Doctoral Alumni

2026

Dr. Jill Fredenburg
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Disrupting Crisis Narratives at the Border: Latina Rhetorical Agency in the Rio Grande Valley

Dr. Samantha Guajardo
Advisor: Dr. Antonio de Velasco
Dissertation: Disrupting Crisis Narratives at the Border: Latina Rhetorical Agency in the Rio Grande Valley

Dr. Diana Humble
Advisor: Dr. Craig Stewart
Dissertation: Illuminating the Experiences of Women Formerly in Romantic Relationships with Manosphere Men

Dr. Jeffrey Miller
Advisor: Dr. Andre Johnson
Dissertation: Constructing Heroes in the Classroom: Critical Heroic Rhetoric in Abeka's Evangelical K-12 Curriculum

Dr. L'Oreal Stephens
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Young
Dissertation: They Were More Than Numbers: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of COVID-19 Grief and Social Media Mourning Experiences

2025

Dr. Rebecca Aderoju
Advisor: Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith
Dissertation: "We Live in a Spiritual Country": The Associations Among Health Literacy, Quality of Life, and Religious Spiritual Personal Beliefs Among the Nigerian Population

Dr. Curtis Ladrillo Chamblee
Advisor: Dr. Marina Levina
Dissertation: Tell Me a Story About Home: Black Masculinity Through the Lens of Place, Relationship, and Discourse in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Dr. Solomon Cochran
Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson
Dissertation: Holla Back: The African American Rhetorical Tradition of Call and Response and the Montgomery Riverfront Brawl

Dr. Shukura Umi
Advisor: Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith
Dissertation: "You see I am over here throwing up," No. I am Not Doing Good: Exploring Ways Maternal Mortality is Influenced and Amplified by Racial and Class Status Inequites Among Women of African Descent
Current Position: Lecturer and Masters of Public Health Online Coordinator: San Jose State University

2024

Dr. Pierre L. Vincent, Esquire Advisor: Dr. Andre E. Johnson Dissertation: A Historical and Prescriptive Analysis of the Iconic Black Eulogy as Prophetic Rhetoric.  Current Position: Lecturer: Middle Tennessee State University  

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
Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee--Martin

Dr. Karly Poyner-Smith
Advisor: Dr. Christina Moss
Dissertation: Rhetoric of Impurities: ExVangelicalism as Excavating and 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.
Current Position: Division of Humanities Chair at Redan High School.

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: Assistant teaching professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies 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 in the Department of Communication and the African American Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences at Mississippi State 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: Associate 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: Assistant Professor of Religion and Communication and Dean of Chapel, LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee.

2017

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, Otterbein 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 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: Professor of Communication - Department of Speech Communication, Arkansas State University