Ph.D. Alumni

Our PhDs are teachers and researchers at colleges, universities, and other organizations in the U.S. and internationally.

Let us know what you're doing now, and we'll add or update your information here!

2024

Dr. Henrietta Giles
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco and Dr. Katherine Hendrix
Dissertation: Restriction and Resistence: The Power Dynamics of Black Freedom in Haywood County, Tennessee (1940-1965) as examined Through Oral Narratives and Media

Dr. Karly Poyner-Smith
Advisor: Dr. Christina Moss
Dissertation: Rhetoric of Impurities: ExVangelicalism as Excavating nad Encountering Purity
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Columbia College of Missouri 

2023

Dr. Abby Arnold-Patti
Advisor: Dr. Christina Moss
Dissertation: Sacred Topographies: The Rhatorical Construction of Grandfather Mountain as a Sacred Place.
Current Position: Associate Professor, Lees McRae College

Dr. Kiersten Lynn Bloom 
Advisor: Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith
Dissertation: “I think HIV is an STD?”: Adolescent Lived Experiences in Sexual Education, STD/I Knowledge, and the Roles of Stakeholders in the Urban Mid-South

Dr. Rachael Collette Camp
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Edgar
Dissertation: May Brotherton and the Agency of Women Cutters in the Early Film Industry
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication Arts at Union University

Dr. Celnisha Dangerfield
Advisor: Dr. Christina Moss and Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Rupturing tradition: Theorizing black Women's place in discipline through the disruptive rhetoric of sanctuary.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Transylvania University

Dr. Natonya Listach
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Lifting as We Climb: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Speeches of Hallie Quinn Brown, examines Brown’s speeches and (re)introduces Brown to the study of rhetoric. 
Current Position: Master Instructor, Middle Tennessee State University

Dr. DiArron Morrison
Advisor: Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: But I Couldn’t Keep It to Myself: James Cone’s Articulation of Resistive Prophetic Rhetoric.

Dr. Ayo Morton
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Filling the Biblical Gap: Creating Sacred Rhetoric for Blues Women through Womanist Vernacular Discourse.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Virginia State University 

Dr. Lionell Smith
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Too Tired to Codeswitch: Analyzing the Prophetic Rhetoric of Critical Black Language Awareness. 
Current Position: Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University 

Dr. Hannah Tabrizi
Advisor: Dr. Marina Levina
Dissertation: Black ghosts, Brown vampires, and queer pigs: Race, gender, sexuality, and rhetorics of liberatory monstrosity.
Current Position: Syracuse University

2022

Dr. Noor Ghazal Aswad
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation:  Radical Rhetoric and the Syrian Revolution: Toward a Telos of Solidarity.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama

Dr. Tharwa Bilbeisi
Advisor: Dr. Joy Goldsmith
Dissertation: An Ethnographic Study of Homelessness in Memphis During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Current Position: Intern, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Dr. JoAnna Boudreaux
Advisor: Dr. Katherine Hendrix
Dissertation:  Under Her Feet”: A Case Study on Motherhood Discourse in an American Muslim Community. 
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Teaching, Sociology Department, University of Memphis

Dr. Lisa Dale
Advisor: Dr. Joy Goldsmith
Dissertation:  Adherence and People Living with HIV: A Qualitative Study

Dr. Thomas Fuerst 
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Words from Elsewhere: The Rhetoric of Nineteenth-Century African American Prophetic Call Narratives
Current Position: Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church

Dr. Adam Hughes
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation:  Glitched Rhetorics: Online Deliberation of New Technology.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Emporia State University

2021

Dr. Michelle Carr 
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Edgar 
Dissertation: The Construction of Value and Identity in Mobile Games

Dr. Stephanie Montgomery
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: Storytelling Health: A Content Analysis of Narrative Transportation and Identification Cues in Direct-to-Customer Advertisements
Current Position: Senior Lecturer, University of North Alabama

Dr. Damariye Smith 
Advisor: Dr. Andre Johnson 
Dissertation: The Anatomy of the Commencement Speech: An Examination of Barack Obama's Rhetoric Delivered at HBCUs 
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Contemporary Black/African American Rhetoric and Media Studies, San Diego State University 

Dr. Tyler Stafford
Advisor: Dr. Craig Stewart 
Dissertation: Rethinking the Rhetorical Dimensions of Public Refusals

