Ongoing Faculty Research

Dr. Nobleza Asuncion-Lande
  • Globalization's impact on corporate management,  managing cross-cultural conflict in multicultural work teams

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Dr. Mary Banwart
  • Attitudes toward women running for political office
  • Communication strategies of candidates in mixed-gender races
  • Reactions to political campaign advertisements
  • Development of the Political Interpersonal Communication Index
  • Debatestyles of candidates in mixed-gender political debates
  • Webstyles of candidates in mixed-gender political races

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Dr. Nancy Baym
  • Changing dynamics and role in fan/band/label relationships given the rise of fan activity on the internet
  • Relationships in social network sites, particularly around music

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Dr. Kristine Bruss
  • Ethopoeia
  • Boredom and delight in Greek rhetoric
  • Discussion pedagogy

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Dr. Diana Carlin
  • The role of political debates in new democracies
  • Political communication text (with David Levasseur) to be published by Oxford
  • Video analysis of presidential debates to determine the effects of various camera choices on viewers' perceptions
  • General issues related to gender and politics

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Dr. Jay Childers
  • Public Sphere Theory
  • Deliberative Democracy
  • Civic Engagement
  • Presidential Rhetoric

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Dr. Suzy D'Enbeau
  • Branding and commodification processes of feminisms
  • Intersections of popular culture and organizing
  • Organizing for social change
  • Work-life issues

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Dr. Jeffrey Hall
  • Gender and friendship expectations
  • Homophobia and masculinity
  • Courtship and flirting, including online courtship
  • Romantic couples' use of humor

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Dr. Alesia Hanzal
  • Family Communication Patterns Study (Fall 2009 - Summer 2010)
    This study is designed to evaluate the transmission of interaction skills and conflict patterns from parents to their children.
  • Coping with Stressful Experiences Study (Spring 2009 – Spring 2010)
    This study examines the link between traumatic events and people’s use of different media to cope with unexpected stressful events.
  • Obesity and Stress Study (Spring 2009 – Spring 2010)
    This study examines the on-line discourse shared by individauls who struggle with their weight identity.
  • Family of Origin Study (Fall 2008 - Spring 2010)

    This study is aimed at gaining a better understanding of how a person’s family of origin is related to their perception of stress and coping strategies.

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Dr. Mary Lee Hummert
  • Changing age stereotypes through communication
  • Family decision-making regarding age-related challenges
  • End-of-life decision-making
  • Age stereotypes and intergenerational communication at work

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Dr. Adrianne Kunkel
  • New theoretical and methodological directions in the study of close relationships
  • Identity goals and romantic relationship (re)definition
  • Breast cancer support groups
  • Social support and coping
  • Sex and gender differences and similarities
  • Sexual harassment and violence intervention

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Dr. Beth Innocenti
  • Essay: A rhetorical theory of fear appeals in the Virginia Ratifying Convention debates.
  • Book: Arguing about Arts of Civic Advocacy in Enlightenment Scotland

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Dr. Donn Parson
  • Argument, Problems of Tropes, and the efforts of Kenneth Burke
  • Work on a recently discovered manuscript of a conversation between Kenneth Burke and Richard McKeon

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Dr. Dorthy Pennington
  • Mediation and memory in the rhetoric of Condoleezza Rice. A paper from this body of research garnered a top paper award at the 2008 NCA Convention
  • Identity mediation and diunitality in the rhetoric of Barack Obama
  • Social movements in African American communication and diaspora studies
  • Racial identity and power
  • Theoretical constructs and applications in interracial communication-book manuscript completed; in search of a publisher

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Dr. Robert C. Rowland
  • “Menachem Begin and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”  In Press in the Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. 
  • “Organizational apologia: The rhetoric of inter-organizational conflict,” 2nd author with Angie Jerome, in press at Western Journal of Communication.
  • Democracy is Not a Fragile Flower:  Ronald Reagan at Westminster and the End of the Cold War, in press at Texas A & M Press, first author with John Jones.
  • “The Enlightenment Roots of Obama’s New Politics,” under review Alta proceedings.
  • “Purpose, Argument Fields, and the Problem of Expertise,” under review Alta proceedings. 
  • “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” under review at American Behavioral Scientist.
  • “One Dream:  Barack Obama, Race, and the American Dream,” under review at Rhetoric and Public Affairs, first author with John Jones.
  • “Conflicting Rhetorical Trajectories in Ronald Reagan’s First Inaugural Address,” under review at the Quarterly Journal of Speech, second author with John Jones.

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Dr. Tracy Russo
  • Data analysis for projects identifying students’ work values and expectations and employee work values and organizational identification.
  • Data gathering for examination of student values and expectations of teaching and learning
  • Bisel, R.S. & Russo, T.C. (under review at Communication Quarterly).  Organizational Attachment: Confirmatory Factor Analysis Across Disciplinary Operationalizations
  • Russo, T.C. (Preparing for journal submission).  A community of practice as a socialization site.
  • Russo, T.C., Beck, S., (Preparing for journal submission) Organizational attachment: A multi-disciplinary comparison of operationalizations.  Competitive paper accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago

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Dr. Dave Tell
  • Public Confession in Twentieth Century America
  • Secularism and Rhetoric
  • Contemporary Rhetorical Theory
  • The work of Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and Augustine
  • Public Memory
  • The relationship between Kenneth Burke and Fredric Jameson

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Dr. Yan Bing Zhang
  • Intergroup contact and attitudes
  • Older adults on prime-time television in Taiwan: Prevalence, portrayal, and communication interaction.
  • Cross-Cultural comparison of collectivistic and individualistic values between China and the United States
  • Conflict styles, self-construal, and culture
  • Internet use, culture and perceptions of women
  • Filial piety, aging, media, and culture
  • Conflict management styles in intergenerational relationships