Patricia Aufderheide University Professor SOC | Communication Studies
- Additional Positions at AU
- Affiliate Professor, School of International Service
- Affiliate Professor, History Department
- Degrees
- BA History (summa cum laude), University of Minnesota; MA History, University of Minnesota; PhD History, University of Minnesota
- Languages Spoken
- Portuguese, Spanish
- Bio
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Patricia Aufderheide is University Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C. She founded the School's Center for Media & Social Impact, where she continues as Senior Research Fellow. She is also affiliate faculty in the School of International Service and the History department at American University, and a member of the Film and Media Arts division in the School of Communication. Her books include Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy (University of California), Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (University of Chicago), with Peter Jaszi; Documentary: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford), The Daily Planet (University of Minnesota Press), and Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press). She has been a Fulbright Research Fellow in Brazil (1994-5), Australia (2017), and South Korea (2024). She is also a John Simon Guggenheim fellow (1994) and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others. Aufderheide has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including the George Stoney award for service to documentary from the University Film and Video Association in 2015, the International Communication Association's 2010 for Communication Research as an Agent of Change Award, Woman of Vision award from Women in Film and Video (DC) in 2010, a career achievement award in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association and the Scholarship and Preservation Award in 2006 from the International Documentary Association.
Patricia Aufderheide is proud to publish with her students. Recent co-publications featuring our PhD and MFA students include:
Butler, B., Anastacio, K., and Aufderheide, P. (2024). The Chilling effects of obstacles to accessing, using and sharing in-copyright data for quantitative research. Information and Culture, 69(1), 48-65.
Haywood, A., Sanchez Santos, M., and Aufderheide, P. (2022). "Community Media in A Pandemic: Facilitating Local Communication, Collective Resilience and Transitions to Virtual Public Life in the U.S.," Javnost - The Public.
Bello, B., Aufderheide, P. (2021). The Public Interest and the Information Superhighway: The Digital Futures Coalition, 1995-1998 and the afterlife of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Information & Culture, 56(1).
Sinnreich, A. A., Aufderheide, P., Clifford, M., Shahin, S. S. (2020). Access shrugged: The decline of the copyleft and the rise of utilitarian openness. New Media & Society(2020-9-12)
Aufderheide, P., Lieberman, D., Alkallouf, A., Ugboma, J. M. (2020). Podcasting as Public Media: The Future of News, Public Affairs and Educational Podcasts. International Journal of Communication. ijoc.org
Aufderheide, P., Sinnreich, A. A., Imperiale, L., Silvernail, C. (2019). Norms-Shifting for Digital and Online Arts Practice: Copyright and Fair Use in The Visual Arts Community. Visual Arts Research.
Aufderheide, P., Haywood, A., Sánchez Santos, M. (August 18, 2020). "PEG Community Access: Local Communication Hubs in a Pandemic". (pp. 20). Washington, DC: Center for Media & Social Impact. cmsimpact.org/PEG
- See Also
- Center for Media and Social Impact
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request. Explore all AU Faculty Experts in our media guide.
Teaching
Spring 2025
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COMM-411 History of Documentary
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COMM-899 Doctoral Dissertation
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HNRS-050 Honors Supplement: History of Documentary
Summer 2025
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COMM-899 Doctoral Dissertation
Fall 2025
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COMM-899 Doctoral Dissertation