The Center for Strategic Communication (CSC) is an initiative of the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. This strategic initiative promotes advanced research, teaching and public discussions of the role of strategic communication in the public sector. As approached by the CSC, strategic communication is the production, transmission and exchange of messages (communication) in the service of an organization’s specific goals (strategic). The CSC’s focus has been on countering violent extremism, promoting national security, and successfully engaging in public diplomacy worldwide. The Center is composed of a multidisciplinary group of scholars at ASU and partner institutions.
The initiative was launched in 2005 as the Consortium for Strategic Communication, inaugurated with a public lecture series that brought recognized experts and distinguished spokespersons to the ASU Tempe campus drawn from government, military, academic and first-responder communities. In recognition of the group’s impact on the field including multi-million dollar research grants, influential books, and global reach of lectures and workshops, the Arizona Board of Regents authorized the establishment of the CSC as an official University Research Center in 2012.
The Center’s research is trans-disciplinary and incorporates the efforts of faculty in diverse fields, including human communication, religious studies, film and media studies, psychology, social psychology, persuasion and rhetoric, biomedical engineering and computer science. Recent major research grants and research efforts include a six-year, $4.5 million research project on Islamist extremists' use of narrative to influence contested populations in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Europe; a three-year, $6.1 million research project on the neurobiology of narrative comprehension and its influence on persuasion and decision-making; and a study of the framing of climate change communication in support of the $20 million ASU Foresight Initiative. The CSC has also conducted research projects on behalf of the US Department of State, NATO and in collaboration with the ASU Institute for Humanities Research.
For additional information or to become involved in one of our working groups, please contact Steve Corman, director.