2020

Dr. Ali Alawi
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: Understanding the Lived Experiences of U.S. Trained Saudi Male Scholars Returning to Teach in the Saudi Post-secondary Education System
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication Skills, King Abdulaziz University

Dr. Steven Tramel Gaines
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Rhetorical Leadership in Organizational Conflict and Change: Case Studies of Antiracist Preaching
Current Position: Department of Communication Professor, Midland College

Dr. Keven James Rudrow
Advisor: Dr. Amanda N. Edgar
Dissertation: Resistive Black Masculinities: Race, Masculinity, and the Hip-Hop Sensibilities of Black Popular Culture
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Syracuse University

Dr. Dianna Watkins
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Daring to be Herself: Womanist Rhetorical Theory and Black Women's Presidential Announcement Speeches
Current Position: Adjunct Professor, Memphis Theological Seminary and University of Memphis

2019

Dr. Carolyn Block
Advisor: Dr. Marina Levina
Dissertation: Don't Touch me like That: Masculinity, Touch, and the Role of effect in Media Representations of Animal Attacks
Current Position: Speech Instructor, Henry Ford College

Dr. Andrew Carter
Advisor: Dr. Craig O. Stewart
Dissertation: Good Food in the City of Blues: Understanding Community and Culture within Memphis Alternative Food Networks
Current Position: Assistant Professor in Public Health at San Jose State University

Dr. Crystal Daugherty
Advisor: Dr. Joy Goldsmith and Dr. Sachiko Terui
Dissertation: This is the Liberian Way: "Coping and Health Literacy in Narratives of Sickness from Liberia, West Africa"!
Current Position: Assistant Professor in Communication Studies, University of Northern Kentucky

Dr. Kalemba Kizito
Advisor: Dr. Marina Levina
Dissertation: Borders as Documents of Violence: Colonial Cartography and the Epidermal Border
Current Position: Assistant Professor of the Practice, Boston College 

Dr. Stephen McKellips
Advisor: Dr. Craig O. Stewart
Dissertation: College Student Retention Behavior: Testing Persuasion with Social Identity Framed Messages on FAFSA Submission
Current Position: Vice Provost, Enrollment and Student Services, University of Akron

Dr. Christine Platt
Advisor: Dr. Joy Goldsmith
Dissertation: A Failed Clean Water Intervention in the Haitian Central Plateau
Current Position: Assistant Professor in Communication Studies at Dominican University

Dr. Sarah Mayberry Scott
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Louder than Words: Voicing, Sounding and Listening to Deafness in "A Quiet Place"
Current Position: Assistant Professor in Communications Studies at Arkansas State University

2018

Dr. Kyle Christensen
Advisor: Dr. Marina Levina
Dissertation: Monstrous Mouths, Im/mature Lips: Orality and the Queering of Age and Gender in Contemporary Horror
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Huntingdon College

Dr. Earle Fisher 
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: A close reading of Albert Cleage Jr's The Black Messiah: A Study in Rhetorical Hermeneutics, Black Prophetic Rhetoric, and Radical Black Politics
Current Position: Senior Pastor, Abyssinian Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee

2017

Dr. J.R. Briscoe
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Remembering the Rhetorical Complexities of Apology
Current Position: Associate Professor of Communication, Lindsey Wilson College

Dr. Brandon Goldsmith
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: Contemporary American Citizenship: A Genre Analysis and Phenomenological Investigation of Civic Education Centers
Current Position: Executive Director, Fort Smith International Film Festival

Dr. Scarlett Hester 
Advisor: Dr. Marina Levina
Dissertation: Out of Bounds: The Bodies, Borders, and Voices of Female Athletes
Current Position: Assistant Professor in Communication Studies, Ball State University 

Dr. William Schraufnagel 
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco 
Dissertation: Kenneth Burke's Adolescence, 1915-1920: An Archival Study of Influence
Current Position:  Adjunct Lecturer, University of Illinois-Chicago

2016

Dr. Scott Anderson
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: Rhetoric, Race and Barack Obama's Discourse of Division
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Arkansas State University

Dr. Kristen Hungerford
Advisor: Dr. Craig O. Stewart
Dissertation: Disabled Women on Saturday Night Live: Ideological Constructions and Cultural Contradictions
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Miami University of Ohio

Dr. Caroline Sawyer
Advisors: Dr. Kris M. Markman and Dr. Craig O. Stewart
Dissertation: Ditka wears Prada: Inclusion, Competition, and Resistance through Fantasy Football
Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina - Beaufort

