4), 396-415.
  
• Jensen, R.E. (2008). Women’s rhetoric in history: A process-oriented turn and continued recovery [Review Essay]. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 94(1), 100-112.
  
• Jensen, R.E. (2007). Using science to argue for sexual education in U.S. public schools: Ella Flagg Young and the 1913 “Chicago Experiment.” Science Communication, 29(2), 217-241.
  
• Rintamaki, L.S., Kosenko, K.A., Scott, A.M., & Jensen, R.E. (2007). Patient perceptions of HIV stigma in healthcare contexts. AIDS Patient Care & STDs, 21(12), 956-969.
  
• Jensen, R.E., & Jensen, J.D. (2007). Entertainment media and sexual health: A content analysis of sexual talk, behavior, and risks in a popular television series. Sex Roles, 56(5-6), 275-284.
  
• Jensen, R.E. (2005). The eating disordered lifestyle: Imagetexts and the performance of similitude.  Argumentation and Advocacy, 42(1), 1-18