Dr. Craig O. Stewart

About

Dr. Craig Stewart joined the Department of Communication and Film in 2009. His research interests are in STEM communication and education. In recent years, he has collaborated with STEM faculty at UofM and other universities on multiple National Science Foundation funded projects, including MemphiSTEM, the Urban STEM Collaboratory, UofM Vertically Integrated Projects, and ASPIRED. Dr. Stewart’s work focuses on understanding how students experience and communicate their STEM identities and researching interventions to help students build STEM identity. In recognition of his research accomplishments, Dr. Stewart has twice received the CCFA Dean’s Outstanding Research Award and was named W. Harry Feinstone Interdisciplinary Research University Professor 2025-2028.

Dr. Stewart teaches a wide range of courses, including Communication Inquiry, Applied Communication Research Methods, and Senior Capstone for undergraduates; Persuasion and Influence for undergraduate and master’s students; and Qualitative Research Methods and Communication Theory for graduate students.

Education

PhD, Rhetoric, Carnegie Mellon University
MS, Cognitive Psychology, University of Memphis
BS, Psychology, Lambuth University

Selected Publications

Stewart, C. O., Campbell, J. T, Chase, A., Darbeheshti, M., Goodman, K., Hashemikamanger, S., Howland Cummings, M., Ivey, S. S., Russomanno, D. J., Simon, G. E. (2023). Communicating identity in the Urban STEM Collaboratory: Toward a communication theory of STEM identities. International Journal of Science Education Part B: Communication and Public Engagement, 13(4), 345-361. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2023.2179380

Stewart, C. O. (2022). STEM identities: A communication theory of identity approach. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 41(2), 148-170. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X211030674

Stewart, C. O. & Young, A. J. (2022). “Something with a frightening reputation”: 60 Minutes’ accommodation of HIV in gene therapy for sickle cell disease. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, 5(1), 66-92. https://doi.org/10.5744/rhm.2022.5004

Stewart, C. O. (2013). The influence of news frames and science background on attributions about embryonic and adult stem cell research: Frames as heuristic/biasing cues. Science Communication, 35(1), 86-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547012440517

Stewart, C. O. (2009). Socioscientific controversies: A theoretical and methodological framework. Communication Theory, 19, 124-145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468- 2885.2009.01338.x (Reprinted in R. A. Harris (Ed.) (2020). Landmark essays in the rhetoric of science: Issues and methods (pp. 303-323). London: Routledge.)