Joli Jensen’s teaching interests are in media, culture and society.  At the University of Tulsa she designed and supervises the Senior Project course and also teaches courses on Media and Popular Culture, Bestselling Feminisms, and Nonfiction Writing.  She founded and is the first Faculty Writing Fellow of the new TU Henneke Faculty Writing Program (2012-present) and directed the University Honors Program from 2005-2007.

 

Dr. Jensen’s research interests are in American cultural and social thought.  Her first book, Redeeming Modernity: Contradictions in Media Criticism, (Sage 1990) analyzes how the media are blamed for the perceived ills of modern life.  Her second book, The Nashville Sound: Authenticity, Commercialization and Country Music (Vanderbilt 1998) explores how and why cultural genre change, in relation to concerns about culture and commerce. Her third book, Is Art Good for Us? Beliefs about High Culture in American Life (Rowman & Littlefield 2002) questions our taken-for-granted assumptions about the transformational power of high culture.  She co-edited (with Steve Jones) Afterlife as Afterimage (Lang 2005), a collection of essays on posthumous reputation in popular music.  Her current research project uses the archives of  British publishing house Andre Deutsch (now part of TU's Special Collections) and the letters of Diana Athill to explore the author/editor relationship1950-1990.

 

She has written academic essays on media criticism, communication technologies, communication theories, the social history of the typewriter, and fans and fandom.  A public lecture explaining Picasso’s fame is available at http://channel.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=3970

 

Concern about widespread use of prescription medication for anxiety and depression has led to journalistic essays on undergraduates and mood medication (“Let’s Not Medicate Away Student Angst” Chronicle of Higher Education, June 15, 2003, B5) and on making wiser personal decisions about taking mood-altering chemicals  (“Emotional Choices,” Reason magazine, v. 35, no. 11, April 2004, p. 28-35).  She has also written about religious identity (“On Being ‘Really Jewish’,” Being Jewish magazine, Passover 2007/5767) and several commemorative essays about her dissertation advisor, James W. Carey, including "The Meaning of Talk: Carey's Model of and for the University" and "Casting Spells: Carey as Teacher.".  Her advice on dealing with writer's block and related writing issues is available at "How To Complete Big Long Projects."

 

Dr. Jensen received her PhD in 1985 from Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois.  She has been a faculty member at the University of Virginia (1984-1986) and at the University of Texas-Austin (1986-1991).  She joined the Faculty of Communication at the University of Tulsa in 1991.