Dave Junker is Professor of Instruction and Associate Director in the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations. For more than 15 years, Dave has been a leader in undergraduate education, directing the Senior Fellows honors program for seven years before serving as inaugural Director of the Moody College Honors Program from 2018 to 2024, transforming the honors experience from a small two-year sequence for upperclassmen to a top-flight, four-year honors program. His recognitions include The Moody College of Communication Teaching Excellence Award, the Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award, the DeWitt Reddick Lectureship, and the Dads' Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship in 2025.
He teaches a variety of classes in public relations, communication honors, and popular music, one of his favorite subjects. In addition to teaching and writing about music over the years, Dave has been a music creator, having played in a multitude of strange bands of dubious quality, and releasing more than a dozen recordings. His most recent foray is Fantastic Purple Spots, an indie-fuzz-pop recording project on Austin Town Hall Records.
He has written for daily newspapers, alternative weeklies, organizational newsletters, professional trade pubs, and in academic journals and books. His most noteworthy byline is as a contributor to the national satirical weekly The Onion, and its spin-off best sellers, Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source and The Onion's Finest News Reporting Vol.1.
Dave has a master’s in Afro-American Studies and a doctorate in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is married with five kids, one dog and three cats.
