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The Reed College of Media and College of Creative Arts will merge to form the new WVU College of Creative Arts and Media as of July 1, 2024. Get details.

Steve Urbanski

Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies

Ph.D. (Duquesne University)

Dr. Steve Urbanski is an associate professor and director of graduate studies at WVU Reed College of Media. He has 28 years of experience in design, editing and reporting with newspapers such as the Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh; the Herald-Standard in Uniontown, Pa.; the former Sun-Tattler in Hollywood, Fla.; the Mountain-Statesman in Grafton, W.Va.; The Spirit in Punxsutawney, Pa., and the former Dallas Times Herald.

Before coming to WVU, Urbanski was a page design editor at the Post-Gazette. During that 14-year period, he won a number of state, regional and national awards, including portfolio awards in 2005, 2006 and 2007 from The Society for News Design.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from WVU, a master’s in rhetoric and the philosophy of communication from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in rhetoric, also from Duquesne. He has taught journalism and communication classes at Duquesne and Point Park University and also advised The Duquesne Duke for eight years.

Urbanski teaches various journalism courses at WVU, including design, ethics, international media, and mass media and society. He also has participated in College study-abroad trips to both Peru and West Africa.

Urbanski’s research interests include the print media of West Africa, ethics and the convergence of rhetorical theory and conventional journalism. He has done numerous presentations at academic conferences, including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Broadcast Education Association (BEA), Eastern Communication Association (ECA), Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), and the Pennsylvania Communication Association (PCA). His research has been published by the Journal of Communication and Religion, Journalism Studies, the American Communication Journal, The Journal of Electronic Publishing, and the Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies. His dissertation focused on the development of the free press in the West African republic of Benin.