Oklahoma Alpha Phi Dr. Ron Anderson teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in public relations and integrated communication management at the University of Texas. He previously taught at Washington State University. Dr. Anderson served as faculty adviser to the Public Relations Student Society of America chapters at WSU and UT-Austin for 21 years, 18 at UT, the longest in the chapter’s history, one of the first founded in 1968 and named for Dr. Alan Scott. During his tenure, the chapter won several national awards, and two chapter presidents won the Public Relations Student Society of America’s highest honor: the Gold Key Award. Brother Anderson was named the Best Public Relations Educator for 2002 by the Austin chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Under his direction, the UT-Austin undergraduate program in public relations was rated the eighth-best in the nation by The New York Times in the Nov. 23, 1998, issue of PRWEEK.
Brother Anderson wrote the first curriculum for the Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations at UT-Austin. He is a Big XII Faculty Fellow and serves on several University Committees, having chaired Recreational Sports in 2010-11. Dr. Anderson’s research is on the application of social cognitive theory to public health campaigns, most recently to the prevention of drunken driving and eating disorders, and has appeared in such journals as the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Health Communication, Mass Com Review, Journalism Quarterly, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, and The Journal of Corporate Citizenship. He has won Top Paper awards from the International Communication Association and the Western Decision Sciences Institute. Brother Anderson is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Public Relations Research, the Public Relations Review, International Journal of Strategic Communication, and the Journal of Promotion Management.
Brother Anderson is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, Texas Public Relations Association, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, International Communication Association and Western Decision Sciences Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in mass media from Michigan State University, a master’s in mass communication from San Diego State University, and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Anderson has worked professionally in political public relations on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in government public affairs in San Diego, and as a reporter in Oklahoma City.
