Laura Lindenfeld

Notable work and positions

Stony Brook University School of Communication and Journalism — Dean (2020– ); Interim Dean (2019–2020)
Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, Stony Brook University — Executive Director (2016– )
University of Maine — Former Professor of Communication and Journalism; Director, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center

Biography

Laura Lindenfeld is dean of the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University and executive director of the university's Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. She joined Stony Brook in 2016 as the Alda Center's executive director, was named interim dean of the then-School of Journalism in January 2019, and was appointed dean effective February 28, 2020. Under her leadership the school was renamed the School of Communication and Journalism. She previously served as professor of communication and director of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, and earlier worked as a copywriter for DDB Needham Worldwide and a screenplay writer for RTL Plus in Dusseldorf, Germany. Lindenfeld holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of California, Davis, and an M.A. in German and Scandinavian literature and language studies from the University of Bonn. Her research focuses on environmental and science communication, and she co-authored Feasting Our Eyes: Food Films and Cultural Identity in the United States (Columbia University Press, 2016) with Fabio Parasecoli. In 2024 she was named a finalist for the Scripps Howard Fund's Administrator of the Year award.