Faculty Research

Our award-winning scholar-teachers have been recognized by academic, industry, and media outlets, and graduates of this program have been accepted to top PhD programs and pursue successful careers in and outside of academia. Here are just some of the ways that our faculty and students engage in transformational leadership through their work and service to better influence the world: 

Books

Our faculty have written books that examine contemporary issues in politics, culture, and organizational life with books including:

• Dr. Luke Winslow's Children as Rhetorical Advocates in Social Movements examines “Rhetorical Children” as visible and vocal communicators, shaping public discourse on contentious social issues related to organized labor, civil rights, gun violence, and climate change.
• Dr. Luke Winslow's American Catastrophe: Fundamentalism, Climate Change, Gun Rights, and the Rhetoric of Donald J. Trump reveals how catastrophic appeals are used to unite Americans across disparate religious, cultural, ecological, and political spheres.
• Dr. Jessica Ford’s co-authored textbook Surviving Work: Toxic Organizational Communicationenlightens students to the communicative theories and practices of navigating workplace dysfunctionality
• Dr. Sam Perry's Rhetorics of Race and Religion on the Christian Right: Barack Obama and the War on Terror examines the Christian Right's reaction to the candidacy and presidency of Barack Obama in the context of the war on terror, and explores how religious rhetorics were used to make racist and racial criticisms of President Obama. 
• Dr. Ashley Barrett, “The pivotal role of change appropriation and the implementation of healthcare technology” (Top Three Article in Management Communication Quarterly, 2017).
• Dr. Jessica Ford, “Pairing organizational and individual factors to improve employees’ risk readiness” (Management Communication Quarterly, 2018)
• Dr. Lacy McNamee, “High-stakes volunteer commitment” (Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2016)
• Dr. Jacob Ford, “(Dis)identification as resilience in dirty volunteer work” (Corporate Communications, 2018) 

Leadership in the Discipline

Our faculty also influence the field through fellowships and as editors of books and journals such as:

• Dr. Matt Gerber and Dr. Scott Varda, journal co-editors of Contemporary Argumentation and Debate
• Dr. Lacy McNamee, co-editing a special issue of Management Communication Quarterly (2020) on the communication dynamics of nonprofit and voluntary organizations
• Dr. Blair Browning, awarded a Big 12 Faculty Fellowship (2019) to travel to member institutions and exchange ideas and conduct research
• Dr. Ashley Barrett, a Baylor University Rising Star Fellow (2017) recognized by deans as an emerging leader in faculty research