Tag: higher education

Interdisciplinary Panel on Water/Sheds with the WSU Humanities Center

I recently joined a stellar interdisciplinary panel for a symposium, organized by the Wayne State University Humanities Center, to talk about Water/Sheds. We from disciplines as disparate as English, Modern Languages, Biological Sciences, Communication, Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Art, and we talked about why we did the research we did on the social-environmental impacts of water and watersheds. We also identified some wonderful intersections across our research interests and perspectives, which will hopefully lead to us forming a Working Group under the Humanities Center to continue to this conversation and broaden it even further across the university.

Talking about “Sustainability at Work” with WSU students

I enjoyed participating in a great conversation this week on Sustainability at Work, hosted by the Wayne State University Office of Economic Development and Office of Campus Sustainability. I gave a short “teaching talk” on why and how communication was central to how different kinds of organizations and workers engage in environmental sustainability, and afterward joined a great panel of industry representatives and scholars talking about opportunities for students to get engaged.

New Publication: “Graduate students’ resilience and resistance: Exploring adaptive-transformative possibilities in higher education”

This paper probably takes the prize for “Longest time between study design and publication” – a whopping THIRTEEN years! 😁 Nevertheless, the issues we investigated still remain crucial, despite a “minor” event like a global pandemic happening in the meantime, and perhaps a key reason I’m excited to see it in print is because it’s finally out there! That, and the amazing collaboration with Wayne State Department of Communication alum Kelsey Mesmer (Asst. Professor at St. Louis University) and Patrice M. Buzzanell. 🩷

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“Appreciation” seems an inadequate word for thanking Grad Student Labor

We are still in the thick of the COVID-19 crisis, and my university has declared this week to be Graduate Student Appreciation Week. I think this is a wonderful move, both for graduate students and faculty, because it helps anchor us to each other and reminds us of how much we really, crucially depend on each other, especially in a R-1 setting. I think this is a wonderful move, not just because it foregrounds the social connections that remain crucial despite the physical distancing measures presently in place, but also because it emphasizes that this dependence is not just the resource-based variety (as in, “I need you to collect data for me,” or “I need you to write a letter of recommendation for me”) but involves emotional investment and labor from all parties — perhaps too much of it, at times. At the same time, this recognition invites further introspection about the lived experiences and conditions of our graduate students, challenging faculty to think beyond the staid (and quite possibly rose-tinted) nostalgia of “in the days when I was a grad student…” to listen to and act in response to their concerns. Whether this is about grad student stipends, housing, diversity and inclusion within the department, bureaucratic red rape, bullying, … the list goes on (sadly).

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Charting new “Movements in Organizational Communication Research”: My first book is out in print!

Movements cover

I’m so proud and excited that this labor of love from my awesome colleague (and friend) Jamie McDonald and I is finally out in PRINT! “Movements in Organizational Communication” is available for purchase through its publisher (Routledge) website HERE.

This book is the culmination of our vision for a volume that tackled state-of-the-art organizational communication research and related them to everyday events, in a way that felt more accessible for students. In short, something that made organizational communication seem personal and relevant! Personally, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my amazing undergraduate and graduate students at Wayne State University and Purdue University, where I have taught classes on organizational communication, leadership, small group communication, professional issues, and communication technologies. Their questions and experiences helped stimulate the process for thinking about, designing, and creating this volume!

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Presenting research on Graduate Students’ Resilience and Stress Management at ICA 2019

The RISE Lab is thrilled to have our paper accepted for presentation at the 69th annual conference of the International Communication Association! The paper, titled Structurational Resilience in Graduate School: How Communication Graduate Students Manage Stress, was coauthored with Wayne State graduate students Kelsey Husnick, Alexei Berg and Caleb Mims, and University of South Florida professor Patrice M. Buzzanell.

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