Dr. Nan Yu
Assistant Professor
Email Dr. Yu
Office: Minard 321D
Phone: (701) 231-7300
I joined the NDSU Department of Communication in Fall 2009,
after receiving my Ph.D. from Penn State University. I earned
my master's degree from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
at Ohio University. I received my B.A. from Peking University
in my hometown of Beijing, China.
Most of my work experience has been associated with journalism and mass media. I was a feature writer for China Daily for three years, covering a variety of topics including social, educational, political, and environmental changes in China. We also produced a newsletter called Reports from China, which was published with The Washington Post monthly. Additionally, I worked with two national TV networks, CNN (International Newsgathering, Atlanta) and China Central TV (Sports Channel, Beijing). One of my most unforgettable journalistic experiences was as part of the news editing crew with China Central TV during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2004, I was honored with a China News Award for a story about disease-control staff investigation of the SARS virus chain.
I have a broad interest in communication research. I am particularly interested in theory-driven, quantitative research in the areas of health communication and international communication. I plan to continue my research investigating how receiver characteristics and message characteristics can affect the processing of health messages and the decision to adopt a recommended action.
My research is published in Visual Communication Quarterly and Electronic News. One of my recent scholarly works will be published in Health Communication.
In my spare time, I enjoy travelling, sports, movies, and cooking.
This semester, I am teaching COMM 320: Communication Analysis and COMM 380: Health Communication. In Spring 2010, I will be teaching Communication Analysis (COMM 320) and Advanced Quantitative Methods in Communication Research (COMM 710).