Home > Rebecca L. Cooney

Rebecca L. Cooney

  1. Professor
  2. Professor of Practice
Email Addressrebecca.cooney@wsu.edu
LocationJackson Hall 200D
Phone509-335-3911
Website

Biography

Biography

Rebecca Cooney is a distinguished professor at Washington State University’s Murrow College of Communication, bringing 30 years of professional communication experience to her work. She is committed to advancing integrated marketing communication through impactful projects and scholarly pursuits, with a passion for creating innovative learning environments. As a full-time educator for more than 13 years, she has trained over 4,000 students and partnered with numerous health organizations to develop and deliver customized multimodal training programs for diverse adult learners in rural communities. Beyond the classroom, Rebecca is actively involved in research as a co-investigator on two federally funded grants and served as the Director of Murrow Online Programs for nine years. She also serves as lead for assessment for Murrow College. Holding professional certification in learning experience design (LXD), she leverages her communications background to create engaging educational experiences.

LinkedIn

Education

  • MS Eastern Washington University, Communications (Dec 2023)
  • California State University Sacramento – Organizational Communication (Dec 1996)
  • Certified, Learning Experience Design (LXD) – Oregon State University (June 2021)

Classes Taught

  • COMSTRAT 701 – Online MA Capstone
  • COMSTRAT 563 – Professional Digital Content Promotion
  • COMSTRAT 562 – Advanced Media Strategies and Techniques
  • COMSTRAT 480 – Advertising Agency Operations and Campaigns
  • COMSTRAT 476 – Consumer Insights and Branding
  • COMSTRAT 383 – Media Strategies and Techniques for PR
  • COMSTRAT 310 – Digital Content Promotion
  • COMSTRAT 475 – PR Seminar
  • COM 101 – Media and Society

Research Interests

Rebecca Cooney’s research interests sit at the intersection of strategy, science, and smart design. She is driven by the belief that complex public health information needs a clear, engaging pathway to be understood. Her focus is on where strategic communication, learning experience design (LXD), and digital engagement create action and impact.

As a co-investigator and communications specialist for the Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research (R3CR), Cooney focuses on communications strategy. She manages the entire digital footprint, including website maintenance, social media, and metrics, ensuring the scientific community has the resources it needs.

She provides her LXD expertise to an NIH-R34 grant, developing a technology-based intervention to reduce college students’ cannabis misuse. She also applies her communication and design skills to support the Inland Northwest Human Research Clinic (INW HRC), a dedicated service center for human clinical research. This work extends her role on the Center of Excellence for Natural Product-Drug Interaction Research (NaPDI), a 10-year NIH/NCCIH-funded grant where she previously served on the Informatics Core.

In 2024-2025, Cooney was a co-investigator and instructional designer for the Training and Resources for the IHS on Alzheimer’s and Dementia Project (TRIAD), creating culturally sensitive, engaged learning experiences for the IHS, Tribal, and Urban Indian Organizations (I/T/U) system. Ultimately, her work is designed to move the needle on critical public health research.

Awards

  • Les Smith Distinguished Professor (2023-2025)
  • Chosen Coug Finalist – Top 50 (Apr 2023)
  • Stukent Professor of the Month (March 2023)
  • President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Career-Track Faculty (Mar 2021)
  • AEJMC Best practices in Teaching with collaborators Chelsea Thomas and Cara Hawkins-Jedlicka (2021)
  • Provost Featured Faculty Member (Nov 2019)
  • Oaks Academic Technology Award (May 2019)
  • WaCLA PR Campaign Awardee with collaborator Ryan Risenmay (2016)

Selected Publications

Recent Conference Presentations

  • Second author on an abstract and subsequent presentation at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2025 Annual Meeting in Boston, MA Nov 12-15. The abstract title is “Developing Competency-Based Alzheimer’s and Dementia Training for Indian and Urban Indian Health System Staff” honoring the work we did on the project between Sep 2024-Mar 2025. Jolie Crowder, PhD, MSN, RN, CCMC from Indian Health Service will present on behalf of the team.
  • Speaker, Guam’s 6th Annual Behavioral Health and Addictions Virtual Conference co-hosted by the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the University of Nevada and Guam’s Behavioral Health Department. Topic: Media Prevention: Social Media Best Practices and Creating a Framework for Digital Campaigns (Sep 25, 2025, virtual)
  • Speaker, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Centers (ROTA-R) – Pacific Southwest Substance Use Stigma Reduction: Creating Respectful Communications for Change Training. Topic: Digital Dignity: Crafting Stigma-Free Social Media Communications for Rural Substance Use Disorder Support (June 5-6, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV)
  • Co-Presenter at NCA 2024 with Tracy Simmons – SPARK Transformative Experiences for College Students “The Religion Reporting Project.” Presented at the annual NCA Conference in New Orleans (Nov 21-24, 2024)
  • Facilitator and Keynote Speaker: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center (SPTAC) “Effective Communication in Prevention Practices” series. Topic: Session 2: Culturally Appropriate Communications (Oct 30, 2024)
  • Co-Facilitator and Session Leader, the American University of Armenia Center of Excellence in Journalism. Topic: Building a Stronger Media in Armenia: Exploring the Potential of AI and Social Media. (June 2024)
  • Panelist, COMSHER AEJMC. Topic: Navigating Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Discussing Challenges and Solutions for Grants and Publishing. (Mar 21, 2024).