Steven Pike

Steven Pike joined the Newhouse faculty in 2016 and teaches public relations and public diplomacy. He has taught Advanced Public Diplomacy, Public Diplomacy Practicum, Public Relations Management and Leadership, Public Relations Campaign Development, Media Relations and Spokesmanship, and Communications and Society.

He is the author of several chapters and papers on public diplomacy, including: "Ethical issues in place branding" and "Sister Cities initiatives" in Elgar Encyclopedia of City and Place Branding(Sevin, ed.); "This American century is over, what comes next?" in Public Diplomacy in Times of Uncertainty (Surowiec, Manor, eds.); "Management of public diplomacy" in A Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy (Gilboa, ed.).  He has published several key papers in peer-reviewed journal Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, including: "What diplomats do: A Q Methodology study of images of diplomacy" (in review); "Diplomatic identity and communication: the impact of self-identity on public diplomacy communication;" "Using Q Methodology to augment evaluation of public diplomacy programs;" and "What diplomats do: U.S. citizen perspectives on the work of public diplomacy."  Current projects include a Q-methodology based co-orientation study of the perceptions that public diplomacy practitioners from different nations and cultures hold of the profession, and a textbook for public relations campaign development.

He is currently co-chair of the academic study committee of the Public Diplomacy Council of America and a member of the editorial board of the Korean Journal of Public Diplomacy.  From 2022-2024, he was the chair of the public diplomacy interest group at the International Communications Association, having previously served as secretary and vice-chair/planner for the group from 2018 to 2022.

He joined Newhouse following a 23-year career with the U.S. Department of State as a diplomat and foreign service officer. He served as director of policy for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs; public affairs counselor at the U.S. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates; and spokesman and media director of the U.S Mission to Canada. He was honored to serve as a State Department Pearson Legislative Fellow in the office of Connecticut Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, and had other assignments in Senegal, Haiti and Washington, D.C.  

He holds a B.A. in politics from Wesleyan University, an M.S. in foreign service from Georgetown University and an M.S. in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.