Kristen Alley Swain

University of Mississippi

Dr. Kristen Alley Swain’s work focuses on science and environmental communication, with an emphasis on risk framing in news. Her recent environmental work has examined crisis communication about transportation toxic spills, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and environmental justice issues. Since 2009, she has coordinated student production of more than 200 sustainability videos for Planet Forward and serves as the University of Mississippi coordinator for the Planet Forward University Consortium. She has directed a Science Journalism Center, received two campus sustainability leadership awards, and has developed numerous science communication training initiatives. She was a reporter for the Oxford (Miss.) Eagle, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, and Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News, a writer for Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living magazines, and managing editor for the world's first online university newspaper. She has a PhD in mass communication from University of Florida, master’s in journalism from University of Alabama, and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Mississippi.