{"id":381852,"date":"2026-08-26T18:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381852\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T18:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:52:13","slug":"creator-of-taylor-swift-class-named-interim-school-of-communication-dean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381852\/","title":{"rendered":"Creator of Taylor Swift class named interim School of Communication dean"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Alyse Lancaster named new interim dean for School of Communications<\/p>\n

Dr. Alyse Lancaster is taking the helm as interim dean of the School of Communication after nearly three decades at UM.<\/p>\n

Lancaster joined UM in 1999 as an assistant professor after earning her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Since then, she has held several teaching and administrative positions, including serving as director of the advertising program, chair of the department of strategic communication, and most recently, vice dean of academic affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her decision to come to Miami was shaped, in part, by someone who believed the University had limited potential. While Lancaster was deciding between UM and the University of Tennessee, her then-department chair advised her to choose Tennessee because, in their view, \u201cthe University of Miami isn\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster disagreed. She chose Miami because she \u201csaw so much potential here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That potential eventually led Lancaster to help reshape the advertising program. After receiving tenure, Lancaster asked then-Dean Sam Grogg if she could serve as program director because she believed the program had greater potential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her new role, she began hiring new faculty members and eventually helped build what she called \u201cthis amazing advertising program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students, however, may recognize Lancaster for a course that turned one of the world\u2019s biggest pop stars into the subject of a semester-long class.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fall of 2024, Lancaster created \u201cThe Mastermind of the Taylor Swift Brand,\u201d a special topics course examining the strategies behind Taylor Swift\u2019s billion-dollar brand. Students studied topics including branding, audience targeting and social media, while also examining how Swift cultivated her large fanbase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea came to her while she was on a walk when she learned that Swift had officially become a billionaire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I was done with my walk, I had the idea for a 16-week class. I literally wrote out the outline while I was walking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The course attracted national media attention and was featured in Peacock\u2019s four-part docuseries, \u201cThe Taylor Swift Effect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before Lancaster took over as interim dean, former Dean Karin Wilkins made a significant impact on UM\u2019s School of Communication.<\/p>\n

During Wilkins\u2019 tenure, the School of Communication made significant gains in national rankings, with Niche naming it #15 on its Best Colleges for Communications<\/a> in America list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wilkins will be joining Stony Brook University\u2019s School of Communication and Journalism as dean.<\/p>\n

Lancaster said that her experience working closely with Wilkins will help her maintain stability while the school searches for a permanent dean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI see my role as serving as a sort of transitional person,\u201d Lancaster said. \u201cMy job is to sort of be the person who provides stability and transition, but also maintains the momentum we have going for the school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster said she wants the transition between deans to have little effect on the students. She plans to continue supporting the school\u2019s five departments and to ensure faculty and students can continue their work without interruption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how great our students are,\u201d Lancaster said. \u201cMy job is to make sure that students don\u2019t feel anything other than the excellence that we already give you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The School of Communication has continued to receive recognition across its programs. Lancaster pointed to the school\u2019s student media organizations \u2014 including The Miami Hurricane, the Ibis Yearbook and UMTV \u2014 which she said regularly receive awards. Faculty members have also earned recognition at conferences and are published in top journals in their fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students and faculty are just at the top of their game,\u201d Lancaster said. \u201cSo as interim dean, it\u2019s my job to make sure they can continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster has worked closely with students outside of the classroom, serving as a co-adviser to UM\u2019s National Student Advertising Competition Team from 2010 to 2014. In those years, the team won two national competitions in 2011 and 2013, placed second in 2014 and fourth in 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her connection to the School of Communication became even more personal just over a year ago. Lancaster\u2019s daughter is now a sophomore at the school, something she said makes her extremely proud.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside of her work at the University, Lancaster said she enjoys baking sourdough, listening to Taylor Swift and learning to play the drums. She even has a drumhead under her desk that she plays when she gets stressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For any students feeling uneasy this school year, Lancaster offers a piece of advice: \u201cJust keep doing what you\u2019re doing, keep trusting the faculty that are here because they are the best faculty in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alyse Lancaster named new interim dean for School of Communications Dr. Alyse Lancaster is taking the helm as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-381852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}