Dr. Karen Hartman

Professor, Department of Communication, Media and Persuasion

Karen L. Hartman is a Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion at Idaho State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Louisiana State University and her research interests revolve largely around the role of sport in the United States and how language and public relations efforts frame athletes, institutions, and laws. She has published over two dozen research articles, including publications in the International Journal of Sport Communication, Journal of Global Sport Management, Communication Research Reports, and the Journal of International  Crisis and Risk Communication Research. 

Hartman serves as the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) at ISU, taking over the position in October 2020. Beyond working to ensure student athlete welfare and academic success, she has served on eight conference committees, including chairing the Big Sky Conference Council. As part of this role, she also chairs ISU’s Athletics Advisory Board and chaired the 3-year review of the 5-year Gender Equity in Athletics report in 2024. Beyond the FAR position, Hartman served as Chair of the National Communication Association’s Communication and Sport Division in 2018 and has been involved with the International Association for Communication and Sport (IACS) since 2006, holding positions as Vice-Chair (2012-2013), Chair (2013-2014) and Executive Director (2019 – 2024). Since 2019, she has also served on the editorial board of SAGE’s journal, Communication & Sport. A former Division-I athlete at Furman University, Hartman worked as a publicist in the entertainment industry before going into academia.