UM Directory

Education

Ph.D 2003 Arizona State University

MA 1992 North Dakota State University

BA 1988 Concordia College

Current Position

Professor

Courses Taught

COMX 220 Introduction to Organizational Communication

COMX 291 Arguing and Debating with Civility

COMX 491 Leadership and Communication

COMX 421 Communication in Nonprofit Organizations

COMX 424 Risk and Crisis Communication

COMX 425 Communication in Health Organizations

COMX 591 Communicating Community

COMX 561 Qualitative Research Methods

Teaching Experience

Professor - Department of Communication Studies, University of Montana, 2016 to present

Associate Professor - Department of Communication Studies, University of Montana, 2010 to 2016

Assistant Professor - Department of Communication Studies, University of Montana, 2008 to 2010

Assistant Professor - Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX - 2003 to 2008

Graduate Teaching Associate - Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ - 1999 to 2003

Director of Debate and Lecturer - Department of Communication, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND - 1992 to 1999

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Department of Communication, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND - 1991 to 1992

English Teacher and Director of Debate, Speech, and Student Congress - Shanley High School, Fargo, ND - 1989 to 1990

Research Interests

Dr. Joel Iverson (PhD, Arizona State University), is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Montana. His research focuses on the communicative processes of organizing at group, organizational, and community levels, with an emphasis in risk and crisis communication. His theoretical developments include the Four Flows Model of Communication and Communities of Practice Theory. Recently, he has applied these approaches to a range of contexts, including wildland fire policy, wildland firefighting, agricultural biosecurity, earthquake forecasting, health support groups, volunteer management, and nonprofit organizations.

Projects

Reframing Wildland Fire Communication

Communities of Practice for Wildland Fire Planning

Four Flows Model of Organizaional Communication

Field of Study

Organizational Communication, Nonprofit Studies, Knowledge Management, Risk and Crisis Communication, Health Communication

Selected Publications

Book:

McPhee, R.D. Myers, K.K. & Iverson, J.O. (2025) The Communicative Constitution of Organizations: The Four Flows Model. Wiley.

Articles and Chapters:

Iverson, J. & Farley, D. (2023). Communities of practice approach to safety communication. In D. Sellnow & T. Sellnow (Eds). Handbook of Communicating Safety and Risk. De Gruyter.

Iverson, J., Myers, K. & McPhee, R. (2022). Theorizing Communication and Constitution of Organizations from a Four Flows (Structurational) Perspective. In The Routledge Handbook of the Communicative Constitution of Organizations. Routledge.

Flores, D.; Fox, Rebekah L.; Iverson, Joel O.; Venette, Steven J.; Conley, Craig; Jahn, Jody; Howes, Satoris S. Haire, Emily, R. (2022). Pivoting during the pandemic: How COVID-19 and the 2020 wildland fire year created a novel learning opportunity for USDA Forest Service wildland fire management. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-431. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Thompson, M., MacGregor, D., Calkin, D., & Iverson, J. (2022). Wildfire, COVID-19, and Enterprise Risk Management in the Forest Service. Wildfire Management Today. USDA Forest Service.

Flores, D., Black, A., Conley, C., Fox, R., Haire, E., Howes, T., Iverson, J., Jahn, J., Venette, S. J. (2021). Learning from Crisis: Making Sense of COVID-19 during Fire Year 2020. United States Forest Service.

Edwards, A. L., Sellnow, T. L., Sellnow, D. D., Iverson, J., Parrish, A., & Dritz, S. (2020). Communities of practice as purveyors of instructional communication during crises. Communication Education, 1-22.

Sellnow, D., Iverson, J.O. & Sellnow, T. (2017). The Evolution of the Operational Earthquake Forecasting (OEF) Community of Practice (CoP): The L’Aquila Communication Crisis as a Triggering Event for Organizational Renewal. Journal of Applied Communication Research. Also won the Top Paper Award in the Applied Division at NCA, 2016.

Iverson, J.O. & McPhee, R.D. (2008). Communicating knowing through communities of practice: Exploring internal communicative processes and differences among CoPs. Journal of Applied Communication Research.

Publications

Books

McPhee, R.D. Myers, K.K. & Iverson, J.O. (2025) The Communicative Constitution of Organizations: The Four Flows Model. Wiley.

Articles and Chapters

Singh, S., & Iverson, J.O. (In Press). Competing Narratives of Healing and Post Traumatic Growth for Community and Organizational Renewal in the Sexual Assault Crisis at the University of Montana. Southern Communication Journal.

Soares, R., Sellnow, T. & Iverson, J.O. (2025). Communicative (Re)Constitution of Organizations as a Post-Crisis Discourse. Corporate Communications, In Press.

Björck, A., Vogel, B., Iverson, J. O., Venette S. J., Daba-Buzoianu, C., Pugnetti, C., Champagne-Poirier, O. (2025). Tackling Wicked Problems in Risk and Crisis Communication through Design Thinking. Insights from the ICRCC Conferences 2024 and 2025. Proceedings of the International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference, Volume 6 (pp. #). Clemson SC: International Crisis and Risk Communication Association.

