Since opening its doors in 1955 as the first college of communication in the country, MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences has been a pioneer in the industry — and remains one of the largest and most respected communication colleges in the nation. Our faculty have a tradition of being foundational scholars in the field of communication and trailblazers in the teaching of creativity.
Meet the newest educators and researchers to join ComArtSci in 2024.
New Faculty
Department of Advertising + Public Relations
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Luke Capizzo (he/him)
Assistant Professor
Luke Capizzo (Ph.D., APR) is an assistant professor of public relations in the Department of Advertising + PR (College of Communication Arts & Sciences) at Michigan State University. His research focuses on the potential societal contributions of organizations through public relations. Capizzo specializes in public relations, social issues management, societal impacts of PR and risk and environmental communication. His peer-reviewed research has been published in multiple journals including the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Inquiry, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, and Journal of Public Relations Education. He serves on multiple editorial boards including JPRR and PR Review, and as an associate editor for the Journal of Public Relations Education. Capizzo’s key strengths are public relations theory, applied PR campaigns, academic and professional writing, graduate advising and mentorship.
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John Foren (he/him)
Assistant Professor
John Foren is regional director for public relations, executive communications and social media for University of Michigan Health, overseeing all external communications for U-M Health hospitals from Lansing to Grand Rapids. Foren has expertise in public relations, strategic communications, social media, executive communications, media relations, storytelling and crisis communications. Besides teaching beginning PR writing at MSU, he serves on The State News Board of Directors at MSU; is an adjunct instructor for the Michigan Association of School Boards; and is a regular presenter for Junior Achievement. He is also a proud MSU Comm Arts alum and graduate of the School of Journalism. Foren’s key strengths are public relations, writing, editing, teaching and mentoring.
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Kelly Gaggin (she/her)
Assistant Professor
Kelly Gaggin has more than two decades of experience in corporate and agency environments encompassing a multitude of industries including: education, health care, technology, defense, nonprofit, tourism/hospitality and financial services/banking. Her professional background and personal interest in world cultures motivate a research agenda rooted in exploring public relations and strategic communications as drivers of cross-cultural understanding and relationship-building with special attention to nonprofit organizations and the populations they serve. Gaggin is a member of the Public Relations Society of America’s prestigious College of Fellows and has earned her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) credential. She is a member of PRSA’s national Diversity & Inclusion committee and a past-chair of the PRSA Northeast District. Gaggin also has experience in gastrodiplomacy research. Her key strengths are nonprofit communications, qualitative research, curriculum development and assessment, teaching, mentorship, advising / career advisement and PR writing.
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Zaakir A. Kareem (he/him)
Instructor
Zak Kareem is an instructor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University, where he teaches ADV 245: Multimedia Commercial Production. With over 20 years of professional film and video production experience, Kareem brings a wealth of industry knowledge to his students. His professional specialties include executive producing, advertising, film and video production, post production and creative design. In addition to his teaching role, Kareem works full-time as a Senior Producer at Uniworld Group Inc. in their Detroit office. He has produced commercials for major clients such as Ford, Rock Mortgage, Heisman Trophy Trust and the American Heart Association. His key strengths are film and video production, mentoring, producing and screen writing.
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Mengyan Ma (she/her)
Assistant Professor / Professor of Practice
Mengyan Ma is an Assistant Professor (Professor of Practice) in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. Before rejoining Michigan State University, she served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC). Among Ma’s research and creative specialties are data-driven media strategy; social media psychology; family communication, resilience and flourishing; the impact of memorable messages on psychological and physical health; health message design and healthy behavior promotion. Her key strengths are international academic and industry experience; quantitative and qualitative research; large class teaching; internship and job advising; global professional learning facilitation and community-engaged service.
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Amanda McCafferty (she/her)
Associate Instructor
Amanda McCafferty is an Assistant Instructor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. She has almost a decade of experience working at large-scale global agencies, start up companies, and the in-between. Her portfolio casts a wide net in Health & Wellness, B2B, Higher Education, B2C, and non-profit. McCafferty specializes in creative direction, creative concepting, copywriting, strategy, art direction and design. Her key strengths are teaching and mentorship, writing for broadcast and social, creative writing, creative concepting and brand strategy.
