Biography

Robert S. Littlefield (Ph.D., 1984, University of Minnesota) has been a faculty member and administrator at the University of Central Florida since 2016, most recently serving as Founding Director of the Nicholson School of Communication and Media (NSCM) in the College of Sciences. The school consists of more than 4500 students pursuing degrees in eight undergraduate and five graduate programs offered through four program areas: Communication, Film and Mass Media, Games and Interactive Media, and Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy. Under his leadership, NSCM launched a doctoral program in Strategic Communication, expanded its academic programs to the newly established UCF Downtown Campus, expanded its Advisory Board and fundraising activities, and established an awards program to recognize outstanding faculty, staff, and students. Prior to joining UCF, Littlefield was a professor at North Dakota State University for more than 35 years.

For decades, Littlefield’s research has focused on crisis and risk communication, crisis leadership and decision-making, and the culture-centered development of risk and crisis messaging. He also is a forensics educator with expertise and a line of research extending back to the 1980s, advancing the history, practice, development, and influence of intercollegiate and high school speech and debate activities.

His work in these areas has appeared in over 100 journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings. Littlefield is the author or co-author of eight books and textbooks. He is currently working on a book detailing how the leaders and members of a global nonprofit organization mobilized and adapted its operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He has advised over 50 master’s theses and 20 doctoral dissertations across a broad range of topics from strategic risk and crisis communication to forensic pedagogy.