Our fantastic department administrative assistant, Emmy Darling, put together these childhood photos of our Department Executive Committee for social media. If only we were all still so cute!!
Category: Academic Life
Looking forward to this event! See information below: December’s First Friday Forum will explore how scholars collaborate to produce co-authored work in rhetoric, highlighting both the generative possibilities and the complexities of writing together. Join Dr. Robin Jensen (University of Utah), Dr. Madison Krall (Independent Scholar), Dr. Noor Ghazal Aswad (University of Alabama), Dr. Michael…
Conferencing at NCA, 2025
The National Communication Association annual conference was held in Aurora, CO this year. There is always so much going on at this event that it is difficult not to feel a bit overwhelmed and stretched for time. Miracle of miracles, though, I made it through without major mishap AND I got to touch base with…
Lauren McCluskey Foundation Dinner and Auction
Last month I was lucky enough to get to join a table of my colleagues, students, and friends in the Department of Communication for the Lauren McCluskey Foundation Dinner and Auction. The Lauren McCluskey Foundation is a fantastic nonprofit dedicated to “transforming campus cultures across the nation by promoting awareness, research, and resources to effectively…
PhD student Emma Murdock presents at ICCH
This fall, Emma Murdock traveled with Erin P. Johnson, the lead researcher on a project we are both a part of, to deliver a paper at the 2025 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH), held in Ottawa, Ontario. Photo credit goes to my colleague Kim Kaphingst, who was in the audience for the presentation…
Quoted in _The Atlantic_
I was interviewed for this great article by Olga Khazan that just came out in The Atlantic (see the second-to-last paragraph for my quotation): What Women Wish They’d Known Before Trying to Get Pregnant
My New Favorite Office Furniture
This summer, I was thrilled to be gifted this gorgeous library card catalogue from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, my alma mater, complete with original labels following the Dewey Decimal System (these drawers are all from the D’s). HUGE thanks to Drs. Andy King and Abs King for passing this on to me after…
International Communication Association Conference 2025, Denver
I took a quick trip to ICA in Denver to present our research team’s scholarship on the communication of fertility information in secondary school sex-education curricula (shout-out to my co-authors: Dr. Madison A. Krall, Gabrielle Yvonne Garza, Jasmine Lopez Aguilar, and Miya Jordan). I so enjoyed hearing the research presented by my co-panelists on issues…
Graduation Fun
I can’t BELIEVE that it is already graduation season, but here we are and here are some of my favorite photos from the College of Humanities Convocation this morning at the University of Utah. The front image features wonderful colleagues Glen Feighery, Crystal Lumpkins, Kim Kaphingst, and me. Below, the fantastic Leandra Hernandez and I…
Gabby Garza Wins 2025-2026 University Teaching Assistantship!
Our very own Gabby Garza has been named a 2025-2026 University Teaching Assistant by the University of Utah’s Office of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs. This is an extremely competitive award that will see her designing and teaching her own specialized undergraduate course in the new academic year. Way to go, Gabby–the undergraduate students in…
USA Today highlights our research
Our research team (consisting of me, Dr. Madison Krall, Gabrielle Yvonne Garza, Jasmine Aguilar Lopez, and Miya Jordan) recently published a research article in the American Journal of Sexuality Education. This past week the research was discussed in USA Today, and we are thrilled that our findings are being circulated to a larger audience. You…
Communicating about prenatal genetic screening results
Over the past two years, I have had the great privilege of working with an amazing team of reproductive health scholars and professionals on a project that explores how prenatal genetic screening results (particularly results having to do with sex chromosomes) are communicated to patients. This past month, three members of our team (Claudia Geist,…
Cross-Country Research-Team Meeting
You know the stars have aligned well when scholars living in Utah, New Jersey, and Montana can all find a convenient time to meet via Zoom, and at the tail-end of the fall semester no less. What we have been calling our “pill project” is making great progress thanks to the hard work of these…
To the Penn State University (and Drexel) Archives
Last summer I took an amazing trip to the Penn State University Archives, as well as to the Drexel University Legacy Center, to find records of Dr. Helen Octavia Dickens, the first Black woman certified in Gynecology in the United States. Thanks to the fantastic archivists I worked with, boxes of materials were waiting for…
The Department of Communication at the University of Utah was very lucky to host the Health & Environmental Justice in Latina/o/x Communities Colloquium this past Friday. The effort was led by the stupendous Drs. Leandra Hinojosa Hernandez and Andy King. What a treat it was to gather in the Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute, directed by…
Public Address Conference
What a pleasure it was to be a part of the graduate mentoring panel at the 2024 Public Address Conference in Austin, TX. The conference as a whole was absolutely spectacular from start to finish. A huge shout-out to Annie Hill, Karma Chávez, and Stacey Sowards for putting together a really top-notch, innovative, and energy-filled…
RSA 2024
The Rhetoric Society of America Conference took place in Denver this past May. It was truly a pleasure to see friends old and new and hear about fantastic ongoing projects. Below, amazing “old friends” I’ve known since graduate school (Jenell Johnson, Christa Olson, and Amy Wan). It’s so strange how none of us have aged…
Olivia Webster graduates with her Master’s Degree in Communication!
