Bastiaan Vanacker

Bastiaan Vanacker’s academic work has focused on media ethics and law, international communication and the philosophy of mass communication. He joined Loyola in fall 2007 as assistant professor in media ethics.  Vanacker was named the program director for the School of Communications Center of Digital Ethics and Policy in Summer 2012. He teaches Media Law, Ethics and Communication and Historical and Critical Issues in Journalism.‌Dr. Vanacker’s award winning graduate research has been presented at various peer reviewed conferences and has been published in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics.‌

During his time at the University of Minnesota, Vanacker was closely affiliated with the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, where he contributed to the center’s newsletter which he also edited for a period of time.  He currently is the Teaching Chair for the Media Ethics Division of the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication.

In a collaboration with Dr. Marjoire Kruvand, Assistant Professor, Vanacker presented a research paper "Facing the Future: Media Ethics, Bioethics and the World's First Face Transplant" at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Boston in 2009.  In October 2009 at the School of Communication as part of its Notes from the Field Series,Vanacker and Kruvand also presented their findings to the Loyola community. 

After receiving a degree in Philosophy at the University of Ghent, in his native Belgium, Dr. Vanacker came to the United States on a Rotary scholarship to obtain a Masters degree in Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.  After obtaining his Masters degree, he continued his graduate work at the same institution and finished his PhD in 2006.  After graduating, he taught at the University of Saint Thomas, St. Paul, Minn., and Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minn.