2015

Dr. Reginald Bell, Jr.
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Living Your Best Life: Identities of Televangelist Joel Osteen and His Imagined Audience
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication and Public Relations at Monmouth College

Dr. Merci Decker
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Anarchy is Order: Confronting the Definitional Tension in the Vanguard Group's Anarchist Rhetoric
Current Position: Lecturer, Columbia University- School of Professional Studies

Dr. Marcus Hassell
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: Under Siege: Conspiracy, I-Pistemology, and Resistance Through Hip-Hop in Killarmy's Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars
Recipient of the 2015 Top Dissertation Award from NCA's African American Communication and Culture Division
Current Position: Adjunct/Associate Professor, Austin Community College

Dr. Brian Heslop
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Piercing the Religious Hinge: Understanding Religio-Civic Controversy Through Analogical Argument
Current Position: Associate Professor, Coker College

2014

Dr. Tracy Manning Schaffer
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: The Experience of The Addiction-Affected Family: A Communication Based Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
Current Position: Northwest Mississippi Community College

Dr. Jonathan Woodall
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: The Post-Termination Rhetoric of the American Restoration Movement
Current Position: Lead Minister, GracePointe Church of Christ

2013

Dr. Melody Lehn
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: "Talking It Over" with Hillary: Domestic and Global Advocacy, 1995-2000
Current Position: Associate Professor, Sewanee: University of the South

Dr. Pat Loebs
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: An Appeal to the World: The Controversial Rhetoric of Samuel Adams
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Grace College (Indiana)

Dr. Claire Rhodes
Advisor: Dr. Craig O. Stewart
Dissertation: From Slurs to Science, Racism to Revisionism: White Nationalist Rhetors and Legitimation in the Stormfront Community
Current Position: Professor of Communications (Converged), Florida State College at Jacksonville

Dr. Cicely Wilson
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Communication Apprehension in First-Generation College Students at a Four-Year College
Current Position: Associate Professor and Director for Graduate Studies and Faculty Development, Memphis College of Urban and Theological Studies, Union University

2012

Dr. Jennifer Jackson
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: Cindy Sheehan's Confrontational Iraq War Protests: A Case Study in Contentious Rhetoric.
Current Position: Associate Professor, Missouri Western State University 

Dr. Mittie Carey
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: Freedom Faith of Prathea L. Hall: A Hybrid Rhetoric of Protest
Current Position: Adjunct Professor, University of Memphis

2011

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Sadi
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Al-Jazeera Television: Intifadah on the Air
Current Position: Assistant Professor: Media Department, An-Najah National University.

Dr. Leora Elli
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: Exam Room Computers and Patient-Clinician Communication
Current Position: Memphis VA Medical Center

Dr. Morgan Ginther
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: From the Closed Society to the Realization of Freedom: The Mississippi Delegation Debate at the 1964 Democratic National Convention
Current Position: Project Manager, The Univeristy of Texas at Austin

Dr. Paul Wangsvick
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: The Contested Reputation of Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Reception History of Rhetorical Discourse
Current Position: Assistant Teaching Professor, Seoul National University - College English Program

2010

Dr. Tesfa Alexander
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: Engaging Rural Community Members as Problem Solvers: Application of Health Communication to Improve the Quality of Health Care in Southwest Uganda
Current Position: Health Communication Specialist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Dr. Sean T. Connable
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: Echoing Silence: Fundamentalism, Inerrancy, and the Social Construction of Reality in the Southern Baptist Holy War
Current Position: Lecturer, Department of Communication, Christopher Newport University

Dr. Kimberly Patrice Johnson
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: Say "Amen" for the Sistahs: The Rhetoric of Womanist Preaching
Current Position: Associate Professor of Speech Communication, Tennessee State University

Dr. Shirley Oakley
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: Mothers Against Democracy: Hebe de Bonafini's Rhetorical Strategies of Resistance
Current Position: Academic Chair of Communication, St. Petersburg College

Dr. Tracy Rutledge
Advisors: Dr. Pradeep Sopory and Dr. Sandra Sarkela
Dissertation: A Cognitive Model of College Choice: Examining the decision making-process and influence of visually-verbally redundant message design on college choice
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Communications, University of Tennessee at Martin

Dr. Elizabeth Stephens
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: America's P.R.I.D.E: Entertainment Education as a Health Communication Intervention Strategy for Middle-School and High School Students
Current Position: Lecturer Middle Tennessee State University

