Press Room

WASHINGTON, DC—Dane S. Claussen, Ph.D., a former journalist and communications professor, is the National Communication Association’s (NCA) first Director of Research, Publications, and Professional Advancement. He will begin this new position in mid-February 2023. Marjorie Lightman, Ph.D., a Partner in the Washington, DC-based consulting firm QED Associates, LLC, served as the Interim Director of Research. 

“We are delighted that Dane is joining the NCA National Office team,” said Shari Miles-Cohen, Ph.D., NCA Executive Director. “He brings a breadth of experience as a communication scholar, researcher, and writer to the role, and a familiarity with the Association that will help chart the future of our scholarly publications, support our members, and advance our discipline-focused research.”   

Before coming to NCA, Claussen was a teacher with Semester at Sea/Institute for Shipboard Education, University of Idaho, Thiel College, Shanghai International Studies University, Point Park University, and Missouri State University. As a longtime educator, Claussen taught numerous journalism, media, and communication courses, most often social science research methods, media law, media ethics, media management/economics, media history, and journalistic reporting/writing.  

Claussen said, “I am thrilled to serve NCA’s vast, diverse, and active members by joining the excellent NCA staff. NCA is a vital, comprehensive academic organization with important new plans for the future, and I look forward to helping to make those successful.” 

At Thiel College, where he was the James Pedas (full) Professor of Media, Communication, and Public Relations and a department chair, Claussen also served as a course director of Presentational Literacy (an institution-wide required course) and redesigned the Communication Studies major/minor. At Point Park, Claussen was a full professor, served as the university’s Faculty Development Coordinator and Graduate Council chair, and directed a large M.A. program for nine years.  

As an NCA member, Claussen was involved in the Mass Communication Division and LGBTQ division and caucus and is a former editorial board member of Communication Education. He was Editor of Newspaper Research Journal (2017-21) and Journalism & Mass Communication Educator (2006-12) and has served as an editorial board member of many other communication and sociology of religion journals. He is the author or editor of four scholarly books and the author of more than 100 academic articles, book chapters, essays, book reviews, and editorials. Long active in the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC), Claussen led four divisions and an interest group and served on its Publications Committee, Teaching Committee, and Diversity Task Force.  

Claussen earned a B.S. in journalism (Oregon), an M.S. (Kansas State) and a Ph.D. (Georgia) in mass communication, and an MBA (Chicago Booth). Before entering higher education full-time, he was the editor and/or publisher of daily, weekly, biweekly, and monthly newspapers and magazines in Wisconsin, Washington state, and Oregon; managed a newspaper management consultants’ network; and was a broker/appraiser for print media companies for sale. During his extensive career, Claussen also served as Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and as a marketer for a study abroad company.  

An avid global traveler, Claussen has visited (or lived in) all 50 US states (48 of them more than once) and, since 2006, visited almost 50 other countries for work and/or tourism. A former Fulbright Specialist, he has done extensive consulting work in Bangladesh and Spain. 

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ABOUT THE NATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION 

The National Communication Association (NCA) advances Communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. Dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems. NCA supports inclusiveness and diversity among our faculties, within our membership, in the workplace, and in the classroom; NCA supports and promotes policies that fairly encourage this diversity and inclusion. 

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