FACULTY
Prof. Gayathri Sivakumar
Prof. Gayathri Sivakumar is an Associate Professor - Media & Journalism at FLAME University. Her work focuses on strategic communication, media effects, and health communication, with an emphasis on persuasion and audience responses to media messages.
Prior to joining FLAME University, Prof. Gayathri served as Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Communication and the Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State University. She has extensive experience teaching research methods, quantitative analysis, media effects, and strategic communication at undergraduate and graduate levels, and has mentored multiple master’s and doctoral students to completion.
Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Health Communication, Science Communication, Frontiers in Communication, Developmental Psychology, and Information, Communication & Society. Her research examines how digital and strategic media influence beliefs, attitudes, and health-related decision making.
Before entering academia, she worked in media and industry roles in India and Singapore, including television production, creative direction, and digital advertising, experiences that inform her teaching and research.
Her research interests include media effects, strategic persuasion, health communication, digital media, and audience psychology.
Publications:
- Anderson, A. A., & Sivakumar, G. (2021). Risks Elaborated vs. Risks Downplayed: The Effect of Risk Comparisons in Mainstream Media During Covid-19 on Risk Perceptions and Anxiety Levels. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 121.
- Kelp, N. C., Witt, J. K., & Sivakumar, G. (2021). To Vaccinate or Not? The Role Played by Uncertainty Communication on Public Understanding and Behavior Regarding COVID-19. Science Communication, 10755470211063628
- Sharma, N & Sivakumar, G. (2022). Social media, political discourse and the 2019 elections in India: Journalists’ perspectives on the changing role of the mainstream media in setting political agenda. Global Media and Communication Journal.
Accepted
- Youn, K., Sivakumar, G., & Haley, E. Too Much of a Good Thing: The backfire effect as a trigger for psychological reactance in E-smoking cessation social marketing. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising (accepted with minor revisions).
Working Papers:
- Sivakumar, G., Boehm, N. T., Long, M. Repeat after me, this pill will make you smarter: Exploring the truth effect in websites promoting herbal supplements.
- Sivakumar, G., & Gopalakrishna, V. K. (2025). Sweet persuasion: Decoding CGM apps’ strategies on Instagram in the age of health and wellness.
Conference Presentations:
- 2021 Youn, K., & Sivakumar, G. The Effect of Psychological Distances and Massage Fatigue on Esmoking Cessation PSAs in the Psychological Reactance Perspective. Paper was presented at the American Academy of Advertising virtual conference on March 18, 2021.
- 2021 Witt, J.K., Sivakumar, G., & Kelp, N. (2021). Uncertainity and Covid-19, Paper was presented at the Colorado State University Alumni Association Virtual Workshop on January 22, 2021.
- 2020 Sharma, N., Sivakumar, G., & Long, M. How Healthy are the children’s entertainment programs? An analysis of the health-related content in popular TV shows targeted at the preschool-aged children. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco, CA.