*Accepting New Graduate Students
Teaching
- ALEC 136: Fundamentals of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Communication
- ALEC 207: Communicating with Public Audiences
- ALEC 388: Ethics in Agriculture and Natural Resources
Research
Dr. Akin's research program focuses on the social and psychological dynamics underlying individuals' attitudes and behaviors related to food, science, and the environment.
She investigates how strategic communications and media influence these dynamics, including how communication can debunk and correct misinformation about science issues. A complete list of Dr. Akin's scholarly research is available on Google Scholar.
Extension
Dr. Akin collaborates with Extension professionals to enhance communications of Extension programming and University-led research to the states's population.
About
Dr. Heather Akin is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication. Her research and service focus on understanding the social and psychological dynamics underlying publics' attitudes and behaviors related to science issues and risks. Her teaching focuses on the strategic communication of science, agriculture, and the environment.
She has published in a diverse array of academic journals, including Communication Research, Public Understanding of Science, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Environmental Communication, BioScience, Energy Policy, and the Oxford Handbook on the Science of Science Communication. Akin is also interested in how public opinion dynamics function across cultures. She received a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in Indonesia, maintains a strong interest in issues and politics in Southeast Asia. She received her PhD in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and from 2015 to 2017 was the Howard Deshong Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.