WSU Provost Robert C. Bates has announced that Erica Austin has accepted the position of dean of the newly established Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, effective July 1.
Austin “has been instrumental in leading the transition of the former school to its new college status,” said Bates. “She brings a wealth of experience in the field of communication that will benefit all dimensions of the college, both basic and professional dimensions, as it builds for the future.”
Austin has served as interim director and professor of the school of communication since August 2006 and director of the Consortium for the Study of Communication and Decision Making since 2002. She joined WSU in 1989 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in August 2000.
The Murrow School has grown in comprehensiveness, stature and size, facilitated first by the merger of the departments of Communication and Speech Communication in 1983. In 1990, the communication department was designated as the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. In 2007, a university task force and a panel of communication deans recommended independent status for the School.
Austin earned her B.A. in journalism with an emphasis in the arts from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and her master’s and doctoral degrees in communication research from Stanford University. She teaches public relations management and campaign design, health communication and social development, and other courses in communication theory and communication science.
She has numerous published articles on media literacy, family communication, and health issues. She researches topics such as political socialization, health communication campaigns, how family communication patterns affect children’s approaches to the media, and children’s attention to television. Her current research program focuses on how individuals, especially children and adolescents, juxtapose media information and real-world impressions to make decisions about what is real, right and important.
Austin has served as an advisor to the federal government and numerous national organizations on media literacy issues. She is the recipient of the 2001 Krieghbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is the co-author, with WSU Professor Bruce E. Pinkleton, of Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Programs (2001).
