I was born in Dortmund, Germany on April 24, 1967 (167 years after the Library of Congress was established). In 1992, I received my Diplom-Kaufmann (a Bachelor of Science in Business) degree from the Technische Universität Dortmund in Germany. Having begun work in advertising, I moved to the United States to study under Kim Rotzoll and Linda Scott at the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL. In 1994, I received my Master of Science in Advertising degree.
After five years in the advertising industry working for Fallon McElligott (now Fallon Worldwide and part of the Publicis network) in Minneapolis, MN and the Hively Agency in Houston, TX, I returned to the academy.
I begun my doctoral program at the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1999 teaching media planning, cross-cultural advertising, and advertising strategy courses. I graduated with my Ph.D. in mass communication in 2002 and started work at the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I primarily teach advertising, persuasion, mass communication, health communication, and quantitative methods.
My research program centers on two interrelated paths— intercultural social advocacy promotions and designing campaigns that improve the way social and health-oriented messages are received by and are beneficial to recipients. The majority of my research projects converge on two interrelated topics:
- Dissemination of mass-mediated communication toward culturally diverse and disenfranchised population segments
- Analysis of current health marketing and prevention efforts (strategy, message) and exploration of new ways to communicate with/reach relevant target audiences
I have published in both general and specific communication journals (e.g., the Environmental Communication Yearbook and the International Communication Gazette) and been involved in mutiple edited books. Please see the publications list for details. Since I cherish collaborative research, quite a few of my projects are co-authored. I always welcome suggestions for future collaborative projects if they connect with my agenda.
In the years to come I plan to continue my research on communication toward the ever-changing culturally diverse population segments and generations and expand my research program into health promotion, and specifically, health maintenance and disease prevention campaigns.
Overall, I try to combine family life, and my research into health communication with an increasing programm of travel to guest lecture, present my work and meet like-minded researchers and teachers.