This past week was a huge one for the amazing Olivia Webster. She successfully defended her M.A. comprehensive exams, a process that was made possible by her outstanding committee members (pictured below) including Drs. Crystal Lumpkins and Lezlie Frye! She also graduated AND accepted a new position with the Lauren McCluskey Foundation. I know it…
Congratulations to Dr. Kourtney Maison!
This week Kourtney Maison successfully defended her dissertation entitled, Unruly Visions: The Rhetorical Intersections of Humanity, Bodies, and Visual Zoerhetorics. Drs. Kent Ono, Mike Middleton, Angela Smith, and Helene Shugart (not pictured) were there to wish her well and discuss her compelling project. Kourtney is already flourishing in her position as Assistant Professor (and acting…
Dr. Raquel M. Robvais wins ACLS Fellowship!
My wonderful friend, Dr. Raquel M. Robvais, was just announced as an ACLS Fellow for this coming academic year. Please check out the announcement here: Raquel M. Robvais – ACLS This is an extremely prestigious fellowship, and I can think of no one more deserving of this award than Raquel. Her work ethic, insight, and…
Archival Gems: Sylvia Plath’s Typewriter
During my visit to Smith College, the Special Collections was displaying an exhibit on the author and famed poet Sylvia Path, who had been a student there in the 1950s. I was especially taken by her typewriter, the very one she used at school and then to type out her published writings later on. During…
Smith College Libraries: The Spring Break Edition
This spring break, I took a variety of planes, trains, and automobiles to get to Smith College in Northampton, MA, and to do research in the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History held in Smith’s Special Collection Reading Room. My visit was a lovely adventure that had me filling out call slips like this one…
Quoted
Last week I was quoted in this really compelling Science article on maternal mortality rates by Meredith Wadman. Check it out here: Have U.S. deaths from pregnancy complications tripled? | Science | AAAS
NCA’s Golden Monograph Award
This past fall I was so excited to receive the National Communication Association’s Golden Monograph Award for an article I published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech in 2022 entitled, “Re-envisioning fertility science: From J. Marion Sims’s invasive gynecology to Sophia Kleegman’s ‘conservative surgery’ hermeneutic.” I am so lucky to have a community of people…
Olivia begins the new year doing excellent community-based, health communication research
Lots of fantastic projects are on the agenda for M.A. student, Olivia Webster, this semester, and she’s able to take it all on with a cat on her head! 🙂 More specifically, she is continuing work with faculty member Marcie Young Cancio and Amplify Utah on a journalism-based storytelling project concerning those experiencing homelessness, and…
Dr. Madison Krall wins the OSCLG Dissertation Award
Please check out this article featured in The Setonian about Madison’s recognition as recipient of a 2023 Cheris Kramerae Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender: Dr. Krall Wins Kramerae Dissertation Award – The Setonian Madison received this recognition for her fantastic dissertation, U.S. Medical Controversy and Its…
Women & Language Forum + OSCLG Conference
Last spring, my wonderful graduate student, Gia Almuaili, and I had the opportunity to contribute to a fantastic forum in the journal Women & Language on the overturning of Roe v. Wade and what the new legislative landscape may entail. It was an absolutely wonderful experience led by W&L editor, Siobhan E. Smith-Jones, and you…
Fall at the U of Utah: College of Humanities Distinguished Scholar Award
Earlier this fall, I was honored to be named Distinguished Scholar by the College of Humanities at the University of Utah. I am so grateful to the wonderful colleagues who nominated me for this award, and I am really treasuring this accompanying beehive-shaped sculpture. It looks great in my office, and it makes me smile…
New Advisee Olivia Webster’s Successful Program of Study Defense
My newest advisee, Olivia Webster, successfully (more than) passed her Program of Study Defense earlier this week. She is exploring the area of critical disability and race studies, as well as health and science communication and community-based methods. Her committee members were all so excited to see the progress that Olivia has made toward her…
Research Meeting
On September 1st, I met with a group of awesome reproductive health students and researchers to begin a new collaboration on the communication of reproductive health information in the secondary-school sex education classroom. Dr. Madison Krall, Ph.D. student Gabby Garza, advanced undergraduate researchers Jasmine Aguilar Lopez and Miya Jordan, and I talked about coding and…
Awesome New Advisee: Gabby Garza
I’m thrilled to introduce Gabby Garza as a new PhD student in the Department of Communication here at the University of Utah and as a new advisee! Gabby’s research focuses on issues of reproductive health, health communication, and environmental communication. To say the least, Gabby’s expertise will be in high demand as we embark on…
Summer Research is My Favorite Type of Research
Cheers to blue skies and piles of amazing books!
