Dr. Kruckeberg has a bachelor of arts degree in English with a journalism minor from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa (1969); a master of arts degree in journalism in the public relations sequence from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb (1974) ; and a doctor of philosophy degree in mass communications from the University of Iowa, Iowa City (1985).  He worked professionally as a public relations practitioner at Lutheran General Hospital, a large teaching hospital and health care center in the Chicago area, for four years and as an extension information specialist (publications) for the Agricultural Extension Service of the University of Minnesota for four years as well as part-time during his undergraduate college, comprising over a decade of professional experience in journalism and public relations. He has taught at the University of Minnesota-St. Paul; at the University of Iowa: at Northwest 
Missouri State University; and for the past 17 years at the University of Northern Iowa. 

Dr. Kruckeberg is a Fellow of the Public Relations Society of America and was 1993-94 Midwest District Chair of that professional association; was 1996 national nominating committee member of PRSA, representing the Midwest District, and was executive committee member of the PRSA International Section and was newsletter editor of the PRSA College of Fellows; is former National Faculty Advisor to the Public Relations Student Society of America and former Advisor to Forum, the national newspaper of the PRSSA; is former Head of the Public Relations Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and was one of two candidates in 1997 for president-elect of AEJMC; is former Chair of the Public Relations Division of the National Communication Association; was 1997 chair of the PRSA Educators Section; was 1997 co-chair of the Educational Affairs Committee of PRSA; is a member of the Research and Educational Advisory Board of the Institute for Public Relations Research and Education; and is an active member of several other professional as sociat ions.  He is vice chair of the Public Relations Division of the International Communication Association. 

Dr. Kruckeberg's consulting work has included review of the public relations and mass communication programs at the United Arab Emirates University in fall 1993. During summer 1994, he was part of the project team that developed the public relations degree program at that university. He also has been external reviewer for public relations education programs at the University of North Dakota, Southwest Missouri State University and Illinois State University. Dr. Kruckeberg was a speaker at the, Teaching the Teachers workshop to prepare communications faculty in the Baltic States and Russia to teach public Relations, which included a presentation at the Third Annual Summer School in Russian Media in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 3, 1998, and a presentation at the workshop program in Riga, Latvia, July 7, 1998. The workshop was funded by the Sores Foundation and by USIA.  Also in summer 1998, Dr. Kruckeberg was invited by USIS-Sofia to present information about the U.S. Freedom of Information Act to Bulgarian news people, government officials and leaders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and to teach sessions related to media relations for press secretaries of the various governmental ministries.

He is co-author of the book, Public Relations and Community: A Reconstructed Theory, which won the first annual PRIDE Award from the Speech Communication Association Commission on Public Relations (now National Communication Association), and is author of several book chapters, articles and papers dealing with international public relations and international public relations ethics. He is co-author of the 7th  (2000) and 6th (1996) editions of This Is PR: The Realities of Public Relations, a major publis relations introductory textbook.

Dr. Kruckeberg was the1995 national "Outstanding Educator" of the Public Relations Society of America. He is a winner of the 1997 State of Iowa Regents Faculty Excellence Award. Kruckeberg also was the 1997 recipient of the Pathfinder Award presented by the Institute for Public Relations Research & Education; this award is regarded as the premier award for research in public relations in the United States.    In fall 1998, Dr. Kruckeberg was awarded the Wartburg College Alumni Citation that recognized his accomplishments as one of the nation’s leading public relations educators.

Dr. Kruckeberg has been elected Academic Co-Chair of the Cormmunication Public Relations Education. This consortium of national professional and scholarly association representatives will determine and recommend guidelines for public relations curricula and pedagogy for the next decade in the United States. 

Revised on the 9th of September, 1999