Outreach Director and Teaching Professor
Scott Meyer
Scott Meyer has a broad range of business and institutional management, development, government relations, and communications leadership experience. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, started and grown his own business, and was chairman of the world’s largest public relations firm. He has extensive international experience having traveled to more than 60 countries and received national recognition for his work in strategic planning. Prior to joining the adjunct faculty at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications, he was chief marketing officer for the College of Liberal Arts. Scott is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. He is active in volunteer leadership roles in several non-profit organizations.
Academic Director
Erich Sommerfeldt
Dr. Erich Sommerfeldt received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the Gaylord School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma in 2011 and his M.A. in Communication from Western Michigan University in 2008. He specializes in public relations, with research emphases in civil society and development communication, public diplomacy, social capital, and social network analysis. He was selected in 2020 by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the U.S. Department of State as a Jefferson Science Fellow. He was appointed as a Senior Advisor to the State Department in 2022. He was recently elected as vice chair of the public relations division of the International Communication Association.
Faculty
The program's faculty members are a mix of University of Minnesota professors and professionals who work in the Twin Cities agency community and bring real-world client situations and case studies to the classroom.
Emily Carlson
Emily Carlson, who earned her B.A. from the University of St. Thomas in 2003, is in her second year teaching Integration of Communication Strategies Across Media for the Hubbard School of Journalism's Strategic Communication M.A. Program. As the Director, Media Planning, at Rain the Growth Agency, Emily draws on nearly two decades of experience putting her clients' messages in front of their target audiences with the type of precision, efficiency and impact that have become her hallmark. Beneficiaries to her breakthrough media strategies include Syngenta, Federal Premium, Savage, Instinct Pet Food, ReMax, Bright Health and the NHL's Minnesota Wild, where her role as Marketing Manager included cultivating continued ticket demand to extend the longest sellout streak in professional sports at the time.
Mark Derks
Mark Derks is currently Chief Marketing Officer for BlueGrace Logistics, a hypergrowth, third-party logistics provider (3PL) headquartered in Tampa, Florida. He leads brand development, marketing strategy and public relations. He also plays a key role in sales enablement, product innovation and customer experience. Prior to BlueGrace, Derks was a Partner and Chief Marketing Officer for Words At Work, a marketing services agency. Previously, Derks spent more than 20 years with C.H. Robinson where he served as director of global marketing and led marketing strategy, brand management and external communications. He recently concluded a six-year Board service as Treasurer for The Brand Lab, and is President of the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association.
Amy O'Connor
Amy O'Connor earned her doctoral degree in the area of public affairs and issue management in 2004 from Purdue University. O'Connor joined the HSJMC faculty in 2015 after many years at North Dakota State University. She is currently an associate professor and her research focuses on corporate social responsibility communication. Before becoming an academic, O'Connor worked in advertising and public relations at DDB Needham Chicago and the National Kidney Foundation.
Jeremy Rose
Jeremy Rose received his Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Minnesota in 1994. Jeremy has taught COMM5441: Communication in Human Organizations to professional students for over 15 years. In addition to teaching Organizational Communication, he teaches courses in persuasion, family communication, argumentation, and a seminar on credibility. He has experience in trial consulting, advising attorneys on jury decision-making, opening statements, and jury selection interviews.
Adam Saffer
Adam Saffer earned his doctoral degree in Strategic Communication from the University Of Oklahoma in 2014. Currently, Saffer teaches Strategic Communication at the Hubbard School after beginning his career on the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. His research revolves around understanding how individuals, groups, and organizations use and are influenced by communication networks. Saffer has published in journals like New Media & Society, Journal of Communication, Communication Monographs, and Communication Research..
Michelle Wood
Michelle Wood earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. She researched and wrote her dissertation on inoculation theory (resistance to persuasion) and teaches the Strategic Communication Theory course in the Professional M.A. Program. She has been an instructor at the Hubbard School since 2007, teaching various strategic communication courses for graduates and undergraduates. Michelle was previously a public relations counselor at Morgan & Myers Agency in Iowa and Wisconsin. She holds her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America.