Mentoring Breakfast at Old Cuss Coffee Co.
My faculty mentee this year is the amazing Dr. Andy King, which is pretty hilarious because he is always the one teaching me important things. Case in point, I had never heard of Salt Lake City’s Old Cuss Coffee Co., and you’d think I would have because I am often calling myself an ‘ol cuss.…
Grad School Days and 75th Anniversary Talks at UIUC
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit my old grad-school stomping grounds at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This had me going back down memory lane and looking up artifacts from those good days past. For instance, this photo of several lovely grad students in the program willing to come together…
St. Patty’s Day Chemical Rhetoric Group Coding Meeting
A subset of the Chemical Rhetoric Group has been working on a project that has required lots of coding. Fortunately, we are all up for finding ways to make that process fun with a nod to St. Patty’s Day and a killer data management system (as you can see below). We should have used shades…
Finding Science in the Special Collections
This week, members of our Rhetoric of Science graduate seminar had the fantastic opportunity to visit the Marriott Library’s Special Collections. Original Cataloger for Special Collections, Allie McCormack (pictured below in the front of the class), prepared an engaging and illuminating presentation about archival search engines, theory, and analysis, and she let us page through…
Sundance Film Festival 2023
The Sundance Film Festival was back to in-person business this year, and I joined a group of fantastic graduate students and friends to traverse up the mountain to see some truly outstanding films and take in the sights in Park City, UT. Some of my favorite films from this year’s festival (keeping in mind that…
Dr. Amanda Boyd’s Research on Health Inequities and Community Participatory Research
The University of Utah has been such a hotspot for amazing speakers lately. We were so lucky to have Dr. Amanda Boyd, member of the Metis Nation of Alberta and Associate Professor in The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University, give the B. Aubrey Fisher Memorial Lecture on October 27th. She…
Dr. Leandra Hernandez’s Upcoming Colloquium
This week I’m looking forward to Dr. Hernandez’s colloquium talk on “Critical Health Communication, Reproductive Justice, and Intersectionality: Trends, Media, and Considerations Moving Forward.” What a treat to have Dr. Hernandez visiting and getting us talking and thinking about issues of reproductive justice.
RSQ’s Special Issue on “Global Black Rhetorics” is Published
I’m thrilled to report that Rhetoric Society Quarterly‘s special issue on “Global Black Rhetorics: A New Framework for Engaging African and Afro Diasporic Rhetorical Traditions” is now published. The Special Issue Editors, Ronisha Browdy and Esther Milu, wrote a wonderful introduction to the issue that you can read here–“Global Black Rhetorics: A New Framework for…
Dr. Madison Krall helps on move-in day at Seton Hall University
In her first few days on the job as an assistant professor at Seton Hall University, Dr. Krall decided to join in with other faculty and staff to help the new students on move-in day. Here she is with the SHU Pirate and some of her new colleagues. Here’s wishing all the new college students,…
Gia Almuaili joins the Chemical Rhetoric Group
I’m so pleased to announce that Gia Almuaili has joined us here this fall as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and that she has already gotten involved with Chemical Rhetoric Group projects. Gia, who is originally from Kuwait, received both her bachelors and her masters degrees in Strategic Communication from the University…
Graduation 2022
Our department was so excited to graduate an amazing group of Ph.D. (pictured above–photo credit to Avery Holton) and M.A. students this spring. Each and every one of those students has obtained a tenure-track position for the coming fall, and I am so excited to see them off into the next phase of their academic…
National Science Foundation Workshop on Inclusive Language in STEM
Last month, I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego for an NSF-funded workshop on inclusive language in the STEM disciplines. It was a wonderful trip mixing rhetoricians (you can see several of them hard at work if you look closely at the image below–John Lynch at the board, Raquel Robvais looking on from…
Introducing Dr. Madison Krall, in-coming Assistant Professor of Communication at Seton Hall University!