Flores, D., Fox, R. L., Jahn, J., Iverson, J. O., & Venette, S. J. (2024). Risk and crisis communication in wildland fire fighting: Developing a social science research group for wildland fire. In In: Proceedings of the International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference, Volume 6; March 11-13, 2024; Orlando, FL. Orlando, FL: International Crisis and Risk Communication Association. p. 66-69. (pp. 66-69).

Miller, S., Flores, D., Gumm, J., Anabel, C., Fleming, L., & Iverson, J. (2024). Flames and rapid feedback: How focus groups shaped wildfire response during COVID-19. Science You Can Use Bulletin, Issue 68. Fort Collins, CO: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 7 p., 68.

Flores, D., Fox, R. L., Jahn, J., Conley, C., Howes, S. S., Iverson, J. O., Venette, S.J., Haire, E.R. & Stoof, C. R. (2024). Using Focus Groups for Knowledge Sharing: Tracking Emerging Pandemic Impacts on USFS Wildland Fire Operations. Society & Natural Resources, 37(6), 957–975. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2024.2341271

Reif-Stice, C., Venette, S., Smith-Frigerio, S., Iverson, J.O., Bani-Amerina, N. (2024). Is there a difference? Generational response to Covid and media Usage. In Perrault, M.F. & Smith-Frigerio, S. (Eds.) Crisis communication case studies on COVID-19: Multidimensional perspectives and applications, Peter Lang.

Iverson, J. & Farley, D. (2023). Communities of practice approach to safety communication. In D. Sellnow & T. Sellnow (Eds). Handbook of Communicating Safety and Risk. De Gruyter.

Iverson, J., Myers, K. & McPhee, R. (2022). Theorizing Communication and Constitution of Organizations from a Four Flows (Structurational) Perspective. In The Routledge Handbook of the Communicative Constitution of Organizations. Routledge

Flores, D.; Fox, Rebekah L.; Jahn, J.; Iverson, J.; Venette, Steven J.; Conley, Craig; Howes, Satoris S. Haire, Emily, R. (2022). Pivoting during the pandemic: How COVID-19 and the 2020 wildland fire year created a novel learning opportunity for USDA Forest Service wildland fire management. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-431. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Thompson, M., MacGregor, D., Calkin, D., & Iverson, J. (2022). Wildfire, COVID-19, and Enterprise Risk Management in the Forest Service. Wildfire Management Today. USDA Forest Service.

Flores, D., Black, A., Conley, C., Fox, R., Haire, E., Howes, T., Iverson, J., Jahn, J., Venette, S. J. (2021). Learning from Crisis: Making Sense of COVID-19 during Fire Year 2020. United States Forest Service.

Edwards, A. L., Sellnow, T. L., Sellnow, D. D., Iverson, J., Parrish, A., & Dritz, S. (2020). Communities of practice as purveyors of instructional communication during crises. Communication Education, 1-22.

Anthony, K. E., Reif-Stice, C. E., Iverson, J. O., Venette, S. J. (2020). Belonging in practice: Using communities of practice theory to understand support groups. The Handbook of Applied Communication. (pp. 765-779). John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

Traci, M., Farley, D., Steven, S., Pittaway, M., & Iverson, J. (2019). Building a Collaborative Community of Practice to Improve Information and Referral Services with Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Community Stakeholders: A procedures manual for state and local disability organizations, including Special Olympics Programs. University of Montana, Missoula, Montana. ©RTC: Rural 2019.

Iverson, J. O., McPhee, R. D., & Spaulding, C. W. (2018). Being able to act otherwise: The role of agency in the four flows at 2-1-1 and beyond. In The Agency of Organizing: Perspectives and Case Studies (pp. 43-65). Taylor and Francis.

Sellnow, D., Iverson, J.O. & Sellnow, T. (2017). The Evolution of the Operational Earthquake Forecasting (OEF) Community of Practice (CoP): The L’Aquila Communication Crisis as a Triggering Event for Organizational Renewal. Journal of Applied Communication Research. Also won the Top Paper Award in the Applied Division at NCA, 2016.

Iverson, J.O. (2013). Communicating Belonging: Building Communities of Expert Volunteers. In M. Kramer, L. Gossett, & L. Lewis (Eds.) Communication and the Volunteer Experience: Exploring the Organizational Dynamics of Volunteering in Multiple Contexts. Peter Lang Publishers. Selected as one of 18 from over 60 proposals. 2014 winner of the Edited Book Award for the Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Iverson, J., Robinson, T. & Venette, S. (2017) Structuration theory and health and risk messaging. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Health and Risk Message Design and Processing.

Venette, S.J. & Iverson, J.O. (2017) Communicative Enactment of Virtue: A Structurational Approach to Understanding Ethical Financial Communication. In Handbook of Investor Relations and Financial Communications. Laskin, A.V. (Ed.) Wiley.

