I have substantive professional experiences in career counseling, public relations, communication consulting, and applied research. I have worked as an event planner for a professional association, an associate director for a career services office, a project manager for a humanities center, and a freelance writer. I continue to serve as a consultant for numerous businesses and non-profit organizations on a variety of communication issues.
From writing a research proposal in Research Methods to navigating a client meeting in Public Relations to presenting your e-portfolio in Professional Communication, I seek to encourage and equip my students to pursue their vocations in all of my classes.
When we view our life and our work through the lens of vocation, we are called to excellence based not on competition or artificial standards of “success” or “perfection” but rather on being true to ourselves and to our own potential. To think vocationally means to make an appraisal of the self. We look at ourselves; we identify, accept, and embrace who we are called to be. It also means to look outward, to make an appraisal of the world’s needs and how we can connect with the needs of the world. A true sense of vocation is rooted in the reality that there is something we must do. What needs to be done here? What are the strengths and passions that I can bring to this situation and this opportunity, in light of the needs and in view of the opportunities before me? Above all, I hope that all of my classes will allow you to think more critically and reflectively as you engage these important questions and to view our work together as an act of serving and loving our neighbor.
"Teaching as paradox: Talking the walk, walking the talk." In C. Engstrom & J. Frye, (Eds.), Qualitative communication consulting, Kendall Hunt, 2016.
"Harmony and healing: The use of music therapy to promote inter-generational communication across the lifespan." The Undergraduate Journal of Service-Learning & Community-Based Research, Volume 5, 2016.
"Our callings, our selves: Repositioning religious and entrepreneurial discourses in career theory and practice." Communication Studies, 2007.
"Freedom through flight: Performing a counter-narrative of disability." Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2006.
"Addressing communication anxiety." In B.S. Titworth, D. Novak, & P. Royse (Eds.), Fundamentals of public communication, 2005.
"The Midwest." In J.W. Slade & J.Y. Lee (Eds.), The Midwest: The Greenwood encyclopedia of American regional cultures, 2004.
Review of Student development in the first college year: A primer for college educators by Tracy L. Skipper. Journal of Learning Communities Research, 2006.
Review of Impossible images: Contemporary art after the Holocaust, edited by Shelley Hornstein, Laura Levitt and Laurence J. Silberstein, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2004.
Review of Love and good reasons: Postliberal approaches to Christian ethics and literature by Fritz Oehlschlaeger. Literature and Theology, 2004.
Review of Creative spirituality: The way of the artist by Robert Wuthnow, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2003.
Felix culpa. The Penwood Review, 2009.
Housekeeping. The Penwood Review, 2007.
Etymology: Nostalgia. The Penwood Review, 2007.
Emmanuel’s tattoo. The Penwood Review, 2005.
Speaking the unspeakable. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2003.
Is there any additional personal experience you would like to share?
I have served as the director of several grant initiatives totaling over $125,000 which has promoted experiential learning and community engagement at the College. My work has also been recognized by the Jenzabar Foundation for creating an outstanding innovative curricular model for student leadership and civic engagement in 2009.
I have served as a senior adviser to the president of the National Communication Association as well as an editorial board member for Management Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Business Communication, Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Research, and Partnerships: A Journal of Service Learning and Civic Engagement.