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Tony Docan‑Morgan

Professor
Communication Studies University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

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Tony Docan‑Morgan

Professor

Communication Studies

Specialty area(s)

Interpersonal Communication, Nonverbal Communication, Deceptive Communication, Public Speaking, Communication Skills

Brief biography

My work aims to help others become effective, empowering, and ethical communicators. My teaching and research span the topics of interpersonal relationships, deception in human interaction, and developing communication skills.

Student Success: I invite students to meet with me to discuss how to excel at UWL, gain internships, utilize student life resources, and get involved in student organizations. In support of student success at UWL, I have served on or led committees addressing academic standards, assessment, and curriculum development. To help students develop and hone their communication skills, I created and directed the campus Public Speaking Center and annual public speaking competition.

Research on Truthful and Deceptive Communication: The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication unravels the topic of lying and deception in interpersonal relationships, groups and organizations, social and mass media, marketing, advertising, law enforcement, court, politics, and propaganda. More than 100 scholars from around the world investigate the many forms of deceptive behavior, including disinformation, fabrication, false denials, half-truths, high stakes lies, life saving lies, omission, puffery, and spin. The handbook also addresses cross-cultural perspectives on deceit, moral dimensions of deception, and strategies for detecting and deterring deceit. More information is available at this link.

The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication

 

Education

Ph.D., University of Washington (Communication, focus on Social Interaction)

M.A., University of New Mexico (Communication)

B.A., California State University, Northridge (Communication)

A.A., Los Angeles Valley College (Administration of Justice)

Career

Teaching history

Communicating Effectively
Introduction to Public Speaking
Introduction to Communication Studies
Public Speaking Center Practicum
Communication and Aging
Theories of Communication
Social Scientific Research Methods
Interpersonal Communication
Lying and Deception in Human Interaction
Nonverbal Communication  

Professional history

Professor (2016 - )
Associate Professor (2011 - 2016)
Assistant Professor (2008 - 2011)

Research and publishing

Carpenter, C. J., Serota, K. B., Docan-Morgan, T., & Levine, T. (2025). Validation of an efficacy of lying scale. Communication Research Reports. Advance online publication. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2025.2530459

Serota, K. B., Levine, T. R., Zvi, L., Markowitz, D. M., Docan-Morgan, T. (2024). The ubiquity of long-tail lie distributions: Seven studies from five continents. Journal of Communication, 74(1), 1-11. DOI: 10.1093/joc/jqad040

Carpenter, C. J., Levine, T., Serota, K. B., Docan-Morgan, T. (2022). Influence and personality: Relationships among superdiffuser traits and big five traits. Communication Quarterly, 70(1), 63-83. DOI: 10.1080/01463373.2021.2021260 (link)

Serota, K. B., Levine, T. R., & Docan-Morgan, T. (2021). Unpacking variation in lie prevalence: Prolific liars, bad lie days, or both? Communication Monographs, 89(3) 307-331. DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2021.1985153 (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (Ed.) (2019). The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (link)

Kalbfleisch, P. J., & Docan-Morgan, T. (2019). Defining truthfulness, deception, and related concepts. In T. Docan-Morgan, The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication (pp. 29-39). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., Son, S. A., & Teimouri, G. B. (2019). Propaganda, survival, and living to tell the truth: An analysis of North Korean refugee memoirs. In T. Docan-Morgan, The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication (pp. 989-1023). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2018). Review of "Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea" by Sungju Lee. North Korean Review, 41(1), 120-122. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2018). Review of "North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground is Transforming a Closed Society" by Jieun Baek. Korean Studies, 42, 94-96. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2017). Observational measurement: Proxemics and Touch. In M. Allen, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods (pp. 1109-1111). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2016). Teaching interpersonal communication online: Experiential opportunities and student engagement. Syllabus, 5(2), 1-15. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & Nelson, L. L. (2015). The benefits and necessity of public speaking education. In K. Vaidya (Ed.), Public speaking for the curious: Why study public speaking (pp. 1-16). Curious Academic Publishing. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2015). The participation log: Assessing students’ classroom participation. Assessment Update: Progress, Practices, and Trends in Higher Education, 27(2), 6-7. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2014). Mingling with students before class: What to ask. College Teaching, 62, 117. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2014). The career assignment: Helping students find their way. Journal of Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri, 44, 83-86. (link)

