Team members are top ranked in the nation for research on advertising effects, substance abuse prevention and media literacy and have served in leadership positions nationwide for scholarly associations in communication and methodology. They also are highly ranked nationally by ComVista for research on advertising, broadcasting, television, communication and children, and cognition, as well as politics and government. The team has secured millions of dollars in extramural funding since 2002, from agencies such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Washington State Department of Health, the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, the United States Department of Education and the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation.

Directors:

Erica Weintraub Austin (Director)

Erica Weintraub Austin (Ph.D., 1989, Stanford University) is a 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 an advisor to the federal government and organizations nationwide on media literacy issues. She received the 2001 Krieghbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the 2005 Public Relations Educator of the Year award from the Greater Spokane Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. She was the recipient of the Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award from Washington State University in 2008. Contact: eaustin@wsu.edu

Bruce E. Pinkleton (Associate Director)

Bruce E. Pinkleton (Ph.D., 1992, Michigan State University) is a professor of communication and chair of the Strategic Communication degree program at Washington State University. His research program focuses on the role of individual motivations and information source use in individuals’ decision-making processes in political and health contexts, including evaluating communication campaign effectiveness.  He is coauthor of Strategic Public Relations Management and is widely published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Communication, Communication Research, the Journal of Health Communication,  Health Communication, Pediatrics, the Journal of Advertising, 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. He received the 2007 Public Relations Educator of the Year award from the Greater Spokane Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Contact: pink@wsu.edu

Faculty:

Douglas Blanks Hindman

Douglas Blanks Hindman (Ph.D., 1994, University of Minnesota) is an associate professor of communication at Washington State University where he teaches courses in telecommunications and new communication technologies. His research focuses on the social antecedents of health communication such as community readiness, health disparities, and structural pluralism. His work is published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Mass Communication & Society, Health Education Research, Journal of Radio Studies, Mass media, social control, and social change: A macrosocial perspective, and in the International Encyclopedia of Communication. Contact: dhindman@wsu.edu

Stacey J.T. Hust

Stacey J.T. Hust (Ph.D., 2005, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is an assistant professor of communication at Washington State University. Her research explores how the mass media can be used for health promotion through strategies such as entertainment education and media advocacy. She also investigates the media’s effects on sexual and reproductive health and substance abuse prevention. She has earned awards for her research, which has been published as book chapters and journal articles. Her research 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 sponsored by the United States Department of Education, Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, and the Washington State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program. Since 2006 she has been the co-chair of the WSU Campus Campaign Against Sexual Assault. Contact:  sjhust@wsu.edu

Changmin Yan

Changmin Yan (Ph.D., 2008, Pennsylvania State University) is an assistant professor of communication at Washington State University. Broadly speaking, his research centers around media psychology, persuasion and methodology. He is particularly interested in exploring the roles of emotion and motivational systems in strategic communication campaigns. His recent projects have looked at the interactions of emotion, motivation, and message features, such as framing, in health and environmental communication contexts. In addition, in his latest work, Dr. Yan has tested different models of the affect-motivation relationship. He has also investigated methodological issues in measuring the affective and cognitive processing of strategic health communication messages. His work has appeared in the Journal of Communication. Before joining WSU, Dr. Yan was an assistant professor of communication and journalism and a cooperating assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maine, Orono. Contact: changminyan@wsu.edu

Eric W. Hoffman

Eric W. Hoffman (Ph.D., 2001, Florida State University) is a clinical assistant professor of communication at Washington State University. His research interests involve studying advertising and marketing with an emphasis on new media and a primary focus on health communication. His recent and current research projects look at how social media can be used to disseminate pro-health related messages and how marketing on new media platforms impact drinking behaviors and attitudes. Along with holding previous academic posts at both Lynn University and Barry University, Eric has also worked for Harris Corporation and A&H Media Corp as Vice President. Eric Hoffman has garnered many academic and industry awards for his teaching, research and creative activities. Contact:  eric.hoffman@wsu.edu

Murrow Center for Media and Health Promotion Research Assistants

Center RAs are current graduate students of The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. These RAs often work with professors on grant-funded projects and produce papers for conferences and publication. Additionally, Center students are encouraged to apply for grants for their own research projects, including their dissertations.

Ming Lei

Ming Lei is a doctoral student in communication at Washington State University. His research focuses on utilizing mass media as a strategy to promote public health. In particular, he is interested in using entertainment media to promote reproductive health and substance abuse prevention. Another area of his research interests is using psychometrics methods to construct and evaluate measurements in mass media and public health. Contact: ming_lei@wsu.edu

Marie Louise Radanielina-Hita

Marie Louise Radanielina-Hita is a third-year PhD student. Having been trained in interpersonal communication in her Masters’ program, Marie Louise is quite interested in understanding how family communication practices influence individuals’ processing of media messages related to alcohol and sex, and how the latter affects their decision-making related to drinking and sexual behaviors. Her dissertation, with advisor of Dr. Bruce Pinkleton, looks particularly at traditional alcohol advertising. Marie Louise’s research interests include health communication, social marketing, intercultural/international communication, relational communication, psychometrics, and media effects. Contact: marie_radanielin@wsu.edu

Weina Ran

Weina Ran is a doctoral student in Communication at Washington State University. She is interested in media effects on public health, especially sexual health and nutrition. Besides media effects, her research interests also include utilizing mass media to promote public health. As a research assistant in the Center, Weina is participating in several projects, including the nutrition project, the evaluation of communication materials for DOD project, and the sexual assault prevention campaign. Contact: weina_ran@wsu.edu

Chunbo “Richard” Ren

Chunbo Ren is a doctoral student in communication at Washington State University. As a research assistant in the Center, he is working with Dr. Hust on a sexual assault prevention campaign. Richard’s research focuses on utilizing mass media as a strategy to promote public health. His special interest focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention, especially HIV stigma and media advocacy to reduce HIV stigma. Before joining WSU, he worked as a PR consultant in Beijing, China, for ten years. Contact:  chunbo_ren@wsu.edu

Masahiro Yamamoto

Masahiro Yamamoto is a doctoral student in Communication at Washington State University. His research focuses on social control implications of mass communication for the development of safe and healthy communities. Specifically, his work examines the role of mass media in affecting the capacity of a community to intervene in local disturbances and signs of disorder. He is also interested in the role of social media in fostering civic participation. Contact:  masahiro.yamamoto@email.wsu.edu

Chun Yang

Chun Yang is a doctoral student in communication at Washington State University. His research interest focuses on the influence of media in adolescents’ decisions about health and politics. He is also interested in the cognitive/emotional process of adolescents. Contact: chun.yang@email.wsu.edu