2009

Dr. Christopher D. Bond
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: Examining Health Risk Perception Through Listening: The Effect of Receiver Apprehension and Tailored Listening Style Preference Messages on Adult Pertussis Vaccination Decisions
Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Communication & Journalism, Missouri Western State University

Dr. Kenneth Edward Embry, IV
Advisor: Dr. Pradeep Sopory
Dissertation: Friendship and Components of Intimacy: Role of Relationship Modality and Gender
Current Position: Associate Professor of Communication, Saint Leo University

Dr. Chris Oldenburg
Advisor: Dr. Michael Leff
Dissertation: The Status and Function of Rhetorical Anecdotes in Presidential Debates from 1980-2004: Synecdoche, Identification, and Ethotic Argument
Current Position: Associate Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Illinois College

Dr. Walter T. Viner
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Logic of the Heart: Alexander Campbell's Rhetoric and Hermeneutics on Christian Identity, Slavery, and Church Organization
Current Positions: Adjunct Faculty at Mid-South Christian College at Memphis and Senior Minister at Park Village Christian Church

2008

Dr. Jonathan Camp
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: Improving Interorganizational Communication to Raise Standards for Human Subjects Protection in El Salvador: A Focus Group's Study with Research Ethics Committee Members and Parents of Children with Cancer
Current Position: Associate Professor / Associate Dean, Communication, Abilene Christian University

Dr. Matthew M. Doggett
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Don Sundquist and Tax Reform: Is Political Prudence an Oxymoron?
Current Position: Professor of Speech/Director of Forensics at Florida State College at Jacksonville

Dr. Jill Greenman
Advisor: Dr. Michael Leff
Dissertation: From Grief to Hope: A Study of How the New York Times Inspired a Nation to Transcend the Tragedy of 9/11

Dr. Andre Johnson
Advisor: Dr. Michael Leff
Dissertation: The Prophetic Oratory of Henry McNeal Turner
Current Position: Professor of Communication, University of Memphis

Dr. Sally Paulson
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: The Lessons of the School Desegregation Cases: The "Reasonable Basis Test" and the Rhetoric of the Fourteenth Amendment
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Communication Studies and Theatre Arts, Delta State University, Mississippi

Dr. Frank Anthony Thomas
Advisor: Dr. Michael Leff
Dissertation: "I'm Happy Tonight:" Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Discourse of Prophetic Reconciliation
Current Position: Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Homiletics and Director of the Academy of Preaching and Celebration, Christian Theological Seminary

Dr. Mark Vail 
Advisor: Dr. Michael Leff
Dissertation: Realms of Reception: The Rhetorical Response to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail

2007

Dr. Ryan Clark
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Reading for Intent: Why Authors Matter In Criticism
Current Position: Associate Professor, Black Hills State University

Dr. Owen Brett Cooper
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Exploring the Rhetorical Impact of WDIA
Current Position: Vice President for Creative Services & Technology / Special Assistant to the President, Williams Baptist College

Dr. Bistra Nikiforova
Advisor: Dr. M. Allison Graham
Dissertation: How Many Can We Educate, Medicate, Incarcerate, Celebrate, Compensate? Representations of Ethnic Groups in the Memphis Commercial Appeal (1990-2006)
Current Position: University of New England

Dr. Richard Otto
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: A Study of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game Everquest: Can a Virtual Game World be a Community?
Current Position: Chair, Media Communication and Technology, East Stroudsburg University

Dr. Jason T. Phillips
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Bad Medicine: Extreme Contextualization in Popular Songs and Videos from 1987-2005
Current Position: Lecturer of Telecommunications, Ball State University

2006

Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Zuhayyan
Advisor: Dr. Pradeep Sopory
Dissertation:Construction of Saudi Arabia's Social Reality Before and After September 11, 2001 by US Mainstream Television News Organizations in Relation to US Govt Officials' News Framing
Current Position: Criminal Investigator, Riyadh Police Region, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Sally Bennett Hardig
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: Metaphorizing Identity: A Rhetorical/Ethnographic Account of Persuasion, Invention, & the Process of Identity Transformation in Alcoholics Anonymous
Current Position: Professor, Division of Communication Studies, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, AL

Dr. Yulia Tolstikov Mast
Advisor: Dr. Pradeep Sopory
Dissertation: Building Successful Global Organizational Networks: A Model of International Interorganizational Professional Communication
Current Position: Butler University, Indianapolis, IN