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Juan Mundel (he/him)
Associate Professor
Juan Mundel is a tenured associate professor of advertising and public relations in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences. He teaches undergraduate and graduate advertising and consumer psychology courses. His interdisciplinary research focuses on consumer behavior and media effects. He’s published extensively on the processes that drive consumer and social media user behavior, with particular emphasis on promoting audience and consumer well-being. He serves as the editor of the Journal of Advertising Education and has been an invited reviewer for several academic journals. In addition, Juan received the 2024 Distinguished Excellence in Teaching Award from AEJMC. His key strengths are social media, consumer psychology, multicultural and diverse audiences and Hispanic / Latinx marketing.
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Sam Sefton
Assistant Instructor / Professor of Practice
Sam Sefton is an award-winning Creative Director / Writer with roots in Design and Art Direction. After graduating with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sefton made his way from a small design firm in Chicago to Doner Advertising in Detroit where he began his career as an Art Director. After Doner, Sam went on to FCB and BBDO where he became SVP Group Creative Director, leading teams and earning awards for Jeep and Dodge automotive accounts. Most recently, Sefton has been an Adjunct Professor in the Advertising Design Department at College for Creative Studies in Detroit. While at CCS, Sam’s students won many awards including regional and national Addy’s, AAF Mosaic awards celebrating DEI in student work, Best-of-Show D-Show Awards as well as several Gold and several Silver D-Show awards and finally, One Show Young Ones awards. Sefton’s key strengths are strategic planning and thinking, understanding audience positioning, creating award-winning communications, leading teams and mentoring.
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Mariah L. Wellman (she/her)
Assistant Professor
Mariah L. Wellman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. She is an expert on social media influencers, wellness rhetoric, and the growth of the wellness industry. Wellman is particularly interested in how popular users within digital wellness communities build authority with audiences. Her research specialties include content creation, health communication, patient-provider communication, social media influencers, qualitative research methods and the wellness industry. Wellman’s work has been published in New Media & Society, Social Media & Society, Health Communication, Feminist Media Studies, Journal of Media Ethics, and Rhetoric of Health & Medicine. Before joining Michigan State University, Dr. Wellman received her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Utah and her M.A. in Journalism from the University of Iowa. Her key strengths are teaching qualitative research methods, mentoring, content creation, brand strategy and efficiency in academic writing and reading.
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Ning Xie (she/her)
Assistant Professor / Professor of Practice
Ning Xie is an Assistant Professor / Professor of Practice in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. Her research specialties include public relations, emotions, crisis communication, quantitative research methods, structural equation modelling, models and algorithms to predict health-related outcomes, personality and consumer behavior. Xie’s key strengths are building collaborative programs with international universities, managing joint international programs, student mentoring and advising, teaching in the U.S. and in China, quantitative and qualitative research, student recruitment, helping international students with local adaptation, intercultural exchange, professional development and academic mentoring.
Department of Communication
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Ellen Reinhart (she/her)
Postdoctoral Scholar
Ellen Reinhart is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business prior to joining MSU. Her research centers on social inequality and social class, well-being and perceived contributions to others. Some of her other research has focused on how communication leveraging moral values impacts policy support and how experiencing harm from the COVID-19 pandemic shaped views of inequality and advocacy. Among Reinhart’s key strengths are social, psychological and cultural approaches to social science research.
Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders
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Janine Mathee-Scott (she/her)
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Janine Mathee-Scott is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders. She specializes in child language disorders, autism spectrum disorder, word learning and caregiver-child interactions. Mathee-Scott’s key strengths are using eyegaze methods, language sampling, clinical translation, scientific writing and mentorship.
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Ron Pomper (he/him)
Assistant Professor
Ron Pomper is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University. Pomper studies how children learn language, including children with typical language development, Developmental Language Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. He uses behavioral responses and eye-tracking methods to measure different aspects of children’s ability to learn new words. His recent work investigates how children form detailed representations of the sounds that form words. His key strengths are statistical analyses, programming languages (R, HTML, python), teaching and mentorship.
Dean's Office
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Sriram Kalyanaraman (he/him)
Senior Associate Dean for Research
Sriram Kalyanaraman is the Senior Associate Dean for Research. His specialties include using immersive media platforms to improve the human spirit and condition based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Program. His key strengths are forging inter, trans and multi-disciplinary collaborations; translating academic scholarship to applied research and intercultural mentoring.
Other faculty members who joined the college this year but are not pictured above include Stephanie Baron, Lauren Clayborne, Scott Shank, Elaine Kulhanek, Andrew McGlashen and Robert Prince.