Dr. Steve Urbanski

Director of Graduate Studies, Assistant Professor
Steve.Urbanski@mail.wvu.edu
304-293-3505 x5435

Dr. Steve Urbanski is an assistant professor and director of graduate studies at WVU’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism. 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 of Newspaper 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.

He teaches various journalism courses at WVU, including design, ethics, and mass media and society.

Urbanski’s research interests include the print media of West Africa, ethics and the convergence of rhetorical theory and conventional journalism. He recently co-authored the article “What Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke say about the press and the erosion of public trust” published in 2006 by Journalism Studies. His dissertation focused on the development of the free press in the West African republic of Benin.