School of Social Sciences and International Studies

Communication News

Dr. Mary L. Rucker to be named Chair of Department of Communication

The College of Liberal Arts is pleased to announce that Professor Mary L. Rucker will be appointed the Chair of the Department of Communication starting July 1, 2015. Dr. Rucker comes to the position with administrative experience as the Communication Studies Degree track chair and former COM 1010 (Essentials of Public Address) director. Dr. Rucker earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from Purdue University with a research focus on Political Communication. Before she joined the faculty at WSU in 2001, Dr. Rucker taught at Xavier University of Louisiana. Dr. Rucker has chaired numerous thesis projects through the Humanities MA program, worked with English MA students on independent research projects, and has taken undergraduate students to major conferences to share their research. She is the author of several articles on student learning outcomes and political communication, and her most recent book is Obama’s Political Saga, published in 2013. She is currently co-authoring a book titled Framing and Counter-framing in African American Communication Scholarship: Identity, Self and Communication from a multi-discipline perspective. Dr. Rucker recently attended the Higher Learning Commission Assessment Workshop and currently serves on the University Assurance of Learning Committee.

 


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