Rahul Mitra

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Wayne State University. I obtained my Ph.D. from the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University in 2013, and my Masters degree from the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University in 2009. Prior to this, I worked in the news broadcast and public relations fields in India for three and a half years.

My research examines how organizations and communities enact urban sustainability. I lead the Resilient Institutions and Sustainable Environments (RISE) Lab at WSU, which addresses issues ranging from entrepreneurial ecosystems for urban resilience, to sense-making around water access among underserved communities. Past research publications have studied natural resource management, sustainability work norms and practices, corporate social responsibility impacts, and meaning-making around careers and work.

My work is at the intersection of the social sciences, humanities, and arts, and typically employs community-based participatory approaches, ethnographic fieldwork, and creative multi-media design thinking. In 2018, I was awarded the Linda L. Putnam Early Career Award by the Organizational Communication Division of the International Communication Association, which honors a scholar who “has made a significant contribution to the field of organizational communication and shows promise for continued development.” My scholarship has received several awards and obtained funding from the Waterhouse Family Institute, National Communication Association, Wayne State University (WSU) President’s Research Enhancement Program (Arts & Humanities), WSU Humanities Center, and WSU College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. Till date, I have published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, and my co-edited book Movements in Organizational Communication: Current Issues and Future Directions (Routledge) was published in 2019.

I teach classes on organizational communication, leadership communication, small group communication, ethnography and qualitative research methods, new media technologies and strategic communication, and communication theory. I am affiliated with the Transformative Research in Urban Sustainability Training (T-RUST) program and the Healthy Urban Waters collaborative at Wayne State.