Several weeks ago, Madison entered a Zoom room with her Ph.D. Committee Members and, about two hours later, she left the room having earned a Doctorate of Philosophy (aka, a Ph.D.). She defended her dissertation research beautifully, and her excellent committee members (featured below) offered her amazing feedback and a double dose of CONGRATULATIONS because…
(Some of the) Cats of Chemical Rhetoric
The great thing about Zoom meetings is that you sometimes get a glimpse into the lives and furry companions of those on the other side of the screen. At our last CRG meeting, these adorable fluff balls contributed to the meeting by walking over and perching on the keyboards of Chemical Rhetoric Group members, making…
Me, my mom, and another baby, circa 1980
Whenever I teach feminist communication and history, I can’t help but introduce the second-wave of feminism with this photograph from some time in 1980 or so (mostly because I love the shag carpet and my mom’s glasses and flip-flops). I call it, “Me, My Mom, and Another Baby,” and I’m pretty sure it captures us…
Achival Gems: Zines and more from the Marriott Library Special Collections
Students from my COMM 5950 class on strategic feminist communication and I had the opportunity to check out some of the women-and-gender-oriented archival holdings at the University of Utah’s Special Collections Library earlier this semester. We loved parceling through a sample of the library’s amazing collection of third and fourth wave zines, several of which…
Teaching Classes on Science, Health, and Environmental Communication, and on Feminist Communication in U.S. History
For the Spring 2020 semester, I’m teaching COMM 3115: Communicating Science, Health, and the Environment which focuses on the idea that communication plays a fundamental role in public perceptions of science, health, and the environment. This class provides students with an overview of how these topics tend to be communicated in contexts ranging from the…
End-of-the-semester post-it take-over
My planner is one that goes for five years, so although it says 2019 on the front it covers all the way until 2023. If the post-it note situation I’m dealing with here is any indication, I may be trying to pack too much information into both my planner and my brain. But the end-of-the-semester…
Madison is Elected Secretary of ARSTM at NCA 2021
At the National Communication Association Conference in November, Madison Krall was elected to the position of ARSTM Secretary. ARSTM stands for the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine, and I am very excited that Madison will be taking on a leadership role in this vibrant and growing group of scholars.
Dr. Melissa Parks accepts Faculty Position at Drexel University
Starting in January, Melissa will begin her new position on faculty in the Department of Communication at Drexel University, where she will teach classes and do research focused on non-profit communication. This allows her to draw from her extensive background in environmental, health, and intercultural communication, as well as her experience working with the Peace…
Defenses, Defenses, Kourtney Maison and Ashleigh McDonald Pass Their Defenses!
This fall has been a very successful one in terms of academic defenses for our group (please note that, although I used this image from a boxing correspondence course as a header for this post, I’m happy to report that none of our defenses ever turned to fisticuffs). At the end of October, Kourtney Maison…
Trip to the Utah State Archives
Last Friday, the students in my “Rhetoric in the Archives” seminar and I traveled downtown to the Utah State Archives, where we were treated by state archivists Ken Williams and Jim Kichas to a fantastic tour of the beautiful facilities there and a peak behind-the-scenes to see a range of astounding artifacts being stored, processed,…
Rhetoric Society Quarterly’s Recent Special Issues
As the Associate Editor for Special Issues, I have had the very great pleasure of ushering in the last three special issues of the journal, Rhetoric Society Quarterly. The most recent issue is hot off the presses (2021; see below), and my last and final special issue (which will come out in the summer of…
Project Back-to-Campus/Teaching In-Person
After working-from-home for a year and a half, this semester I will be back in my office and back on campus to teach classes (a graduate seminar on archival methods and an undergraduate capstone class entitled “strategic feminist communication”). This week, I went to campus to try and find the buildings where my classes will…
The Chemical Rhetoric Group has a Pseudo-In-Person Meeting
Earlier this week, we gathered as many of our group as we could and had a meeting for the first time since March of 2020 (one of us was on Zoom from the east coast, one of us was driving to the meeting on Zoom and arrived in the middle for the physical meeting, and…
