Current Courses

Professional Organizations

• Society for Personality and Social Psychology. 01/01/2020 - present. Position : Member.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science. 01/01/2017 - present. Position : Member.
• American Political Science Association . 01/01/2016 - present. Position : Member.
• Midwest Political Science Association . 01/01/2015 - present. Position : Member.
• Association for Politics and the Life Sciences. 01/01/2015 - present. Position : Member.
• International Communication Association . 01/01/2014 - present. Position : Member.
• Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication . 01/01/2014 - present. Position : Member.
• Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. 01/01/2013 - present. Position : Member.

Courses I Teach

• COMM 2580 - Strategic Communication Theory & Practice
  Introduces students to strategic communication theory and practice which is the foundation of several professional activities (e.g., public relations, advertising, marketing, and health promotion). Students will learn strategic communication basics (e.g., segmentation, targeting, branding, positioning), strategic communication planning (e.g., the RACE model, the Strategic Communication Planning Matrix) as well as become familiar with foundational research in persuasion and social influence (e.g., consistency theories, stages of change, Cialdini’s six loci of influence). The course prepares students for professional practice and/or advanced study in strategic communication.
• COMM 5200 - Persuasion & Political Communication
  This course has two primary objectives: first, to provide students with a critical appreciation of the complex and important relationship between American politics, the media, and public opinion; and second, to encourage students to be active and informed participants in American democracy.
• COMM 5800 - PR Cases & Campaigns
  Discussion of public relations problems based on case studies. Writing instruction and exercises. It is an Upper-Division Communication/Writing (CW) and Community-engaged learning(CEL). This course is a 3 credit hour, capstone course.
• COMM 5820 - Designing Experiments in Science Communication
  This class is a lab-style seminar in which we will design, field, and analyze an experimental study of science communication. Given the timing of the course, we may seek to design a study that seeks to better understand and/or counter misperceptions related to COVID-19 or the response to the pandemic, but our substantive focus is up to the group to decide. Working together, we will help you build deep knowledge of a rapidly developing area of scientific research; learn how to employ survey and experimental methods to design a novel study of this topic; and then analyze, present, and critique our findings in the rigorous format of technical academic writing. Our ultimate goal is to jointly publish a scholarly article in a peer-reviewed journal.
• COMM 7260 - Science and Risk Communication
  At this point in time, it should be clear to everyone that simply disseminating accurate information about science and risk does not, on its own, necessarily produce a well-informed public ready to follow expert guidance. This course is dedicating to two main tasks: understanding why, and understanding what to do about it. More formally, this course is about ways to think about “public communication of science and risk.” We will do so primarily by reading about current research in the field. This work spans a variety of topics — GMOs, vaccines, nuclear power, epidemics, climate change, and more. Ultimately, we will examine the state of the evidence on these and other questions: • How do we communicate uncertainty to the public? • How do we communicate during a rapidly developing public health crisis? • How do we communicate in a “polluted” science communication environment?
• COMM 7560-001 - Media Effects
  This graduate seminar will: 1. Introduce principles fundamental to the conduct of social science research. 2. Provide an introductory survey of theoretical perspectives on communication and media effects, including a broad history of milestones and a sampling of current theoretical models. 3. Introduce students to the academic landscape in communication. 4. Encourage students to write an original seminar paper that can be submitted for presentation at a conference and/or publication in an academic journal.
• COMM 7800 - Research Design
  The course will introduce students to the fundamentals of research design in communication. The course will cover a range of topics, starting from the formulation of research topics and research questions, the development of theory and empirically testable hypotheses, the design of data collection activities, and basic quantitative data analysis techniques. The course will address a variety of approaches to empirical communication research including experimental and quasi-experimental designs, large-n survey research, and others.