Dr. Annette Sandlin McDevitt
Advisor: Dr. Michael Leff
Dissertation: Cultural Variations as Predictors of Cross-Cultural Negotiation Outcomes: Implications for International Business Communication
Current Position: Global Leadership Scholar, Union Institute and University of Memphis

2005

Dr. Sean Chaidaroon
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: The Management of Communication Styles of Thai Mid-level Managers in Multi-national Companies
Current Position: Senior Lecturer, National University of Singapore

Dr. Lurene Cachola Kelley
Advisor: Dr. Jim Redmond
Dissertation: Negotiating newsworthiness in local television news: A case study of organizational influences in the story selection process
Current Position: Online Student Success Specialist, Christian Brothers University

Dr. William A. Maze
Advisor: Dr. Pradeep Sopory
Dissertation: Factors Influencing Social Support and Stress Among Nurses
Current Position: Instructor - Speech at Northwest Mississippi Community College

Dr. Flora Wei
Advisor: Dr. Pradeep Sopory and Dr. Katherine Hendrix
Dissertation: The Effects of Competitive and Noncompetitive Educational Mathematics Computer Games on Preschool Children: Gender Differences in Attitude Toward Games, Mathematical Learning, and Recall of Game Playing Experience
Current Position: Associate Professor, Clark Atlanta University

2004

Dr. Aliah Fouad Al-Matrouk
Advisor: Dr. Kevin Wright
Dissertation: The Use of the Internet as an Alternative News Source: An Examination of Kuwaiti Traditional Media and the Internet for News Processing
Current Position: Assistant Professor, College of Arts, Department Mass Communication, Kuwait University

Dr. Eletra S. Gilchrist
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix and Dr. Pradeep Sopory
Dissertation: Students' Use of Compliance-Seeking Strategies with Black and White Graduate Teaching Assistants
Current Position: Professor and Department Chair, Communication Arts, University of Alabama at Huntsville

Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: The Internet as an Alternative Source of Information and Alternative Forum of Expression for Arab Americans
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, California State University-San Bernadino

Dr. Renee Robinson
Advisor: Dr. Katherine G. Hendrix
Dissertation: Public Schools as Interactive Organizations: Developing a Model of Media and Public Relations Strategies for Engaging External Constituencies
Current Position: Professor, Department of Communication, Seton Hall University

2003

Dr. Marcia M. Smith
Advisor: Dr. Thomas Darwin
Dissertation: Figures of Speech: The Rhetorical Construction of Pregnancy Identification
Current Position: Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

2002

Dr. Christopher A. Blair
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: To Protect the Children: An Examination of Arguments for the Content Regulation of Mass Media
Current Position: Professor, Department of Communication, Union University

Dr. Linda Finch
Dissertation: Nurses' and patients' perceptions of relational communication 
Current Position: Retired/Nurse Practitioner, University of Memphis

Dr. Aparna Bulusu Hebbani
Advisor: Dr. Larry Frey
Dissertation: The Intercultural Hiring Interview: Applying Uncertainty Reduction Theory to the Study of Nonverbal Behavior Between Indian Applicants & US Interviewers
Current Position: The School of Journalism and Communication, The University of Queensland, Australia

2001

Dr. Pat Ferguson
Advisor: Dr. Joann Keyton
Dissertation: Tracking the Communicative Impact of Women in Top Management Teams
Current Position: Executive Coach and Leadership Consultant at C3

Dr. Danna M. Gibson
Advisor: Dr. Joann Keyton
Dissertation: ADHD and Parental Willingness to Medicate: A Communication Approach
Current Position:  Professor & Department Chair, Department of Communication, Columbus State University, OH

Dr. Cyd Charise Ropp
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: The Rhetoric of Childbirth: A Burkean Analysis of Medical Demarcation in the Trial of a California Midwife
Current Position: Gnostic Teacher, Owns B&B in Jacksonville, OR

2000

Dr. Jerome D. Mahaffey
Advisor: Dr. John Campbell
Dissertation: The Formation of American Community: George Whitefield, Rhetoric, Religion, and Political Thought in The Great Awakening
Current Position: Lecturer, Department of Communication, Northern Arizona University

Dr. Marceline Thompson-Hayes
Advisor: Dr. Lynne Webb
Dissertation: Commitment in Close Relationships: The Development of a Theoretical Model
Current Position: Department of Speech Communication, Arkansas State University