Theorizing Chemical Rhetoric in the Journal of Communication
My new article, “Theorizing Chemical Rhetoric: Toward an Articulation of Chemistry as a Public Vocabulary,” has been published in the Journal of Communication! I learned so much in the process of writing this piece and am hoping that it proves useful for others who are interested in how chemistry and its concepts circulate and are…
Archival Gems: Remembering Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi
I found this little gem a few years back at the Schlesinger Library (pardon the poor photography). The library didn’t end up having much on Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi’s communications concerning infertility and reproductive health, which is what I was looking for, but it did have this excerpt from an obituary written about Jacobi on…
Drs. Parks and Cullinan Earn Top Paper Award
Megan and Melissa learned recently that their paper, “Art-as-Pedagogy for Environmental Activism: The Rhetoric of Washed Ashore’s Ocean Plastics Exhibition,” won the Top Paper Award at the 2021 Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE). Woot, woot! Here is the announcement on Twitter. Their research is funded by a 2019 National Geographic Early Career Grant. I…
Exclusive Chemical Rhetoric Group Zoom Party
At the end of April, we had a Chemical Rhetoric Group soiree, via Zoom. As you might imagine, the whole thing was very exclusive and very, very fancy in that it included science-themed party favors and a viewing of a new NOVA “Beyond the Elements” episode wherein we learned about some of the differences between…
Madison Krall named a Steffensen-Cannon Fellow for the 2nd year in a row
This past spring, Madison learned that she was awarded a Ellen Christina Steffensen Cannon Scholarship for the second straight year to complete her dissertation project exploring regulatory rhetoric, thalidomide, and women’s reproductive health and medicine. Find out more about this outstanding recognition, which is bestowed on those pursuing “excellence in their chosen fields of Education…
Dr. Benjamin Mann accepts Assistant Professor position at Eastern Oregon University
Starting this coming fall, Ben will join the faculty at Eastern Oregon University as an Assistant Professor of Communication in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences! Below, see Ben during a recent visit to the area enjoying the beautiful, wooded mountains of La Grande. I can’t wait to hear about the fantastic adventures…
Dr. Melissa Parks’ research highlighted in NCA’s Communication Currents
Melissa’s Text and Performance Quarterly essay, “Ecocultural adjustment: Revisiting acculturation through a Peace Corps sojourn,” has recently been featured in the National Communication Association publication Communication Currents, which translates communication scholarship for lay audiences. Check out the Communication Currents piece here, and find links to Melissa’s original article here, with the complete citation below. Parks,…
Searching for Chemical Landmarks–a visual history and new publication in the journal, Science Communication
The journal Science Communication recently published our article “Strategic Place-Making and Public Scientific Outreach in the American Chemical Society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program.” More than any other piece we’ve written as a group, I think this one had us working together as an interconnected unit the most. It involved traveling to (and finding!) multiple,…
Megan and Rio’s Ghost House Adventures
Dr. Megan Cullinan (Chemical Rhetoric Group Member; Faculty at Merrimack College in North Andover, MA; all-around cool person) and her partner Rio Sabella (woodworker; jack of all trades; all-around cool person) have taken on one of the most intriguing projects I’ve ever heard of for the summer: they are serving as caretakers for a house…
Humanities Radio
Last week, Jana Cunningham interviewed me for the new University of Utah Humanities Radio Podcast. She asked about my research on Dr. Sophia Kleegman, specifically, a person who I have had a lot of fun learning about through my current NEH project on the history of infertility science. You can catch our conversation HERE. Thanks…
You know you study communication when . . .
you see this cross stitch pattern and think it is HILARIOUS because . . . it references the Toulmin Model of argumentation. Several hours later, you realize it probably refers to a search warrant. But you still use it in your classes (to teach the Toulmin Model) and laugh and laugh for the first reason,…
Winter Adventures in Utah
Utah always provides opportunities for fun and a break from research in the wintertime, even during a pandemic!
