Education
B.S., Communication Studies, The College at Brockport (SUNY)
M.A., Public Relations, Ball State University
Ph.D., Mass Communication, University of South Carolina, May 2023
Background
Carl Arland Ciccarelli is a scholar who studies legacy and social media effects in a number of contexts, including health communication as well as the strategic communication functions of public relations, brand marketing, and advertising in for-profit and non-profit sectors. Ciccarelli takes interest in theoretically driven research and research methodologies. Ciccarelli has designed various experiments and surveys, conducted content analyses, and employed a broad variety of statistical and qualitative methods in his research work.
Ciccarelli has had his research presented at academic conferences, such as The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference and International Communication Association (ICA) annual conference. Ciccarelli was the 2021 Inaugural Grant recipient for the AEJMC Collaborative Scholars Grant. He also received a Moeller Top Student Paper Award from AEJMC.
Along with his research and ongoing publications Ciccarelli has also authored his own textbook, which contains meaningful insights for advertising, public relations, marketing, and business students. The text encompasses Ciccarelli's immersive, practical, and thought-provoking teaching style, while providing a plethora of discussion prompts, reflection assignments, and pertinent research to support each topic. Ciccarelli,C. A. (2021)."Branding: Generating Value that Resonates & Tracking R.O.I." Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.ISBN#978-1-7924-4752-5,p.1-104.
Research Interests
health communication; media effects; the impact of media message-framing; perceived self-efficacy for pro-social behaviors; media influence on social determinants of health; crisis communications
Teaching
Ciccarelli sees the role that he has in his students learning process as extending far beyond the classroom. As a result of this he takes a holistic view of teaching; his teaching philosophy revolves closely around fostering several key learning outcomes and practical takeaways for each student. This strategy is ever-present in the classroom through Ciccarelli's instructional style. He believes in a mixed method approach to optimally achieving student engagement, the stimulation of critical thinking, curiosity, discussion, and avenues for the practical and relevant application of course content as his primary objectives.
The application of Ciccarelli's teaching philosophy begins with an open and respectful classroom environment where thoughtful discussion is expected from all students, curiosity is rewarded, and all questions and perspectives are used to build the dialogue and path of student learning each semester. This classroom atmosphere starts with Ciccarelli and is something that he recognizes as a key component of student success, and foremost his responsibility to pass along to students, allowing them to feel comfortable, engaged, and empowered to take an active role within Ciccarelli's courses.
Ciccarelli's teaching interests include: Quantitative Research Methods; Communication Theory; Branding for Public Relations/Advertising; Strategic Communication; Health Communication; Organizational Communication; Crisis Communication/Public Relations Management.