Alyse Lancaster

Alyse Lancaster joined the University of Miami in 1999 and holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Florida. Her research in the areas of targeted health-related messages, public service advertising, and advertising effects has been published in several scholarly journals, including The Journal of Advertising, The International Journal of Advertising, Mass Communication & Society, The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Health Marketing Quarterly, and The Howard Journal of Communications, among others. She also co-authored two book chapters in Sexual Teens, Sexual Media (Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates, 2001).

Dr. Lancaster teaches classes in the areas of advertising and social media.  In the Fall 2024, she taught a special topics course she created called The Mastermind of the Taylor Swift Brand, which focused on how Taylor Swift has effectively used branding, targeting, social media, and communication tactics to successfully build her billion-dollar brand, as well as her intensely loyal multicultural, multigenerational, and international fanbase. The class was featured on the four-part documentary series “The Taylor Swift Effect” airing on Peacock and will be taught again in the Fall 2025 semester.

Prior to taking on the role as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Communication in August 2023, she served as Chair of the Department of Strategic Communication for 11 years and Director of the Advertising Program for six years.  She served as co-advisor (with Meryl Blau) to the University of Miami’s National Student Advertising Competition Team from 2010-2014, during which time, the team won two national competitions in 2011 and 2013 and also placed second (2014) and 4^th (2012) nationally.   Dr. Lancaster has been an active member of the American Academy of Advertising since 1997 and currently serves as Chair of the organization’s Publications Committee.