Celebrating the Elements (and Coding) on Zoom
Last week, members of the Chemical Rhetoric Group met via Zoom to do some coding and celebrate the elements. Of course we dressed up. Below you will see (clockwise): -Me as boron: element number 5 (usually gray-ish in color, this metalloid produces bright green flames when set on fire). -Megan Cullinan as mercury: element number…
A Zoom Hat Party
Last week, the Chemical Rhetoric Group convened via Zoom for a very exciting hat party to celebrate some great successes we’ve had recently. We used this opportunity to show off our most fabulous hats, share science-oriented puns, and–as you can see in this photo–put some very cute cats in hats. Stay tuned for the theme…
Blast from my TA-past
I received a surprise email from my former professor, Dr. Ruth Anne Clark, earlier this semester. Dr. Clark was in charge of teaching me how to be a teaching assistant and instructor when I first came to graduate school at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in (wait for it) 2001. That semester I had been…
Madison Krall presents top paper at NCA 2020
Madison Krall’s paper was featured on the Top Student Papers in Theatre, Film, and New Multi-Media panel at the National Communication Conference this year. Entitled “Dirty Dancing’s Stagnating Subplot: Critiquing the Commemorative Control of Film for U.S. Public Memory,” Madison’s research in this project ties into her dissertation work exploring the regulatory history of women’s…
Dr. Mann presents a Top Paper at NCA 2020
Ben’s paper, “Theorizing Intersectional Stigma Management Communication at the Crossroads: LGBTAIQ+ and Autistic Subjectivities,” was featured on the Disability Issues Caucus Top Paper Session at the National Communication Association Conference this year. This research comes out of Ben’s dissertation work and draws from 30 interviews Ben did with individuals who are both LGBTQIA+ and autistic…
Tea-ing in the New Year
I have always liked tea, but the pandemic and lots of time at home near a teapot has developed in me something like a burning, chemical love for tea. Add to that not one but two tea advent calendars for the holidays and I’ve become a tea-enthusiast to-the-brim (har, har, har). My favorites are English…
(Virtual) Keynote Address for Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science’s 5th Annual Women in Science and Healthcare (WiSH) Symposium
On September 10, 2020, I was honored to give the keynote address for Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science’s 5th Annual Women in Science and Healthcare (WiSH) Symposium. This was especially exciting in this particular year because the symposium was celebrating what would have been crystallographer Rosalind Franklin’s 100th birthday, and Rosalind Franklin’s niece,…
Dr. Benjamin Mann accepts Post-doc position at Dixie State University
This fall, Dr. Benjamin Mann began a new position as a Post-Doctoral Fellow of Communication at Dixie State University in the College of Humanities and Social Change. In this position, Ben serves as a full-time faculty member, instructor of Communication courses, and researcher. Find out more about this position and Ben’s research and teaching, here…
Dr. Melissa Parks accepts Post-doc position at University of CA, Santa Barbara
This fall, Dr. Melissa Parks began her tenure as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Humanities and Social Change Center. There she is working with an interdisciplinary team of scholars to explore issues of social change related to the environment, science, technology, and the broader culture. You can find out more…
Madison Krall Wins 2020-2021 Steffensen Cannon Fellowship
Last spring, Madison learned that she had been awarded a 2020-2021 Steffensen Cannon Fellowship to support her dissertation research on regulatory rhetoric and the mid-twentieth century thalidomide disaster. See our departmental announcement of Madison’s award, here. Find out more about the competitive Steffensen Cannon Fellowship, here. The fellowship was established at the University of Utah…
Research Collaboration with Dr. Manusheela Pokharel
Dr. Pokharel and I have been busy doing research on reproductive health and fertility perceptions. Thanks to Manu, I have enjoyed getting a bit outside of my comfort zone and spending some time working in the realm of quantitative methods!
National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship
At the beginning of the year, I learned that I had been awarded a 2020-2021 National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship. I am so excited to have the support of the NEH as I work on my next book project. For more information about the project and the award, see the College of Humanities…
Chemical Rhetoric in a Pandemic
These past months have been strange and scary in so many ways. At least I have an awesome mask to wear made by the amazing Suchitra Shenoy Parker!
Dr. Melissa M. Parks
In the spring semester, Melissa defended her dissertation successfully and became a PhD! The University was closed because of the pandemic, so she had to defend her work to her committee over a Zoom meeting. A traditional defense experience it was not, but certainly a memorable one! Well done, Dr. Parks! P.S. I have a…
Spring Break Work Day
Right before everything shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chemical Rhetoric Group spent a wild day on-campus working through research projects. We planned, wrote, brainstormed, ordered lunch, and then wrote some more. You know, all of your typical Spring Break shenanigans.
Melissa Parks is a Tanner Humanities Center Graduate Fellow!
Last spring, Melissa Parks was named a Tanner Humanities Center Graduate Fellow! She has been funded this year by the Center to work on her dissertation project, and this past month she presented a talk for the College of Humanities at the University of Utah on her work (see below).
Melissa M. Parks Publishes an Article in Nature + Culture!
Check out Melissa’s newest publication in Nature + Culture, “Explicating Ecoculture: Tracing a Transdisciplinary Focal Concept.” Way to go, Melissa!
