Research Description

Shaimaa Khanam is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her work focuses on how entertainment media, social media, and cultural narratives shape social cognition. Her doctoral thesis employs mixed methods to investigate prosocial perspective transformation stemming from media exposure, specifically in reducing gender-based violence. Her previous works investigate how people make sense of unlabeled and ambiguous experiences with sexual violence, focusing on nonconsensual condom removal. 

Keywords: Mixed Methods, Entertainment Media and Social Change, Social Media, Social Norms, Narratives, Transformative Learning

Education

M.A. Communication, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Champaign, IL (Summa Cum Laude)

B.A. Editing, Writing, and Media (Minor: Psychology). Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (Summa Cum Laude)

B.S. International Affairs (Minor: Religion). Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (Summa Cum Laude)

 

Grants

Ruth Anne Clark Award (2025)

Brant R. Burleson Award (2025)

Friends Travel Grant (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)

National Communication Association Student Caucus Travel Grant (2023, 2024)

Claudia Hale Travel Award (2023)

UIUC Graduate College Conference Travel Award (2022)

Awards and Honors

Women of Color in Leadership Fellow, The National Women's Studies Association (2023-2025)

Dale Brashers Memorial Fellow, The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2022-2026)

Department of Communication Distinguished Fellow, The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2022-2026)

Wayne Brockriede Graduate Fellow in Communication, The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2020-2022)

Elizabeth Winter Young Summer Fellowship (2021)

Courses Taught

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign:

CMN 250 - Social Movement Communication

CMN 368 - Sexual Communication

CMN 340 - Visual Rhetoric

CMN 101 - Public Speaking

 

Florida State University

HUM 1920 - FIG Colloquium (FSU)

Additional Campus Affiliations

UIUC Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory

UIUC Gender and Women's Studies Department

Shai also volunteers and collaborates with the Champaign County rape crisis center (RACES: Rape, Advocacy, Counseling, and Education Services).  

Recent Publications

Smith, M., Shugars. S., Khanam, S., Mbonu, A., Lella, O., Myers., C. (forthcoming, 2025). The Black Pill: (Re)conceptualizing the Black Right in the Era of YouTube Influencers. Social Media and Society