Current Research

Erica Austin (Ph.D., 1989, Stanford University) is Interim Director and professor of communication at Washington State University and is widely published on media literacy, family communication and health issues. Her research focuses on the uses of media in decision making and social development. Topics include the interplay of media and parental influences in children's decisions about health, politics and social reality. Dr. Austin also studies political decision making and disaffection among adults. She has served as advisor to organizations nationwide and the federal government on media literacy issues. She received the 2001 Krieghbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the Public Relations Educator of the Year award for 2005 from the Greater Spokane Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Rick Busselle (Ph.D., 1997, Michigan State University) is an associate professor in the Murrow College of Communication.  He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in communication theory, mass communication processes and effects, and stereotypes and media.  His research focuses on how viewers perceive fictional television programs and films as realistic, and how those fictional stories influence viewers’ real world perceptions.  His research has been published in Media Psychology, The Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Communication Research and Mass Communication & Society.  He is an active member of the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, is a member of the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Media Psychology, and The Journal of Media Psychology (formerly, Zeitschrift fuer Medienpsychologie). 

David Demers(Ph.D. Mass Communication, University of Minnesota) is associate professor of communication at Washington State University, where he teaches courses in media theory, research and history. He is author or editor of 13 books, including History and Future of Mass Media: An Integrated Perspective (Hampton Press, 2007); An Interpretive Introduction to Mass Communication (Allyn & Bacon/Pearson, 2004); Global Media: Menace or Messiah? (Hampton Press, 2002, revised edition); The Menace of the Corporate Newspaper: Fact or Fiction? (Iowa State University Press, 1996); Mass Media, Social Control and Social Change: A Macrosocial Perspective (Iowa State University Press, 1999); and Precision Journalism: A Practical Guide, Sage, 1987). He also is author of more than 125 scholarly and professional papers. His research on corporate media structure has won five national awards. His theory of corporate media structure challenges conventional wisdom, positing that corporate media produce content that facilitates not only processes of social control but also processes than enhance social change. Empirical studies conducted by him and his students and historical research show that corporate media produce content that is more, not less, critical of the status quo than entrepreneurial media. Prof. Demers is founding editor of Mass Communication & Society and ran the nonprofit Center for Global Media Studies for six years.

Jolanta A. Drzewiecka (Ph.D. Arizona State University) is associate professor of communication. Her research focuses on how cultural, racial, national, and other identities are constituted in discourses and how groups negotiate different forms of belonging in intercultural and transnational contexts. She draws on critical and cultural studies theories, discourse analysis and qualitative methods. Jola teaches classes in intercultural communication, globalization, and qualitative methods. She also teaches graduate seminars in critical perspectives in intercultural communication, cultural studies, and national identity and nationalism. Her research has been published in Communication Quarterly, Communication Theory, and The International and Intercultural Communication Annual, among others.

Elizabeth Blanks Hindman (Ph.D., 1994, University of Minnesota) is an associate professor of communication and director of the graduate program. Her research centers on the intersection of media law and media ethics and on institutional media accountability. She uses political and ethical philosophy to study how courts approach questions of media ethics and how news organizations respond to ethics crises. Her work has been published in the Journal of Communication, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Communication Law and Policy, and the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. For a number of years she has served on the board of directors of Office of Communication, Inc., a national organization dedicated to promoting justice in broadcast policy. She has served as the chair of the Media Ethics Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and is currently vice chair of AEJMC’s Law and Policy Division.

Douglas Blanks Hindman (Ph.D. Mass Communication, University of Minnesota) is an assistant professor of communication at Washington State University where he teaches courses in telecommunications and new communication technologies. His research focuses on the role of mass media in community adjustment to social conflict and change. His work is published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication & Society, Health Education Research, Journal of Radio Studies, Mass media, social control, and social change: A macrosocial perspective, and in the forthcoming International Encyclopedia of Communication.

Stacey J.T. Hust (Ph.D., 2005, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is assistant professor of communication at Washington State University.  Her research explores whether the mass media can be used for health promotion through strategies such as entertainment education and media advocacy.  As a health communication scholar, Dr. Hust focuses on the media’s effects on substance abuse prevention and reproductive health.  Her research has examined the media’s effects on adolescents and gender identity, and she has studied media’s coverage of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs for the past six years.  Hust has earned awards for her research, which has been published as book chapters and journal articles.  Her work has been published in Mass Communication & Society, Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, Journal of International Advertising, Women & Health Journal, and Public Relations Review.  Her research has been supported by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Sciences.

E. Lincoln James (PhD, University of Texas at Austin--Marketing Communications) is professor of Advertising and managing editor of The Western Journal of Black Studies at Washington State University where he teaches Advertising Media Planning, Integrated Marketing Communications, and Direct Marketing. He is a contributing author to Media Flight Plan Plus, (1st, 2nd, and 3rd eds.), and Answer Guide to Media Flight Plan Plus, (1st, 2nd and 3rd Eds.). He is also co-editor of Philosophical Perspectives and Theoretical Paradigms in Africana Studies (WSU Press, forthcoming). His research has appeared in publications that include Advances in Marketing Theory, Practice, and Education;  Business Research Yearbook, Global Business Perspective; International Journal of Advertising; Journal of Advertising; Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media;  Journal of Business Ethics;  Journal of Direct Marketing; Journal of Marketing Education;  Journal of Media Ethics;  Journal of Media Planning; Journal of Promotion Management; Minority Marketing Issues and Prospects; Psychological Reports;  The Western Journal of Black Studies;  Weberforschung Und Praxis (Advertising Research and Practice). His research focuses on the information content of advertising, marketing to minorities, and interactive marketing communication systems and effects.