Dr. Benjamin W. Mann
You can call him Dr. Mann! In mid-December, Benjamin Mann successfully defended his dissertation, “Intersectional Stigma Communication, Demi-rhetoricity, and Critical Health Communication: Affirming (Neuro)queer Subjectivities.” His committee members agreed that he had put together an important project grounded in interviews with hard-to-reach and often overlooked individuals and that his research would go a long way…
NCA 2019 Conference in Baltimore, MD
We had a grand showing at this year’s NCA! Melissa Parks received the Benson-Campbell Dissertation Research Award from the Public Address Division, and our research team presented three competitively selected papers–two of which were highlighted on top paper panels (ARSTM and the American Studies Division).
Benjamin W. Mann is selected to attend the 2019 Doctoral Honors Seminar!
Last July, Ben traveled to the University of South Florida after being selected to take part in the National Communication Association’s Doctoral Honor’s Seminar. The seminar’s theme was “Communication, Engagement, and Social Justice,” which fit perfectly with Ben’s dissertation project on the negotiation of intersectional stigma. He joined excellent faculty leaders and other outstanding doctoral…
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend
Last spring I was awarded a Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to work on a project entitled, Julia Ward Howe, Helene Deutsche, and Sophia Kleegman: 20th-Century Women Shaping the Science and Medicine of Fertility. To read more about this project and the award, click here.
The 2019 Alta Argumentation Conference
The University of Utah local-host team did a bang-up job helping make sure the conference went as planned. Our registration table was on-point, if I do say so myself. And a number of students and faculty gave fabulous talks about various aspects of the conference theme on local argument.
Melissa Parks Heads to the Taft-Nicholson Center for the 2019 Summer Season
For the second year in a row, Melissa Parks has been named a fellow and education coordinator at the University of Utah’s Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Center in Beaverhead County, MT. She will spend the summer helping to keep the center running, giving research talks, and otherwise supporting the many research and educational endeavors the center…
Madison Krall and Robin Jensen take part in RSA’s “Medical Rhetoric in the Archives” Seminar
In the beginning of June, Madison and Robin headed to the University of Maryland to take part in a Rhetoric Society of America Institute Seminar entitled, Medical Rhetoric in the Archives. Robin worked with the amazing Professor Jordynn Jack to lead the seminar of about 30 scholars through a variety of readings, discussions, and activities…
A trip to the Harvard Archives
In mid-May I hopped a plane to Boston and made my way to Cambridge, MA to spend a week searching for archival documents concerning chemistry, women’s history, and reproductive health (not necessarily in that order).
Benjamin Mann presented on Chemical Rhetoric at ICA 2019 in D.C.
Registration was popping, as was the audience that gathered to hear the panel on which Ben spoke. We are excited to use the feedback we received for revisions! While in D.C., Ben visited the National Museum of American History to check out some of their science-oriented collections.
End-of-the-Year Workday
We had a great day-long writing retreat over finals week this semester. The new Gardner Building on campus, which overlooks the mountains and the football stadium, was a great place to work on our projects.
Department Par-tay
The Department of Communication at the University of Utah gathered last week to celebrate some of our accomplishments and have some flashy fun!
Benjamin W. Mann Wins an NIH-Funded UCEER Fellowship!
Benjamin Mann recently learned that he has been awarded an NIH-Funded UCEER (Utah Center for Excellence in Ethical, Social, and Legal Issues Research) Fellowship for the 2019-2020 school year! Way to go, Ben!!
Chemical Rhetoric Goes to Wicked!
Madison and I hit the Eccles Theater here in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago to catch the musical Wicked. It was fantastic and had nothing to do, necessarily, with either rhetoric, or chemistry, or health communication, so we are still trying to figure out how to incorporate our findings into the next lab…
Winter Break Writing Retreat 2019–Chemical Rhetoric Takes on Public Libraries in Salt Lake City
Right before heading into the spring semester, we braved the cold to spend one day at the downtown Salt Lake City library and one day at the Marmalade branch of the city library. It was great changing up our surroundings a bit and, of course, working on our research projects.
