Ashley is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas. She received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. She focuses on political media effects, with a particular interest in the nuances of digital news and the challenges of political incivility. Her research examines how journalists and news users perceive and engage with political incivility online, the factors that influence news story selection in digital environments, how journalists can intervene in comment sections to make them less uncivil, and how clickbait headlines set expectations for news users. Ashley's recent studies include topics such as the role of the media during the COVID-19 pandemic, the complexities of online relational technology, and the spread of health misinformation. Ashley teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in political communication, new media and politics, and research methods. She also researches and develops new methods for large-scale text analysis.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Ashley was involved in the program Depolarizing Public Debates. She will join us in May 2024.