About
I am an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Mary Washington. I completed by Ph.D. in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media at North Carolina State University in 2015.
Researching:
My research interests include psychological, cognitive, and behavioral effects of mass communication, particularly in the area of health communication and how these intersect with other forms of communication like interpersonal communication. As you will see in the research sections of my CV, I ask questions not only about the effects, but also questions such as: what is the content and channel of messages that may lead to these effects? What personal characteristics influence these responses? This leads to an exploration of mass communication from a variety of social scientific methodologies, including content analyses, experiments, interviews, and survey research. It is from these angles that an important health topic can be examined thoroughly–a goal of many mixed-methods research studies.
Teaching:
As an instructor in the college communication classroom I have a variety of courses I have taught and that I would like to develop. I am currently teaching a Public Communication Campaigns course with a digital focus. I’ll be teaching Communication Research Methods again in the Spring. In the past, I have been a TA in the public speaking classroom and an instructor of interpersonal communication. I have also spent time as an instructor of communication courses at Guilford Technical Community College in Greensboro and Jamestown, North Carolina. These classes included introduction to communication, interpersonal communication, and public speaking. My time at GTCC was a rewarding one that gave me the encouragement to return to school in order to better both my teaching and research skills for the future. Please visit my CV link for more information about my work and education or my teaching portfolio links for more on teaching and my teaching philosophy.
Living:
Outside of school, I live with my husband, Josh, our beautiful daughter, Hadley, and our rambunctious cat, McGee. I enjoy reading, cooking, traveling and playing piano.