Dr. Mark Heisten

Assistant Professor of Communication

Bio

Mark is an advertising and strategic communication professor and brand activism researcher. He has been an instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder since 2018, most recently serving as the Advertising Strategy Scholar-in-Residence. Mark has more than 25 years of professional experience in marketing, advertising, and public relations. In his professional experience, he worked with some of the world鈥檚 largest and well-known brands, including Adobe, Apple, Chicago Bulls and White Sox, FedEx, HP, Intuit, Microsoft, Midas, Nestl茅, the US Army, and Visa. Mark鈥檚 professional work has earned recognition, including the PRSA Silver Anvil and multiple DMA ECHO awards. His research focuses on the moral obligations of brands engaging in socially responsible advertising and marketing efforts, addressing two significant issues in strategic communication: ethical decision-making and sociopolitical engagement.

Education

PhD, Media Research & Practice, University of Colorado Boulder, 2025
MBA, Marketing & Management, Santa Clara University, Leavey School of Business, 2002
BA, English Literature, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1992.

Research Interests / Areas of Focus

Brand Activism, Corporate Social Responsibility, Media Ethics, Virtue Ethics, Business Ethics, Message Ethics, Artificial Intelligence Ethics, Moral Psychology, Organizational Leadership and Values.

Selected Publications

Waiting for the punch(line): the circuit of culture and internal public relations at Netflix  

Media Ethics: Issues and Cases  

Communicating health literacy on prescription medications on social media: in-depth interviews with 鈥減atient influencers鈥�  

System and method for business-to-business sales and marketing integration  

Creative Work

Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling.  

Selected Presentations

Seeing is Deceiving: Findings from Multiple Case Studies of Generative AI in Media 鈥� Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Annual Conference, Las Vegas, 2025.

Insufficiency of Normative Theory: Advertising Ethics, Corporate Advocacy, and the Public Sphere - Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Annual Conference, Philadelphia, 2024.

Algorithmic Authors: The Rise of the Robo-Writer in Journalism, Advertising, and Public Relations 鈥� Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Annual Conference, Las Vegas, 2024.

Waiting for the punch(line): The circuit of culture and internal public relations at Netflix 鈥� Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Washington, D.C., 2023.

Designing Ideas into Concepts: Exploring the Structural Differences between an Idea and a Concept 鈥� Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices, Lisbon, Portugal, 2023.

The ethical nature and caring practice of patient influence on social media 鈥� American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Annual Conference, Denver, 2023.

Awards and Honors

American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Doctoral Dissertation Grant Competition 鈥� Winner, 2025.

David C. Kleiman Scholarship in Honor of Professor Wayne Brockriede 鈥� Recipient, 2025.

Broadcast Education Association (BEA) 鈥� Research Committee, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Top Paper Presentation, 2024.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) 鈥� Public Relations Division, Top Open Research Competition, 2nd place, 2023.

University of Colorado Boulder, College of Media, Communication and Information, de Castro Award 鈥� Recipient, 2022.

Image of Mark Heisten.

Contact Information

Academic School

School of Communication and the Arts

Office

Lowell Thomas 146

Email

mark.heisten@Marist.edu

Phone

(845) 575-3000, ext. 2641