Iverson, J.O. & McPhee, R.D. (2017) Communicative Constitution in 2-1-1. In B. Brummans (Ed.) The Agentive Dynamics of Organizations. Routledge.

Iverson, J.O. (2017). Knowledge Management. In The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication. C. Scott & L. Lewis (Eds.) John Wiley and Sons.

McPhee, R.D., Poole, M.S. & Iverson, J.O. (2014). Structuration theory. In L. Putnam & D. Mumby (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Communication, 3rd ed. (pp. 75-95).

McPhee, R. D., & Iverson, J.O. (2013). Activity coordination and the Montreal School. In D. Robichaud & F. Cooren (Eds.) Organization and organizing: Materiality, Agency, Discourse. New York: Routledge.

McPhee, R. D. & Iverson, J.O. (2011). Materiality, structuration, and communication. In T. Kuhn (Ed.) Matters of Communication: Political, Cultural, and Technological Challenges to Communication Theorizing (pp. 65-80). New York: Hampton.

Iverson, J.O. (2010). Knowledge, belonging and communities of practice. In H.E. Canary & R.D. McPhee (Eds.) (2010). Communication and organizational knowledge: Contemporary issues for theory and practice (pp. 35-52). New York: Routledge.

Canary H.E., McPhee, R.D. & Iverson, J.O. (2010). Conclusion: Moving forward with communicative perspectives on organizational knowledge. In H.E. Canary & R.D. McPhee (Eds.) (2010). Communication and organizational knowledge: Contemporary issues for theory and practice (pp. 304-313). New York: Routledge.

McPhee, R.D. & Iverson, J.O. (2009). Agents of constitution in Communicad: Constitutive processes of communication in organizations. In L. Putnam & A. Nicotera (Eds.) Communicative Constitution of Organization (pp. 49-88). Laurence Earlbaum.

Iverson, J.O. (2008). Organizational Learning. In W. Donsbach (Ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Communication. Blackwell.

Iverson, J.O. & McPhee, R.D. (2008). Communicating knowing through communities of practice: Exploring internal communicative processes and differences among CoPs. Journal of Applied Communication Research.

Iverson, J.O. & Burkart, P. (2007). Managing electronic documents and work flows: Enterprise Content Management at work in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 17(4) 403-419.

Kim, E., Walkosz, B.J. & Iverson, J.O. (2006). USA Today’s Coverage of the top women golfers, 1998-2001: Se Ri Pak, Annika Sorenstam, and Karrie Webb. Howard Journal of Communication, 17, 307-321.

Brown, W.A. & Iverson, J.O. (2004). Exploring strategy and board structure in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33, 377-400.

McPhee, R.D., Corman, S.R. & Iverson, J.O. (2006). We ought to have gumption: An analysis of an excerpt from the videotape After Mr. Sam. In F. Cooren (Ed.) Interacting and Organizing: Analyses of a Board Meeting (pp. 133-162). Laurence Erlbaum.

Iverson, J.O. & Hoerer, J. (2001). Debate as a whole language tool for migrant students. Rostrum, 75, 25, 28.

Iverson, J.O. & McPhee, R.D. (2002). Knowledge management in communities of practice: Being true to the communicative character of knowledge. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 259-266.

Littlefield, R.S. & Iverson, J.O. (1995). Limited Current Issue Debate: A new generation of policy debate for rural America. The Forensic Educator, 10, 5-10.

Affiliations

President International Crisis and Risk Communication Association

Global Advisory Board for AlertHub, an EU group researching disaster and warning communication

European Communication Research and Education Association

National Communication Association

Western Communication Association

Honors / Awards

2023 Chief’s Honor Award – The Wildfire Risk Management Science Team was recognized for creating and implementing Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) with the “Protecting and Conserving Healthy and Resilient Public Lands and Communities.” US Forest Service.

2021 Chief’s Honor Award - The Innovation and Organizational Learning Research, Development, & Application Team was recognized for their use of focus groups to facilitate communication between agency leaders, fire managers, and field personnel in order to help resolve safety issues related to firefighting during COVID-19. US Forest Service.

2021 Chief’s Honor Award - The National Incident Management Organization/Enterprise Risk Management Team - recognized for exhibiting innovation and resilience in facilitating agency responses to incidents during COVID-19. US Forest Service.

2021 Science Delivery Award - Rocky Mountain Research Station, US Forest Service – for Potential Operational Delineations Community of Practice.

2020 People’s Choice Award for Top Poster Joel Iverson, Steven Venette, & Carrie Reif-Stice, “Quantum leaps of Facebook: Entangled narratives of crisis and renewal.”

2020 Top Panel Award - Strategic and Applied Communication Interest Group Central States Communication Association.

Top Paper, National Communication Association, Applied Division, 2016

Top Three Competitive Paper Award, International Communication Association, 2006

Outstanding Panhellenic Professor, Texas A&M University, 2005

Top Three Finalist, Charles Redding Dissertation Award, International Communication Association, 2004

Ph.D. Superior Researcher Award, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication,

2001-2002

Pedagogy Department Field

Communication Studies