Patrick Lee Plaisance is the Don W. Davis Professor in Ethics in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. He also is an Affiliate Faculty member with the Rock Ethics Institute. His research focuses on media ethics theory, moral psychology theory and methods, and technology ethics -- particularly moral questions posed by AI design and use.
He is author of a textbook, "Media Ethics: Key Principles for Responsible Practice" (Cognella, 4th Ed., 2025), which is used nationwide, and a book featuring original research, "Virtue in Media: The Moral Psychology of Excellence in News and Public Relations" (Routledge, 2015). He is editor of the "Handbook of Communication & Media Ethics" (DeGruyter Mouton, 2018). His fourth book, "Moral Judgment, Virtue, and Digital Flourishing: Directions for Media Ethics," will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2027.
He is a member of the Scientific Committee for the UNESCO program “Ethics in AI and Practical Wisdom,” which supports scholarship and programming for the Society of Ethics and Politics in AI (SEPAI). From 2014 to 2024, he served as editor of the Journal of Media Ethics, which is the flagship journal for peer-reviewed research in the field from around the world. He also writes a regular blog on media and technology ethics issues for Psychology Today.
He has published more than two dozen journal articles and book chapters, and his work has appeared in research journals, including Communication Research, Communication Theory, the Journal of Communication, and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
Before coming to Penn State, he taught at Colorado State University for 15 years. He also had a career of nearly 15 years as a newspaper journalist in New Jersey, south Florida and Virginia, where he specialized in state-level political reporting. He received his Ph.D. From Syracuse University.
