Born in Santa Fe and raised in Albuquerque, NM, Richard Leo Lanigan Jr., PhD feels grateful to have had a diverse upbringing. He became inspired to go into communications because he was exposed to many different cultures throughout his childhood. In 1967, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Mexico and in 1968, he earned a Master of Arts from the same esteemed academic institution. In 1969, he received a Doctor of Philosophy in communicology from Southern Illinois University after completing a doctoral program in two years. After receiving his degrees, he began his career in 1970 as a research associate in a joint postgraduate program in philosophy at the University of Dundee and the University of St Andrews in Scotland. In 1977, he became the founding chair of the philosophy communications division at the International Communication Association. From 1980 to 1981, he served as a research associate at the East-West Center in Honolulu, HI. From 1981 to 1982 and again from 1984 to 1985, he acted as an Andrew Mellon fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. From 1982 to 1983, he excelled as a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley. Later, from 1994 to 1995, he found success as the president of the Semiotic Society of America.
Specializing in the study of language and culture, Dr. Lanigan is currently the editor of the American Journal of Semiotics, a fellow of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, and the director and fellow of the International Communicology Institute. He also became a certified English language examiner at Sichuan University in China. As an expert in his field, Dr. Lanigan has contributed his knowledge as a prolific writer. He is the author of four books in the field, including “The Human Science of Communicology: A Phenomenology of Discourse in Foucault and Merleau-Ponty,” published in 1992 and translated into Korean in 1997, “Semiotic Phenomenology of Rhetoric,” published in 1984, “Speech Act Phenomenology,” published in 1977, and “Speaking and Semiology,” published in 1991. In addition, he has also served on several professional editorial boards throughout his career. In his spare time outside of work, Dr. Lanigan enjoys writing, reading, traveling, and swimming.
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