Jess Nerren
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Bio
Outside of the CSUSB community, Dr. Nerren is a public relations, marketing, and photography professional with 19+ years of experience as the president of her own public relations firm, Felten Media Services. In this capacity, she serves as PR and Marketing Director for an Irvine-based law firm with offices throughout California and was the publicist for Autism Speaks Southern California for many years, along with serving clients in sports, entertainment, media, the arts, event, nonprofit, publishing, and professional services. At CSUSB, Professor Nerren teaches classes in Public Relations and Strategic Communication at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Dr. Nerren is both faculty and an alum., having successfully defended her dissertation on Inclusion, Public Relations and Teacher Education in 2021. She has an M.A. in Communications from CSU Fullerton, where she was awarded as the CSUF College of Communications Outstanding Graduate Student. In both programs she completed with a 4.0 GPA.
Dr. Nerren is the founder of CoyotePR, the student-run PR agency on campus. In that role, she led a team of students to win the PRSA Inland Empire Polaris Capella Award for excellence in PR tactics in 2019.
She has previously served as the Internship Coordinator for the Department of Communication Studies, the Communication Symposium producer, a Q2S faculty advisor, department webmaster and the Guest Advisor for Photojournalism to the Coyote Chronicle, the campuswide student newspaper.
For many years Dr. Nerren served as a contributing photojournalist for the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Daily News Group, and later as a high-end event and executive portrait photographer in addition to running her PR firm.
In the community, Dr. Nerren is heavily involved in the autism nonprofit and behavioral health community with past and current service: on the Autism Speaks Parent Advisory Board to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, on the executive committee of the Riverside County Special Education Local Plan Area as Public Information Officer and Legislative Chair, as a founding board member of The Miracle Project national nonprofit, as the communications chair of the Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Barbara and San Diego Autism Speaks Walks, and on the Stakeholder Committee and Diversity Special Interest Group for CalABA, the state governing body for behavior analysts in the State of California providing services to individuals with autism and other developmental and behavioral needs.
Education
Ed.D. Educational Leadership, Higher Education, CSU San Bernardino, 2021. Dissertation: The Public Relations of Inclusion. Committee: Dr. Becky Sumbera (chair), Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb, Dr. Erica Howell
M.A. Communications, Professional Communications, CSU Fullerton, 2012 (Outstanding Graduate Student, College of Communications)
B.A. Philosophy, Pitzer College (with Major out of Pomona College), 2004
Courses/Teaching
- Comm 6075 Strategic Communication (graduate course)
- Comm 675 Strategic Planning in Public Relations (graduate course)
- Comm6085 Research Thesis/Project Proposal (graduate course)
- Comm 591 Internship in Communication
- Comm 542 Crisis Communication
- Comm 5401 Crisis Communication
- Comm 5311 Fundamentals of Social Media Mgmt.
- Comm 5302 Communication Law and Policy
- Comm 4491 Advanced Practicum in Strategic Communication: CoyotePR
- Comm 442 Public Relations Campaigns
- Comm 399 Community Service in Communication
- Comm 344 Public Relations Writing
- Comm 3403 Business Literacy for Strategic Communication
- Comm 3402 Public Relations Writing
- Comm 342 Publication Design
- Comm 3372 Publication Design
- Comm 3211 Business and Professional Comm
- Comm 2592 Research Practicum
- Comm 243d Public Relations Practicum Coyote PR
- Hon 3300 Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Communication
- Hon 3350 Communicating the Environment
Research and Teaching Interests
Public Relations; media literacy; internships and service learning; effective communication in the ability, autism and behavioral health communities; public relations and pedagogy; inclusion; higher education leadership
Publications and Select Scholarly/Creative Work:
Executive Producer. Oregel, R., & Nerren, J. (2022). Comm Studies ¿Qué es Esto? Oregel/Nerren Productions.
Book Chapter Author. Nerren, J. (2022). Prevention of Online Harassment and Cyber Bullying. Research Anthology on Combating Cyber-Aggression and Online Negativity. IGI Global Publishing. [peer reviewed reprint in new book]
Poster. Nerren, J. B. (2022). Perception is Everything in UDL - Reframing Perception to Shift Actions in UDL Teacher Preparation. Universal Design for Learning International Summit
Book Editor and Chapter Author. Nerren, J. B. (2022). Rethinking Perception and Centering the Voices of Unique Individuals: Reframing Autism Inclusion in Praxis. IGI Global Publishing. [under contract scheduled for 2022]
Author. Nerren, J. B. (2021). Socially De-Constructing Unsolicited Affirmation: A Review of “Sitting Pretty.” Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice. 11.
Author. Nerren, J. B. (2021). Engaged Social Media in Higher Education While Avoiding the Label of Striving. Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice. 11.
Reviewer. Nerren, J. (2020). Journal of Education: Covid-19 special publication, IAFOR.
Reviewer. Nerren, J. (2020). Journal of Education: Inclusive Education special publication, IAFOR.
Chapter Author. Nerren, J. (2020). Chapter IX: Prevention of Online Harassment and Cyber Bullying. Salazar, L. [editor]. Handbook of Research on Cyberbullying and Online Harassment. IGI Global Publishing.
Reviewer. Nerren, J. (2020). CSU Media Arts Festival. Films and Screenplays reviewer.
Reviewer. International Communication Association (ICA) 2020 Conference, Public Relations Section and Health Communication Sections
Reviewer. International Communication Association (ICA) 2020 Conference, Health Communication Section
Co-Author. Nerren, J. and Vierra, J. (2020) Combining Pedagogy and Modern Technology into the Public Relations Classroom: Arousal Theory as a Roadmap for Student Success. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 2(20).
Co-Author. Nerren, J. and Vierra, J. (2019) Adapting Modern Technology into the Public Relations Classroom: Analysis of Pedagogy. IAFOR Conference Proceedings
Author. Nerren, J. B. (2018). Civic Engagement, Fake News and The Path Forward. Journalism and Mass Communication, 2. doi:10.17265/2160-6579/2018.02.001
Selected Grants and Fellowships:
CSU Chancellor's Adobe Grant (grant, co-recipient, author), 2020, Investment by Adobe and the CSU system in a new bilingual inclusion film on communication studies.
AEJMC Early-Career Kopenhaver Fellowship (recipient), 2020, An esteemed mentoring and publication fellowship of only 50 communication faculty nationwide.
Digital Marketing Certificate (grant, co-author), 2019, Investment in the creation and implementation of a new digital marketing certificate opening new pathways of study and expertise for students entering a digital space.
Service Learning Fellowship (grant), 2018, For the implementation of real-world practical service to the community and to the campus implemented into coursework. A grant awarded by the CSUSB Office of Community Engagement
Teaching Skills Study Award (grant), 2018, For the investment in faculty to attend and pursue additional development opportunities related to teaching and pedagogy. Awarded by the CSUSB Teaching Resource Center