Lake Superior during fieldwork
Hiya! My name is Ava Francesca! I'm an Assistant Professor of Journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. I completed my PhD in Information and Media from Michigan State University in 2025 (STEM-designated), where I was advised by Dr. Kjerstin Thorson.

Research Interests

My work focuses on how residents in rural, remote, and post-industrial communities learn about public issues amidst changing technology, digital access disparities, and shifting local news environments. This includes how critical information is produced and circulated by non-news actors—like non-profits, local governments, and municipal services—alongside news media.

My research highlights the role of place identity in critical information access and dissemination, particularly in the Upper Great Lakes region. My dissertation examined these dynamics within the regional context of Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula (UP) and critical health and safety information.

I love mixing ethnographic and computational methods to tackle these questions. I conducted fieldwork in the UP from 2022 through 2024, pairing these insights with textual analysis of digital trace data (such as Facebook posts) and spatial visualization (using R and ggplot) of public datasets and historical data.

Professional Affiliations and Service

I am an affiliate with the Rural Computing Research Consortium and the Quello Center at Michigan State University.

Pre-PhD Journey

I’m a non-traditional student from a low-income background. After three attempts at community college in two states, I earned my associate degree in 2015 from Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 2017, I moved from Duluth, Minnesota, to Chicago and became Loyola University Chicago’s School of Communication’s first dual-degree student. I concurrently completed my Bachelor of Arts in Advertising (2019) and Master of Science in Global Strategic Communication (2020) while juggling between two and four jobs. (I’d say that my stints as a chandler—aka candlemaker—and a chicken-sitter provided the best perks during this period).

Previous creative and activist work includes collaborating with and coordinating distribution for a feminist zine collective; designing, producing, and managing a size-inclusive, femme vintage reproduction apparel line; and several years on-call overnight as a crisis hospital advocate for survivors of sexual violence.

Interests and Hobbies

The 'Grandparents':
Captain, ~18 (left) and Pushkin, 20 (right)
Summer 2024
When I'm not working, my interests include reading, public history and industrial heritage (think "grains and trains"), learning Brazilian Portuguese and practicing with my friends, being in nature, film photography, and listening to music (which includes building A LOT of Spotify playlists).

I really enjoy tinkering around with computers and programming languages when I'm not using them for work. I absolutely love LaTeX and digital typesetting, and if given the chance, I will heavily proselytize R while trying to convince you to convert to a Zotero-Rmarkdown/Quarto note-taking workflow and to turn that old MacBook into a dedicated Linux machine (sorry in advance).

I also spend a lot of time with my sassy (and recently 'widowed') geriatric cat, Captain (aka Grandma), and tending to the botanical garden in my house. Since moving back to Chicago, I spend a lot of time at the beach (in all seasons, but especially winter), enjoying the (second greatest) Great Lakes.