Erik Christianson, director of communications for the University of Wisconsin System, has been named NCAA director for public and media relations.

Christianson will focus primarily on NCAA governance and issues management, while also helping the national office accomplish goals tied to the NCAA's new strategic plan.

Christianson has directed communications for the eighth-largest public university system in the United States since January 2002. In that role, he has provided public relations counsel for senior university leadership and public information colleagues on all 26 University of Wisconsin campuses. He coordinated and supervised the communications unit, which includes media relations, publications, marketing and online communications, and also served as the main university system spokesperson.

Before that, Christianson was the news and publications editor in the University of Wisconsin System, directing and managing news and publication projects. He also was a university relations specialist for the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he developed communications strategies and provided public relations and marketing support, while writing for the faculty/staff newspaper and alumni magazine.

Christianson also has newsroom experience with the Terre Haute Tribune-Star (1993-96); the Chicago Tribune in the State Capitol bureau (1993); and the Farmington Independent (1990-92) and the New Brighton Bulletin, which are suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul weekly newspapers (1989).

Christianson graduated with a bachelor of science degree in communications and journalism from Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He also was a varsity baseball student-athlete at the school. He earned his master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield.