Faculty
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS OF THE COMMUNICATION STUDIES FACULTY
The following list is meant as a guide to what we--the faculty of the Department of Communication Studies--are currently working on and where our scholarly work fits with the four focus areas of the department. It is also meant to invite you, the reader, into the current research interests of the members of the department. You can see clearly our current passions and interests in studying communication from the following account...
FOCUS AREA 1: PUBLIC VOICE - How can communication scholarship help us to understand and improve the quality of public discourse in the world around us?
Dr. Sharon Bracci, Associate Professor (communication ethics, argumentation, health communication, bioethics, media ethics). Dr. Bracci’s teaching and research focus on the intersections of rhetoric and ethics to justify public choices, especially in heath care contexts. She theorizes communicative virtues to foster effective and ethical deliberation and equitable decision-making in these contexts.
Dr. Bracci holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Communication Studies from The Ohio State University, and a master’s degree in Bioethics from the School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University. She is a former chair of the Communication Ethics Division, National Communication Association and currently is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Communication Research.
Dr. Spoma Jovanovic, Associate Professor (democratic communities, communication ethics, activism, service-learning), conducts long-term ethnographic and community based research in partnership with schools, grassroots organizations, and local nonprofits to consider: 1) the communication features that shape public interactions and factors individuals and groups point to for the success or failure of their social change initiatives; and 2) how specific pedagogies and curriculum foster democratic sensibilities to inspire participation in public, political action.
Dr. Jovanovic received her bachelor's degree in political science from UCLA. She worked for fifteen years in public relations, nonprofit management, and community relations before earning her master’s and doctorate degrees in human communication from the University of Denver. Woven throughout her activities has been a sturdy thread of social awareness and respect for democracy.
Dr. Elizabeth J. Natalle, Associate Professor (gender and communication theory, feminist criticism, women’s public speaking) pursues an interdisciplinary research agenda in communication and feminist theory called the Woman's Voice Project. She examines women's public speaking in contemporary America to uncover the social, political, and cultural implications of the impact of women rhetors. Her current rhetorical analyses include: 1) a book project on first lady Jacqueline Kennedy; 2) a study of Michelle Obama's feminist agenda; and, 3) the impact of women's rights activist Anna Howard Shaw at UNCG from 1917-1919.
Dr. Roy Schwartzman, Professor (rhetoric and public address, communication about science and emergent technologies, cultural studies, Holocaust studies, argumentation, figurative language) conducts research at the junction of epistemology and social theory. Dr. Schwartzman’s recent research projects include an ongoing study of how perceptions of nanotechnology’s risks and benefits are engineered through language. This line of research developed from his analysis of how science intersects with politics, particularly in Nazi racial doctrines. Another major initiative is the AfterWords Project, the first systematic collection and analysis of Holocaust survivors’ stories about resettlement and establishment of American identity. Throughout his research, Dr. Schwartzman investigates the broad theme known as rhetoric of inquiry, which describes the ways communication intertwines knowledge, power, and human identity.
Titles of some of Dr. Schwartzman’s projects include:
- A Rhetorical Reconsideration of Knowledge Management: Discursive Dynamics of Nanotechnology Risks
- Racial Theory and Propaganda in Triumph of the Will
- Virtual Group Problem Solving in the Basic Communication Course: Lessons for Online Learning
- The Mechanics of Engenderneering: Cyborgs and Aliens as Manufactured Evil in Science Fiction Film
FOCUS AREA 2: VOICES of CHANGE, DIVERSITY and DIFFERENCE, CONFLICT How can communication scholarship help people to engage with diversity, difference, and divisions in ways that promote understanding and collaborative/democratic change?
Dr. David Carlone, Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder) uses ethnographic and discourse methodologies to study the new economy, especially as represented in service work and knowledge intensive work. His project has two strands: 1) understanding how new economy knowledge and practices build upon and transform American culture; and, 2) examining how American culture infects the new economy with possibilities for alternative economic arrangements focused around labor autonomy and non-economic values.
Dr. Pete Kellett, Associate Professor and Head (conflict analysis and management, narrative methodology) is concerned with exploring how and why people engage in, experience, and learn from conflicts as ways of expressing, navigating, and negotiating challenging or difficult differences. Recent research projects include writing a book chapter on the use of narrative in teaching conflict and peace concepts for an edited book on contemporary theory and practice in conflict studies. He also wrote a book chapter on the positive and transformative aspects of conflicts for an edited book on "Positive Communication." Dr. Kellett is currently conducting research into the role of communication in the Northern Ireland peace process. He is collaborating with Kristen Prosser on a series of papers about the “Drumcree Crises” and the role of music in peace building.
Dr. Etsuko Kinefuchi, Associate Professor (critical intercultural communication, interracial relations, identity negotiation across cultures, diaspora and transnational migration) focus is two projects that concern identity negotiation in intercultural contexts. The first project is an analysis of communicative and structural construction of identity in Japanese diaspora to and “return” migration from Latin America. She is currently writing a manuscript to be included in the Blackwell Handbook of Critical Intercultural Communication (R. T. Halualani & T. K. Nakayama, Eds.). The second project concerns diversity and race relations. She is examining how diversity is conceptualized and experienced, and how people position themselves in relation to diversity and race.
Dr. Marianne LeGreco, Assistant Professor (health communication, food policy, discourse tracing) is developing a research program focused on health policy, promotion, and practice. She is particularly interested in improving access to food and nutrition resources for low income and immigrant groups. Dr. LeGreco currently participates in three major research projects focused on promoting healthy eating practices. These projects involve developing a measure of kitchen literacy, working with community-based organizations like Urban Harvest Greensboro to implement food and nutrition programs, and co-organizing a Food Policy Think Tank. As a whole, her research uses a method called discourse tracing to examine how change and transformation are possible through more participatory practices.
FOCUS AREA 3: VOICES of IDENTITY and RELATIONSHIPS—How can communication scholarship help us understand how people create and sustain desired identities and healthy relationships?
Dr. Chris Poulos, Associate Professor (relational and family communication, ethnography, philosophy of communication and dialogue, communication ethics) examines communication in close relationships, particularly in families. He has a special interest in the ethical contours of communication within these relational contexts, and in the uses of dialogue to help people engage in healthy relationships that embrace and transcend difference. His 2009 book, Accidental Ethnography: An Inquiry into Family Secrecy, employs autoethnographic and narrative methodologies to explore how the unspoken dark secrets haunting a family may be transformed into an emerging story of healing and connection. He is also working on articles on the perils and promises of autoethnography and performance. His next book will focus on the problem of voice in families, and on further issues related to the "slippage" of secrets into family stories.
Dr. Poulos earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Colorado. Following college, he worked for 17 years in corporate training and organizational development. Along the way, he earned his Master’s degree in Religious Studies and a doctorate in Human Communication Studies from the University of Denver.
Dr. Patricia Fairfield-Artman, Lecturer. (Public Relations, Crisis Communication, Persuasion) Research areas include narratives of female ROTC student-cadets in the postmodern university. Dr. Fairfield-Artman developed the first Speaking Intensive online class for distance learning students completing their liberal studies undergraduate degree. This course serves as a model for expanding online classes with a SI designation at UNCG.
FOCUS AREA 4: VOICES of DISCOVERY -”How can communication scholarship help us understand how people learn to co-construct, share, and critique knowledge?
Kimberly M. Cuny, Lecturer and Director The University Speaking Center (speaking center theory and practice, storytelling, and learning, and communication activism pedagogy) is a teaching artist who has been honored with the National Communication Association's Von Till newcomer award and the National Association of Communication Centers' Ferguson top paper award (co-authored with H. Yarragunta). Kim’s work with the outreach librarian of Greensboro Public Libraries brings theatre art and arts education resources to marginalized childcare givers, teachers, and youth throughout NE Greensboro. Kim’s contributions to communication pedagogy scholarship over the past decade have taken the form of regular publications, conference presentations, and faculty development both on and off campus. Kim’s current work in this area is focused on the development of a program in public speaking that connects students with UNCG's off campus communities.
At The University Speaking Center, Kim mentors over 40 undergraduate students and 3 graduate student peer tutors. Over the past eight years, Kim has had the pleasure of working with center staff members on student-directed outreach as well as research projects in the areas of storytelling, staff development, customer/client training, client and consultant bias, group communication, marketing, needs assessment, communication apprehension, organizational communication, community of practice, and public speaking. Under Kim's direction, UNCG's speaking center is one of two in the nation offering online synchronous support to speakers.
Dr. Jessica Delk McCall, Lecturer, Basic Course Director research area is the undergraduate classroom community and the role of various teaching methodologies (experiential education, dialogue, relationship building, etc.) in evoking critical thinking, authentic personal growth, and a greater appreciation of learning.
She is has co-authored a chapter entitled “Teacher education is everybody’s business: Creating a comprehensive professional development high school”, a chapter to be featured in Leadership and Building Professional Learning Communities.
Dr. Killian E. Manning, Lecturer (Relational Communication, Negotiation and Conflict Management, Introduction to Performance Studies, Special Topics using performance methodology). Dr. Manning served on two panel presentations with Dr. Poulos for the Fourth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, addressing the notion of responsible creation”creation that is joyous, meaningful, playful, heart-felt, as well as accountable and just.
Faculty Publications in the Four Focus Areas
FOCUS AREA 1: PUBLIC VOICE
Bracci, S.L. (2008) Under revision for Argumentation and Advocacy : "The Terri SchiavoCase: once More, with Feeling and Deliberation."
Bracci, S. L. (2007). A Conversation with Sharon L. Bracci about Communication Ethics, in Arneson P., Ed. (2007). Exploring Communication Ethics: Interviews with InfluentialScholars in the Field, NY: Peter Lang, 21-36.
Bracci, S.L. (2007). Linn, S. Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood. Journal of Moral Education, 36 (1), 126-128.
Bracci, S. L. Bioethics: A “New” Prudence for an Emergent Paradigm? Argumentation and Advocacy, 38 (3) 151-168.
Bracci, S. L. (2001). Managing Health Care in Oregon: The Search for A Civic Bioethics. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 29 (2) 171-194.
Jovanovic, S., Poulos, C. & LeGreco, M. (2010). Waiting for the bus: Awakening a social justice sensibility through communication activism. 2010 Carolina Communication Association Annual, 26, 1-17
Jovanovic, S. (in press). Sustaining democracy: Conversations about truth and reconciliation in Greensboro, North Carolina. Book length manuscript with the University of Arkansas Press.
Jovanovic, S. & Wood, R. V. (in press). A more perfect union: Recovering ethics in public dialogue. In J. H. Fritz & S. A. Groom (Eds.), Communication ethics and crisis: Negotiating differences in public and private spheres. Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Jovanovic, S., DeGooyer, D. & Reno, D. News talks: Critical service-learning for social change. Proteus..
Jovanovic, S. (2008). Community as Ethical Expression: How Discourse Shapes a Vision of Hope. Bridges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theology, Philosophy, History, and Sciences, 15 (1/2), 135-157.
Jovanovic, S., Steger, C., Symonds, S. & Nelson, D. (2007). Promoting deliberative democracy through Dialogue: Communication contributions to a grassroots movement for truth, justice, and reconciliation. In L. R. Frey & K. M. Carragee (Eds.), Communication Activism pp. 53-94. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
Jovanovic, S. & Wood, R.V.(2007). Dialectical interactions: Decoupling and integrating ethics in ethics codes. Business Ethics Quarterly, 17 (2), 217-238.
Jovanovic, S. & Wood, R. V. (2006). Communication ethics and ethical culture: A study of the ethics initiative in Denver City Government. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34 (4), 386-405.
Natalle, E.J., & Bodenheimer, F.R. (2004). The woman's public speaking handbook. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Schwartzman, R., & Carlone, D. (2008). A rhetorical reconsideration of knowledge management: Discursive dynamics of nanotechnology risks. In A. Koohang (Ed.), Knowledge management: Foundation and principles (pp. 1-39). Santa Rosa, CA: Informing Science Press.
Schwartzman, R. (2007). Scientific and political promotion of racial hygiene in Nazi Germany : A content analysis. In Proceedings of the fifth annual Hawaii international conference on arts and humanities (pp. 4607-4639). Honolulu: Hawaii InternationalConference on Arts and Humanities.
FOCUS AREA 2: VOICES of CHANGE, DIVERSITY and DIFFERENCE, CONFLICT
Fairfield-Artman, P. (2007). “Bewitched the 1960s Sitcom Revisited: A Queer Read.” In Media Literacy: A Reader (2007). Eds. D. Macedo & S.R. Stein. New York. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Fairfield-Artman, P., Lippard, R., Sansom, A. (2005). Bewitched…the 1960s Sitcom Revisited: A Queer Read. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 9(2), 27-49.
Fairfield-Artman, P. (2005). Democracy and the military: recruitment and serving - the moral, ethical and political. Panel presentation at American Educators Studies Association, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Fairfield-Artman, P. (2004). The Jessica Lynch rescue: Three perspectives. Presented at Southern States Communication Association, Tampa, FL.
Jovanovic, S. (2003). Difficult conversations as moral imperative: Negotiating ethnic identities during war. Communication Quarterly, 51(1), 57-72.
Kellett, P.M., Matyok, T., Blizzard, S., Avent, C., & Jeter, E.H. (2011). Interracial conflict and campus hate speech: The case for dialogic engagement in college settings. In Deborah Brunson, Linda Lampl, & Jordan-Jackson, F. (2011). Interracial communication: Contexts, communities and choices. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt.
Kellett, P.M. & Dalton, D.G. (2009). Games people play. In Kenneth J. Gergen, Stuart M. Schrader & Mary Gergen (Ed’s) Constructing worlds together: Interpersonal communication as relational process (pp. 179-183). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Kellett, P.M. (2007). Conflict dialogue: Working with layers of meaning for productive relationships. Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage. Translated into Russian by the Humanitarian Institute, State University of Ukraine at Kharkov (2010).
LeGreco, M. (2011). “Mama thinks I’m feeding you”: Using food rules to restructure school meal programs. In J. M. Cramer, C. P. Greene, & L. M. Walters (Eds.), Food as communication/communication as food. New York: Peter Lang.
LeGreco, M. & Canary, H.E. (2011). Enacting sustainable school-based healthcare: A communication-centered approach to policy and practice. American Journal of Public Health, 101, 431-437.
LeGreco, M. & Tracy, S.J. (2009). Discourse tracing as qualitative practice. Qualitative Inquiry, 15, 1516-1543.
LeGreco, M. (In Press). Working with policy: Restructuring healthy eating practices and the Circuit of Policy Communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research. Accepted for publication, 2/8/11.
Kinefuchi, E. (2008). What’s (not) in a Label?: Understanding Korean American Adoptee Identity through Self Identified Labels. In L. A. Samovar, R. E. Porter, & E. R. McDaniel (eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader (12th ed.) (pp. 104-115). Belmont, CA: Thompson.
Kinefuchi, E. & Orbe, M. P. (2008). Situating oneself in racialized world: Understanding student reactions to Crash through standpoint theory and context-positionality frame. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1(1), 70-90.
Kinefuchi, E. (in press). From authenticity to geographies: Unpacking Japaneseness in the construction of Nikkeijin identity. International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 31.
Orbe, M. P. & Kinefuchi, E. (in press). Crash under investigation: Engaging complications of complicity, coherence, and implicature through critical analysis. Critical Studies in Media Communication, (second issue under the editorialship of Eric King Watts 2008)
Lederman, L.C., LeGreco, M., Schuwerk, T.J., & Cripe, E.T. (2007). A final word: Framing the future of health communication. In Linda C. Lederman (Ed.). Beyond these Walls: Readings in Health Communication (pp. 395-408). Los Angeles: Roxbury.
FOCUS AREA 3: VOICES of IDENTITY and RELATIONSHIPS
Jovanovic, S. & Wood, R. V. (2004). Speaking at the bedrock of ethics. Philosophy  & Rhetoric, 37 (2), 317-334.
Poulos, C. (2010). Performance is a good breakfast: Metaphorical plays on the meanings of performance. International Review of Qualitative Research. 3:2, 209-216.
Poulos, C. (2010). Transgressions. International Review of Qualitative Research, 3:10, 67-88.
Poulos, C. (2010). Spirited Accidents: An autoethnography of possibility. Qualitative Inquiry, 16:1, 49-56.
Poulos, C. (2009). Accidental Ethnography: An inquiry into family secrecy. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Poulos, C. (2008). Narrative Conscience and the autoethnographic adventure: Probing memories, secrets, shadows, and possibilities. Qualitative Inquiry 14:1.
Poulos, C. (2008, in press). Accidental Dialogue: The search for dialogic moments in everyday life. Communication Theory , 18:1.
FOCUS AREA 4: VOICES of DISCOVERY
Bloch-Schulman & Jovanovic, S. (2010). Who’s Afraid of Politics? On the Need to Teach Political Engagement. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 14 (1), 83-100.
Fairfield-Artman, P., McCall, J., Yarbrough, P. (2009). Student leadership in the 21st Century: Storytelling and story listening. Panel presentation at Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching, Greensboro, NC.
Fairfield-Artman, P., Brewster, S. (2008). Leveraging user-created content to empower learners in speaking-Intensive courses delivered online. Presented at Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching, Greensboro NC.
Fairfield-Artman, P., Goodall, S. (2006) Business & Professional textbook. Text revision, Instructor Manual and all auxiliary material.
Cuny, K. M. & Yarragunta, H. R. (2009). Increasing feedback opportunities: Learning the ropes together. In Worley, D. W., Worley, D. A., Hugenberg, B. & Elkins, M. R. (Eds.), Best Practices in Experiential and Service Learning in Communication (pp. 316-324). Dubuque: Great Rivers.
Cuny, K. M. & Wilde, S. M. (2007). Increasing immediacy behaviors, In L. & B. Hugenberg (Eds.), Teaching ideas for the basic communication course (Vol. 11). Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Cuny, K. M. & Wilde, S. M. (2005). Rhetorical proof: Aristotle in a box, In L. & B. Hugenberg (Eds.), Â Teaching ideas for the basic communication course (Vol. 9). Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Cuny, K. M. (2005). Helping students have more positive experiences in the classroom: Part 2, The Successful Professor (4)2, 3-6.
Cuny, K. M. & Wilde, S. M. (2004). Communication in the classroom for english teachers, Virginia Association of Teachers of English Bulletin.
Cuny, K. M. & Wilde, S. M. (2004). Fishbowl discussion: Using student voices to teach group work, In L. & B. Hugenberg (Ed’s.), Teaching ideas for the basic communication course (Vol. 8). Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Cuny, K. M. (2003). Exploring cultural practices: The informative speech, In L. & B. Hugenberg (Eds.), Teaching ideas for the basic communication course (Vol. 7). Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Delk, J. (2005). Organizing in Groups. In B. Hugenberg’s and L.W. Hugenberg’s Teaching Ideas for the Basic Communication Course (Vol. 9). Iowa: Kendall/Hunt
Delk, J. (2005). Instructor’s Resource Manual for Verderber and Verderber’s Communicate (11th ed.). United States: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Delk, J. (2006).After the Crash: Moving from a Discourse of Deficit to a Discourse of Potential. Taboo,10 (1), p.121-128.
Jovanovic, S. (2008) Mindful Speech (Ch. 13) in A. Weston’s A 21st Century Ethics Toolbox, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jovanovic, S. (2003). Communication as critical inquiry in service-learning. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 7, 81-85.
LeGreco, M., Hess, A., Lederman, L., La Valley, A., & Schuwerk, T. (2010). An innovative dialogue about college drinking: Developing an Immediate Response Technology Model for health promotion. Communication Education, 54, 389-404.
Natalle, E.J. (2008). Teaching interpersonal communication: Resources and readings. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Schwartzman, R., Cuny, K. M., Wilde, S. M. & Kreizinger, J. (2007). Speakers, speeches, and audiences, In R. Schwartzman, Fundamentals of oral communication. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Schwartzman, R. Fox-Hines, R., Cuny, K. M., & Wilde, S. M. (2007). Interpersonal Relationships, In R. Schwartzman, Fundamentals of oral communication. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Schwartzman, R. (2007). Electronifying oral communication: Refining the conceptual framework for online instruction. College Student Journal, 41, 37-50.
Schwartzman, R. (2007). Fundamentals of oral communication . Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Schwartzman, R. (2007). Refining the question: How can online instruction maximize opportunities for all students? Communication Education, 56 , 113-117.
Schwartzman, R., Runyon, D., & von Holzen, R. (2007). Where theory meets practice:
Design and deployment of learning objects. In A. Koohang & K. Harman (Eds.),
Learning objects: Theory, praxis, issues, and trends (pp. 1-44). Santa Rosa, CA:
Informing Science Press.
Wilde, S. M. & Cuny, K. M. (2008). Cultural difference: Immediacy in the classroom, In L. & B. Hugenberg (Eds.), Teaching ideas for the basic communication course (Vol. 12). Dubuque: Kendall Hall.
Wilde, S. M., Cuny, K. M., & Vizzier, A. L. (2006) Peer-to-peer tutoring: A model for utilizing empathetic listening to build client relationships in the communication center, International Journal of Listening , (20), 70-75.