Chemical Rhetoric Takes on Friday Night
Last Friday night, Melissa Parks, Madison Krall, and Emily Krebs took over one of our lecture halls to analyze documents. From all accounts, they absolutely lit the place up with their on-point analysis and witty repartee, not to mention their array of post-its, highlighters, and La Croix. Way to teach us all how to live-it-up…
Park City Writing Retreat 2018
Scenes from our 2018 Park City Writing Retreat! Benjamin Mann, Melissa Parks, Kourtney Maison, Madison Krall, Emily Krebs and I spend these last few days analyzing primary sources, brainstorming, writing, re-writing, and accomplishing a ton of research goals. We also laughed, ate, and tried to figure out how to turn the malfunctioning fire alarm off…
Celebrating Dr. Celeste Condit and Reproductive Justice at the Public Address Conference
What fun it was to meet up with some of my favorite people in Boulder, Colorado to talk about the amazing work of Dr. Celeste Condit and speak to issues of reproductive justice and health! Below are a few scenes from the event, beginning with the honoree, Dr. Condit, responding brilliantly and humbly (as…
The Art of Science Communication
On September 26, 2018, I spoke in Denver, CO on a National Communication Association-sponsored public panel concerning science communication. Other (amazing!) panelists included Leah Ceccarelli, Celeste Condit, Lisa Keranen, John Lynch, and J. Blake Scott. See the complete program here.
Teaching COMM 3115: Communicating Science, Health, and the Environment
The sneaky and awesome Emily Krebs caught me teaching my class in sunglasses last week because the lights wouldn’t dim. I don’t always teach about science, but when I do I like to look super cool.
Melissa Parks Serves as a Fellow at the Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Education Center
This past spring, Melissa Parks was named the inaugural field experience graduate fellow at the Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Education Center in Lakeview, MT. She spent the summer in Centennial Valley working with director, Mark Bergstrom, to further the Center’s mission concerning environmental education and communication. Way to go, Melissa!!
Science History Institute Museum
The Museum inside the Science History Institute is open to the public and offers a fantastic overview of chemical history in a beautiful space.
Trip to the Science History Institute in Philadelphia
Earlier this year, I won a travel grant to visit the Othmer Library of Chemical History at Philadelphia’s Science History Institute. This allowed me to spend the last week in June combing through the library’s tremendous archives and exploring Old Town Philly. This is me taking up residence in the Othmer Library. The archives are…
Medical Rhetoric in the Archives–a 2019 RSA Summer Seminar
Next summer, the amazing Jordynn Jack and I will be teaching a 2019 Rhetoric Society of America Summer Seminar entitled “Medical Rhetoric in the Archives.” The course will meet from Monday, June 3rd to Thursday, June 8th at the University of Maryland, and the class as a whole will make a trip to the National…
Health Rhetoric and Social Justice 2018
On September 27, 2018 at the CU Boulder campus I’ll be taking part in the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Preconference Symposium, which will proceed the 2018 Public Address Conference. The Preconference will honor Celeste M. Condit for her amazing work in this area (see here for an amazing oral history interview with Dr. Condit)…
My Favorite Source for Finding Great Books to Read
By the Book If only all book reviews were written as interviews with authors.
The first issue of the new journal, Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, is hot off the press!
Click here to check out the issue’s compelling introduction by journal editors Lisa Meloncon and J. Blake Scott, as well as fantastic articles by Lisa DeTora, Celeste Condit, S. Scott Graham, Mary Lay Schuster, Colleen Derkatch, and more. Below, editor Lisa Meloncon and I coordinate at the 2017 Rhetoric of Health & Medicine Symposium.
I was interviewed for two podcasts that focus on reproductive health and infertility
The first is called Waiting for Babies, and you can listen here! Host Steven Mavros asks great, informed questions, and was such a pleasure to talk with. The second is called Beat Infertility, and you can listen here! Host Heather Huhman has one of the best radio voices I’ve ever heard, and her podcast was…
The Chemical Rhetoric Group Goes to Riverdance!
Melissa Parks and I attended a Riverdance 20th Anniversary Tour performance last weekend. We plan to integrate what we learned into our research on chemical rhetoric. These dancers are not kidding around. If you look very closely, you will actually see Melissa and I dancing in the cast below. There we are . . .…
Madison Krall Throws Her Hat With Mary Tyler Moore!
Over the holiday break, Madison Krall found her way to the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis. She was inspired to do so after reading Bonnie Dow’s fantastic book Primetime Feminism in my class on Strategic Feminist Communication. Props to Madison’s mom for taking this great photo in -10 degree weather!
Anyone Else Compulsively Take Photos of Their Completed To-Do Lists?
No? Just me then?
Robin with an E
I found this article today where the author writes that Robin M. Jensen, a professor of theology at Notre Dame, “must be fairly tired of being confused with Robin E. Jensen, a professor at Utah and author of Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education. Perhaps they both are.”
