Leadership

Kathryn Cramer Brownell

Director of CAPT

Kathryn Cramer Brownell is the founding director of CAPT. She is a professor in the Department of History at Purdue University and senior editor of the "Made By History" column at TIME Magazine. Her research focuses on the intersections of media and politics in modern America with a particular emphasis on the American presidency. She is the author of 24/7 Politics: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America from Watergate to Fox News (Princeton University Press, 2023) and Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life (University of North Carolina Press, 2014). She also writes regularly for outlets that include, Atlantic, TIME Magazine, Washington Post, Reuters, Financial Times, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, and she regularly offers historical expertise for national and international newspapers and on radio and television programs, including the New York Times, NPR, the BBC's History Hour, the History Channel, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and more.

 

Email: brownell@purdue.edu 

Jennifer Hoewe

Associate Director of CAPT

Jennifer Hoewe is the Associate Director of CAPT. She is an associate professor within the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Political Science. Her research focuses on media psychology and political communication, and she has authored more than 50 refereed journal articles and book chapters. Her book, Enjoyment is Breaking News: How We Became Less Informed and More Divided (and How to Fix It) (The MIT Press, 2026), examines the role of enjoyment in news consumption by detailing how media environment changes have impacted news consumers. Additionally, she is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Purdue Research in Media Effects (PRIME) Lab.

 

Email: jhoewe@purdue.edu