Teresa Mastin

Teresa Mastin, PhD (1998), Mass Media—Michigan State University, is currently serving as the Interim Dean of the College of Communication Arts & Sciences. Prior to this role she served as the 10th chairperson for the Department of Advertising + Public Relations. Mastin’s primary research interests include sustained dialogue as a tool for community action, media advocacy as a public relations tool, media coverage of health issues related to women and vulnerable populations, especially in regard to individuals residing in struggling urban communities and low-income countries.

Mastin introduced sustained dialogue to Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine students, to the Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Sciences community, and to MSU students who participated in the inaugural Visual Storytelling in Kenya Study Abroad, May 2022. She was a Big Ten Academic Alliance Leadership Fellow, 2021-22 Cohort, and is the Vice President for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She served as a Fulbright specialist in Rwanda and Kenya and introduced media advocacy to non-governmental organizations operating in Rwanda, Kenya, and Vietnam for a purpose of helping them promote the core components of their mission and vision. She is an editorial board member for Health Communication and The Howard Journal of Communications, and an elected member of IPR ELEVATE.

Mastin’s research has been published in a range of peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Black Studies; College Teaching; Communication Research Reports; Health Care for Women International; Journal of International and Intercultural Communication; the Journal of Transcultural Nursing; Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly; Newspaper Journal; PRism; Public Relations Journal; Public Relations Review.

She serves as an AEJMC board member and as an advisory board member for SQ Scholars. Mastin has also served on the following boards: Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (MAPOR); Community Counseling Centers of Chicago (C4); HerStory Centre, working together for self-reliance (Nairobi, Kenya).

While the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (2015 – 2018), she completed a Healthcare Executive Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program, sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and was the School’s Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) certified administrator. Mastin frequently presented diversity and inclusion and cultural competency talks, workshops, and grand rounds, LGBTQ safe space trainings, and taught sustained and intergroup dialogue courses that addressed hot topic issues, e.g., racial climate/privilege; sexual misconduct/harassment in the medical profession.