I was born in Chicago and raised in Minneapolis. I attended school at North High, and later Macalester College, the University of Minnesota, Arizona State University, and the University of Pittsburgh. After completing my undergraduate studies at Minnesota, I took a teaching job at Coronado High School from 1960 to 1962 before returning to graduate school. While teaching English and Communication there, I was also the head wrestling coach and assistant track coach. On Saturdays, I also taught driver’s instruction. 2021 was my 78th consecutive year in school, from the time I entered kindergarten. I am a Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, where I teach communication strategies within popular culture and crisis management. I have been teaching the same class at Northwestern, “Persuasive Images: The Rhetoric of Popular Culture,” for 52 years now – the longest-running class at the University. I am honored to have been awarded the National Speakers Association’s OUtstanding Professor Award for 1999-2000 and the Clarence Simon Award for Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring in the School of Communication in 2011.
As a faculty member at Harvard University from 1965 to 1969, I was director of the public speaking program, where I taught students such as Al Gore, Lou Dobbs, William Weld, and Tommy Lee Jones. I soon moved back to the Midwest and began teaching at Northwestern in 1969. In my time here, I have co-founded the Northwestern Master of Science in Communication program (MSC), which was the first professional Communications Master’s degree for executives. I have been able to continually pursue my love of athletics, as a member of the Advisory Board for Northwestern University’s Master of Arts in Sports Administration, serving on Major League Baseball’s Commissioners’ Initiative for the 21st Century, and being the chairman of the MLB’s Youth Initiative.
Over the years, I was fortunate to work and learn in diverse fields as a consultant, bringing those experiences back to the classroom. As a part of NASA’s astronaut training program for sixteen years, I conducted Public Communication Seminars and was responsible for developing the in-space communication program, which included teaching in space, press conferences and appearances in the media. In the political sphere, I served as a communication advisor for such campaigns as Richard M. Daley, Adlai Stevenson III, Michael Howlett, Jr,. Harold Washington, Paul Simon, Neal Hartigan and Lisa Madigan. I have also been a communication consultant to many companies and organizations, including IBM, Mott’s, Ernst & Young, Internal Revenue Service, Honeywell, Motorola, and the Attorneys’ Liability Assurance Society (ALAS). Both within the U.S. and internationally, I have traveled and served as a consultant to cities, states, and nations including Norway, Sweden, Portugal Argentina and Panama.
I have written many articles and book reviews for academic publications, as well as authoring and co-authoring 13 books. The first of which was The Relevant Rhetoric in 1969, and the most of recent of which were the Sports Strategist: Developing leaders for a High-Performance Industry, The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace and High Visibility: Transforming Your Personal and Professional Brand.