New Mass Communications Professor Teaches Creativity, Curiosity, and Kindness in the Classroom

By SANTIAGO NUÑEZ/Staff Writer

The word “youth” is typically not associated with the mental image of a college professor — at least not at first thought.

However, one of UT Tyler’s newest assistant professors subverts the expectation. Assistant Professor Dr. Erik Gustafson could be confused for your average college student, albeit one dressed in a sports coat and dress shoes.

“If you take away the gray hair, I still don’t look that old,” Gustafson said.

WHO IS ERIK GUSTAFSON?

After working a number of internships for companies like Nordstrom, Chicago PBS, and BankORION, Gustafson felt like nothing he had experienced in his internships was anything he could enjoy as a career. That is, he felt that way until he stumbled into teaching from an advisor’s recommendation.

“It was a really exciting thing, like ‘They’re going to let me teach a college class.’ I had finally found something where it was like this just sort of clicked, like this could be fun for a while,” Gustafson said.

Gustafson first started lecturing at age 22. In the time between then and now, Gustafson’s teaching journey has been one of much travel.

He was an undergraduate student at Augustana College, then he began his teaching career. He received his master’s degree at Illinois State University, followed by more teaching experience and a doctorate at North Dakota State University. He became the Director of Interpersonal Communication for Business Professionals at the University of South Dakota and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at UT Tyler.

It might come as a surprise that, for a while, Gustafson wasn’t the greatest of students.

“So this is gonna sound weird, but I didn’t really take school very seriously until, like, late in my junior year of my undergrad, where I was like, ‘I should probably graduate,’” he said.

The drive behind his passion as an educational instructor comes from the connections he makes with people. He describes it as a large motivator behind his career choice and eventual effort in college.

“I’m really interested with you all as a younger generation, sort of how you interpret things,” he said. “But also, if you look back at older media stuff and talk with older people, that’s just as interesting as well, so I just like people.”

HIS STUDENTS

Gustafson’s fondness for ideas expressed by his students resonates with the students themselves.

“He really makes it feel like he’s not above you, like he feels so part of the conversation in the class,” said Sean Donnelly, a senior mass communications major. “And he’s not unapproachable in any way. He’s very approachable. I think he should get a raise.”

Donnelly enjoys how open and free the projects within the class are. To him, the creative freedom in the class helps students learn to have the same passion Gustafson displays.

“He’s very project-based, so it’s easy to follow along, and you have to apply the learning rather than just repeat it down onto a paper for a test,” said Davis Parkhurst, a senior mass communications major.

Parkhurst believes this open-ended and loose system for students is due to the relatively small age gap between Gustafson and students.

“He’s done a lot of research. And he’s done a lot of academic things. So it’s interesting to see he’s achieved a lot, even though he’s only been out of school for a while. I mean, he’s a doctor, you know,” Parkhurst said.

RESEARCH AND THEORY

Gustafson’s research is in communication studies and media ecology.

“I always say I’m at the intersection of politics, media and culture,” Gustafson said.

Research is something he gets a lot of satisfaction from, since the more work he writes or reads, the more his worldview changes.

“For me, that’s what research is. It is just exploring the ideas out there and trying to make sense of the world,” he said. “It’s infuriating at times and, you know, from time to time, you don’t want to pick anything up or write another word. But it’s something that makes me feel like I don’t have to lie. I don’t have to sell something.”

One of the biggest leaps in understanding for Gustafson was when he realized the medium in which a message is presented can be equally, if not more, important than the message itself.

“That clicked for me where I was like, ‘Oh, it’s not just what we see on the television, [but] the television itself changes what the possibilities are for us to see,’” Gustafson said.

The nuances of Gustafson’s work extend to his love for interaction with both new and familiar faces.

“I just think that the human element is important. like being available to others, but also, [in] every little micro-interaction you learn something you wouldn’t have otherwise learned,” he said.

People of all kinds provide Gustafson with thought-provoking exchanges. This is due to his ability to talk to any person he might come across, regardless of appearances or circumstance. He finds it important for people to acknowledge and treat others with respect rather than look down on them, especially those who may be suffering through difficult times.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

A running theme of Gustafson’s life is routinely being told that he is quite young for his profession and level of accomplishments.

“And at first, you’re like, ‘I’m not a baby, I swear,’ but mostly, it’s just exciting. It means I got a lot of time left to do cool stuff,” he said.

The constant thought of how far he’s come puts into perspective something that is more important to Gustafson: what else he can do.

“So like, there’s all this research, and that’s the stuff I know [and] I’ll eventually do, and then there’s this other cool stuff that hopefully at some point I get around to. But you know, in the blink of an eye, I’ll become the old person, so who knows,” Gustafson said.