Manusov, V. L., Docan-Morgan, T., Harvey, J. (2014). Nonverbal firsts: When nonverbal cues are the impetus of relational and personal change in romantic relationships. In A. Kostic & D. Chadee (Eds.), Social psychology of nonverbal communication (pp. 153-172). Palgrave Macmillan. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., Huisman, D., Docan-Morgan, S. (2014). A “dynamic knot” of students: A classroom activity for teaching relational dialectics. Carolinas Communication Annual, 30, 102-106. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2014). The nonverbal communication course: Active engagement in the classroom and online. Syllabus, 3, 1-17. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., Manusov, V. L., & Harvey, J. (2013). When a small thing means so much: Nonverbal cues as turning points in relationships. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 7, 110-124. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2011). “Everything changed”: Relational turning point events in college teacher-student relationships from teachers’ perspectives. Communication Education, 60, 20-50. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2010). Mindmapping and beyond: Teaching students to select and narrow communication research topics. Journal of Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri, 40, 145-151. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2010). “You're a grounded theorist for the day”: Teaching students the grounded theory approach. Communication Teacher, 24, 203-207. (link)

Docan-Morgan, S., & Docan-Morgan, T. (2010). Compassion, moderation, and humility in interpersonal relationships. In D. Newton, W. Fong, & N. Van Leuven (Eds.), Communications for everyday life (pp. 89-112). Toronto: Ginger Post Imprints. (link)

Docan-Morgan, S., & Docan-Morgan, T. (2009). Compassion, moderation, and humility in interpersonal relationships. In N. Van Leuven & A. B. Chan (Eds.), The Dao of communication (pp. 97-121). Toronto: Ginger Post Imprints. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & Manusov, V. (2009). Relational turning point events and their outcomes in college teacher-student relationships from students’ perspectives. Communication Education, 58, 155-188. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2009). A typology of relational turning point events in college teacher student relationships. Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9, 82-97. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2009). “I now see how I can use these skills”: An applied project for the public speaking course. Communication Teacher, 23, 110-116. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & McDermott, V. (2009). Becoming a better listener: The listening log project. Journal of Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri, 39, 93-99. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & McDermott, V. (2009). The listening log assignment. In B. Hugenberg & L. Hugenberg (Eds.), Teaching ideas for the basic communication course 12 (pp. 175-182). Dubuque, IA: Great River Technologies. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2008). Review of Infidelity: A Practitioner’s Guide to Working with Couples in Crisis edited by Paul R. Peluso. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 13, 481-484. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & Docan, C. A. (2007). Internet Infidelity Scale [Database record]. Retrieved from PsycTESTS. doi: 10.1037/t24758-000. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & Docan, C. A. (2007). Infidelity on the Internet: Double standards and the differing views of women and men. Communication Quarterly, 55, 317-342. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2007). Training law enforcement officers to detect deception: A critique of previous research and framework for the future. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice, 3, 143-171. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T. (2007). Writing and communicating instructional objectives. In B.
Hugenberg, L. Hugenberg, S. Morreale, D. Worley, & D. Worley (Eds.), Basic communication course best practices: A training manual for instructors (pp. 25-41). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. (link)

Docan-Morgan, T., & Docan-Morgan, S. (2007). A transparency is worth a thousand words: The picture speech assignment. In B. Hugenberg & L. Hugenberg (Eds.), Teaching ideas for the basic communication course 11 (pp. 31-37). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. (link)

Docan, T. (2006). Positive and negative incentives in the classroom: An analysis of grading systems and student motivation. Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6, 21-40. (link)

Docan, T. (2006). Using Jenga® to teach system theory. Communication Teacher, 20, 11-13. (link)

Docan, T. (2004). A tale of two ideologies: Winona LaDuke’s Vice Presidential nomination acceptance speech. In S. Foss (Ed.), Rhetorical criticism: Exploration and practice (3rd ed.) (pp. 280-293). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

Kudos

published

Tony Docan-Morgan, Communication Studies; Kim B. Serota, Oakland University; Timothy R. Levine, University of Oklahoma; and Christopher J. Carpenter, Western Illinois University; co-authored the article "Validation of an efficacy of lying scale" in Communication Research Reports, published on July 14 by Taylor & Francis.

Submitted on: Aug. 18, 2025

published

Tony Docan-Morgan, Communication Studies, co-authored the article "The ubiquity of long-tail lie distributions: Seven studies from five continents" in the Journal of Communication published on Nov. 2 by Oxford Academic.

Submitted on: Nov. 6, 2023

published

Tony Docan-Morgan, Communication Studies, co-authored the article "Influence and personality: relationships among superdiffuser traits and big five traits" in Communication Quarterly published on Jan. 9 by Taylor & Francis.

Submitted on: Jan. 10, 2022

Important links