Kenji Kitatani (Ph.D., 1981, University of Wisconsin-Madison) received the WSU Alumni Achievement award in 2005 for his contributions to the industry and his active engagement and support of Washington State University. He publishes a monthly article on legal and economic analysis of the media and entertainment industry in “Foresight” magazine in Japanese (equivalent of Financial Times Magazine – US). In addition to his ongoing corporate contributions, Dr. Kitatani is developing a $3 million multi-media and live performance show “Terje” based on a poem written by Henric Ibsen of Norway. The interculturally collaborative show is funded by the Cultural Agency of the Kingdom of Norway and will be performed in Yokohama, Japan in November 2006. Several other entrepreneurial media/entertainment projects are also on the horizon.

Moon Lee (Ph.D., 2001, University of Florida) is an associate professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University. Prof. Lee’s research focuses primarily on development and evaluation of new media technologies, health communication campaigns, and information processing and decision-making process of individuals (especially rebellious young adults). She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Public Relations Campaign and Management, Mass Communication Processes and Effects, and Health Communication. Her research focuses on how viewers perceive different types of media messages and how to design effective health communication campaign messages to influence viewers’ decision making processes. Her research has been published in Health Communication, the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, etc. She is an active member of the International Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and is a member of the Editorial Boards of Computers in Human Behavior. Lee served as a PI and a co-PI for several grant projects that include the development and evaluation of  “Self-voicing Test” and “Generator of Accessible Tests” at Educational Testing Service and “Expanding Hypertext,” a new text presentation technology. She is currently collaborating with other scholars at WSU on identifying how to design an interactive program for the prevention and intervention of critical health problems such as smoking, binge drinking, and sexual violence against women.

Todd Norton(Ph.D., 2006, University of Utah) Todd’s research draws upon organization theory to explore public sphere issues such as environmental stakeholder participation. A native of the Great Lakes region, Todd obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. He moved west and earned his PhD from the University of Utah in 2006, collaborating on interdisciplinary projects funded by the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation. He received the David C. Williams Memorial Graduate Fellowship from the University of Utah College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for his dissertation Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: Organizing Land Politics. 

Todd’s ongoing research intersects critical conceptualizations of discourse with a systems view of organizing. He brings these orientations together through investigations of stakeholder dynamics including dialectical tensions of control/resistance forces. His current projects investigate the role of organizational politics and property in public and private land disputes. His research appears in Communication Theory, Southern Communication of Journal, and Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture.

Jeffery Chaichana Peterson (Ph.D., 2006, University of New Mexico) is an assistant professor of communication. His research focuses on Intercultural/Development Communication, Health Communication, and the Diffusion of Innovations. He is a former Centers for Disease Control/Associations of Schools of Public Health/Prevention Research Centers Minority Research Fellow and his doctoral dissertation focused on the role of participatory public health research among American Indian communities in New Mexico and Arizona. Among his research projects, Dr. Peterson has investigated the diffusion of Clean Indoor Air policies, factors related to the translation of public health research from development to practice, and the ‘culture’ of prescription drug misuse by college students. Dr. Peterson’s most current research will appear (2006/2007) in Health Education and Behavior, Journal of Drug Issues, and the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Bruce Pinkleton (Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1992) is professor of communication at Washington State University. His research program focuses on the role of individual motivations and information source use in individuals’ decision-making processes, and the behavioral outcomes associated with message exposure. This includes, for example, examining the relationship of political campaign strategies and techniques to citizens’ political decision making and participation. He also investigates decision making in other contexts such as health communication campaigns and has conducted a number of studies to evaluate heath campaign effectiveness. He is coauthor of Strategic Public Relations Management and is widely published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Communication, Health Communication, Political Communication, Pediatrics, the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, the Journal of Advertising, Communication Research,and Mass Communication and Society. His research has been sponsored by the Associated Press–Seattle, the American Legacy Foundation, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, and the Alcoholic Beverage and Medical Research Foundation.

Joey Reagan (Ph.D. Michigan State University) is a professor of Communication. With a research focus on technology adoption and research methodologies, his 60+ publications, papers and reports have appeared in scholarly communication journals and media industry publications. For the past 25 years Professor Reagan has been a consultant for media, health and governmental organizations conducting evaluation, audience, public opinion, and market research. He published Applied Research Methods for Mass Communicators in 2006 and Communication Research Primer: Measuring and Evaluating Organizational Communication in 2002.

Michael Salvador (Ph.D., 1989, University of Utah) is Associate Director for Operations and Budget and associate professor of communication at Washington State University, where he teaches courses in argumentation and organizational communication. His research focuses on communication and cultural conflict over environmental issues. His dissertation on the consumer movement won the National Communication Association's Outstanding Dissertation award. He has co-edited a book on communication and democracy and published articles in Communication Reports, the Western and Southern Journals of Communication, and the World Communication Journal.

Mija Shin (Ph.D., 2006, Indiana University) is an assistant professor of communication and the director of the laboratory for the study of communication, emotion, and cognition (CEC Lab) at Washington State University. Her research focuses on understanding how humans process persuasive media messages (e.g., advertising, health-campaign, etc.) and the effects of the processing. She conducts experiments to investigate how different forms of media messages impact the recipients’ physiological and subjective experiences. In the CEC lab, with graduate students, she measures students’ heart rate, skin conductance and facial EMG during media message exposure to assess attention, emotion and memory. She has published in Media Psychology, Human Communication Research and Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media.