Las Vegas City Wire

A University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) assistant professor of digital media is raising awareness of social issues through research.

Aya Shata, an Egyptian native, became a faculty member at the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies at UNLV this summer, according to a news release from the university. She moved to Nevada within weeks of completing her doctorate degree in Miami. Shata infuses her courses and lectures with her lifelong enthusiasm for learning and passion for media. Her upbringing, willingness to try new things, and the lessons she learned from the Arab Spring (a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions) all had an impact on her teaching style and research.

"Both of my parents are professors, so it seems to run in the blood somehow in the family," Shata said in the news release. "I've always seen my mom and my dad — they're grading, they're preparing classes. I remember how, when I was young, I approached the desk of my father and he would get very careful about it; he takes it very seriously. I always wondered, 'What is so important?'"

Shata said much of her research is centered on social change and using digital interactive media to bring awareness to issues, the news release noted. These issues include HIV prevention, climate change, and women’s empowerment. 

"All of these social changes, I feel like, even though my education and my major was in advertising/public relations, this shift in my research has been in how to use my knowledge, my understanding of persuasive communication and marketing and advertising to help nonprofit organizations, help make a difference for social causes in the communities we live in," she said. 

Shata said she enjoys strategic communication because it is based on research and understanding consumers.

"My research interests are in narrative persuasion; entertainment-education; and exploring the role and impact of digital, interactive, and emerging media such as serious games, VR, social networks, and multiplatform communications in promoting social change and advocating for development," she said.