Vita of

Chris Leland, Ph.D. 

Dr. Chris Leland is a Senior Fellow for Christian Worldview Studies at the Focus Leadership Institute and serves as the Vice President of College Student Ministries for Focus on the Family. Prior to coming to Focus in the summer of 2001, Dr. Leland served as a professor of communication at Huntington College (now Huntington University) in Indiana. He is also an adjunct faculty member for Indiana Wesleyan University, writing curriculum and teaching online courses in business and communication. He previously served on the faculty at Wichita State University’s Elliott School of Communication where he taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in communication and directed a nationally competitive speech and debate team.

Education

Ph.D.   Political Communication, University of Oklahoma (1991)

M.A.    Communication, University of Arkansas (1988)

B.A.     Communication/Politic & Government, Ripon College, Wisconsin (1986)

Summary of Publications and Presentations

Dr. Leland has published in a variety of areas, including articles on First Amendment issues, media impacts on society, campaign advertising, political speeches, examining the role of spiritual character as a political issue, and how Christians can best address the concerns of a postmodern media culture. Articles have appeared in the Free Speech Yearbook, Social Science Quarterly, and various communication journals and periodicals. Dr. Leland’s work was seen in The Electronic Election: Perspectives on the 1996 Presidential Election, as well as several studies on Campaign 2000. Dr. Leland has presented over two dozen research papers at professional conferences throughout the U.S. and internationally. In May 2000 he delivered the Forester Lecture at Huntington College, “A Remote Existence: Exploring the challenges of Christianity in a postmodern media culture.”  In recent years he has spoken at several Christian colleges and universities as a chapel and special emphasis speaker. He also serves as a conference and media spokesperson for Focus on the Family on a variety of issues.

Dr. Leland brings a great deal of professional communication experience to the classroom as well. He has served as a speechwriter for the National Governors’ Association, and has worked as a professional political consultant to local, regional, and national political campaigns. As a workshop and seminar leader, Dr. Leland makes presentations for major corporations on various topics which include “TeamBuilding Through Communication,” “Speaking for Success,” and “Communicating the Corporate Image.” Corporate clients have included Johnson and Johnson, Hershey Chocolate, WalMart Incorporated, Pizza Hut Incorporated, Lear Jet, and state and local government agencies. 

Honors and Professional Memberships

Dr. Leland is an active member of and has served in leadership positions in the National Communication Association. In addition, he holds membership in the International Communication Association, Religious Communication Association, and Pi Kappa Delta (communication honor society). In 1998 he was awarded the Distinctive Professor of the Year at Huntington College. 

Chris has been married to Becca since 1989, and they have four sons.