The Department of Communication is pleased to announce the addition of three outstanding
faculty members for the 2025–26 academic year. These new hires bring a wealth of experience,
innovative research, and a strong commitment to student success. Their expertise will
further strengthen our teaching and scholarship across key areas in the field, and
we look forward to the energy and ideas they will contribute to our academic community.
Dr. Meaghan McKasy
Meaghan McKasy is an Associate Professor (Lecturer) of Strategic Communication at
the University of Utah. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication and an M.S. in Environmental
Humanities, both from the University of Utah. Before joining the U, Dr. McKasy taught
a range of courses at Utah Valley University within the Public Relations and Strategic
Communication major, such as Communication Research Methods, Strategic Communication
Campaigns, Science Communication, Environmental Communication, and Media Literacy.
She is excited to advise the PRSSA chapter and contribute her expertise to the strategic
communication emphasis at the University of Utah. A native of the Pacific Northwest,
Dr. McKasy has resided in Utah since 2009 and enjoys outdoor activities like skiing,
biking, swimming, and hiking.
Dr. Liahnna Stanley
Liahnna Stanley (Ph.D., Arizona State University) (pronouns: she/they) joins the University
of Utah as Assistant Professor of Indigeneity, Native Studies, and Communication.
Her scholarly work engages Indigenous queer and feminist studies, Indigenous futurisms,
and decolonial methodologies. Her research focuses on how Indigenous creative work
gives shape to forms of living, organizing, and building worlds otherwise beyond the
structures imposed by colonialism and racial capitalism. She is especially interested
in how Indigenous artistic practices and experimental media can imagine and enact
possibilities for care, intimacy, and relation within anticolonial struggles persisting
through overlapping human and climate catastrophes.
Dr. Stanley cherishes long walks near water, local bookstores, and the smell of cedar
and wet earth. She finds joy in horror and speculative fiction, in losing herself
in stories, and in stargazing while contemplating our cosmic relations. Before joining
the U, Dr. Stanley served as Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Indigenous
Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is a descendant of the Poarch Band
of Creek Indians through her father and of mixed Euro-American settler heritage through
her mother.
Dr. Duncan Stewart
Duncan Stewart joins the Department of Communication as an Assitant Professor (Lecturer)
and the Associate Director of Forensics. Dr. Stewart has taught at the University
of Utah, Portland Sate, Lewis and Clark College, and CSULB. After earning his PhD
here at the U he took a detour from academia to San Francisco where he worked in ad
and brand strategy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
At the U he will focus on directing the forensics team, establishing a debate across
the curriculum practice, and continuing a tradition of creating opportunity for civic
debate and dialogue across campus and the state. He will also continue his research
on argumentation and advocacy in American culture, especially in the context of environmental
communication and the use of conspiracy theories.
We look forward to Dr. McKasy, Dr. Stanley, and Dr. Stewart enriching our Department
through their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and service. Please send them your
well wishes!
