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Walter Atkinson (Ph.D., University of Utah). Asst. Professor. Office: RH 114, (815) 753-7009. E-mail: watkinson@niu.edu.


Gretchen Bisplinghoff (Ph.D., Northwestern University). Asst. Professor. Specialty: film studies; feminist criticism. Profile: Author of feminist publications about women in film. Office: RH 108, (815) 753-7005. E-mail: gbisplin@niu.edu.


Robert Allan Brookey (Ph.D., University of Minnesota). Assoc. Professor. Speciality: Rhetoric, media studies, new media & technology. Office: RH 116, 753-7128. E-mail: rbrookey@niu.edu.


Ferald Bryan (Ph.D., University of Missouri). Assoc. Professor. Director of COMS 100/100P Program. Specialty: public address; presidential rhetoric; rhetorical criticism. Profile: Author of Henry Grady or Tom Watson?: The Rhetorical Struggle for the New South and other essays on presidential rhetoric. Office: WH 216, (815) 753-7100. E-mail: fbryan@niu.edu.

Gary Burns (Ph.D., Northwestern University). Asst. Chair/Professor. Specialty: television; popular music; film. Profile: Editor of Popular Music and Society and former President of the American Culture Association. Office: WH 208, (815) 753-7108. E-mail: gburns@niu.edu.

John Butler (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh). Asst. Professor. Specialty: public argument and debate; rhetorical criticism; public address and historical criticism. Profile: Director of Forensics (Debate and Individual Events); research interest in the rhetoric of American imperialism; contemporary war rhetoric; and the rhetorical dimensions of collective memory. Office: WH 307, (815) 753-7101. E-mail: butler@niu.edu.

Yu-li Chang-Zacher (Ph.D., Ohio University). Asst. Professor.Specialty: globaliztaion, media and culture in international communication, and news content in local television stations. Office: RH 109, (815) 753-1711 E-mail:ychang2@niu.edu


Jeffrey Chown (Ph.D., University of Michigan). Director, Graduate Studies/Professor. Specialty: film theory and criticism; documentary. Profile: Author of Hollywood Auteur: Francis Ford Coppola and Co-Director of Media and Culture in Ireland. Recipient of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. Director of award winning documentaries. Office: WH 215, (815) 753-6989. E-mail: jchown@niu.edu.

Davis, X. (xxxx). Visiting Professor. Specialty: Journalism. Office: Reavis xxx. (815) 753-xxxx. E-mail: xxxxxx.

Arthur Doederlein (Ph.D., Northwestern University). Director, Undergraduate Studies/Asst. Professor. Specialty: communication theory; symbolic behavior. Profile: Undergraduate Director and recipient of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. Office: WH 207, (815) 753-7107. E-mail: adoederl@niu.edu.

David Gunkel (Ph.D., DePaul University). Assoc. Professor. Specialty: Computer mediated communication, cyberspace, multimedia, critical theory. Profile: Author of Hacking Cyberspace, Multidisciplinary educator and scholar specializing in telematic technologies, new media, and cyber culture. Award winning multimedia producer and interactive media designer. Office: RH 112, (815) 753-7004. E-mail: dgunkel@niu.edu.

Janice D.Hamlet (Ph.D., Ohio State University). Assoc. Professor. Speciality: Intercultural/multicultural Communication; rhetorical studies; womanist epistemology and methodology; communication and spirituality; nonverbal communication. Office: RH 115, (815) 753-7014. Email: jhamlet@niu.edu

Kelly Happe (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh), Asst. Professor. Specialty: Rhetoric of Science. Office: WH 305, (815) 753-7023. Email: khappe@niu.edu

David Henningsen (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin). Asst. Professor. Specialty: Group Decision Making, Interpersonal Communication, Social Influence. Profile: I focus primarily on using a scientific approach to understanding human behavior. I have examined topics such as deception, flirting, and group decision making. Office: RH 110, (815) 753-7103. E-mail: tm0dxh1@wpo.cso.niu.edu.

Mary Lynn Henningsen (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin), Asst. Professor. Specialty: interpersonal communication, decision making and social influence. Office: WH 205, (815) 753-7106. Email: henningsen@niu.edu

G. Richard ("Rich") Holt (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Assoc. Professor. Specialties: organizational/corporate communication; dialogical approaches to communication; computer-mediated communication; discourse/conversation analysis; intercultural communication. Office: WH 302, (815) 753-7102. E-mail: richholt@niu.edu

 

Mary Keehner (Ph.D., Purdue University) Asst. Professor. Specialty: Rhetorical studies, research methodologies, uses of feminist post-structural and critical-cultural theoretical perspectives to interrogate rhetorical constructions of "femininity" and "work" in a variety of institutional discourses, such as presidential rhetoric, workplace health and safety policies, film depictions of working women, and popular romance novel narratives of embodiment. Office: WH 303, (815) 753-7006. Email: keen@niu.edu

Betty LaFrance (xxxx). Asst. Professor. Specialty: Communication Theory. Office: RH xxx, (815) 753-xxxx. E-mail: elafrance@niu.edu .

Mary S. Larson (Ed.D., Northern Illinois University). Professor. Specialty: media studies; media effects and culture. Profile: Vice President and president-elect of Mass Communication Division of Speech Communication Association; author of essays about television and families. Office: WH 217, (815) 753-7203. E-mail: mlarson@niu.edu.

Robert Miller (Ph.D., Northwestern University). Assoc. Professor. Specialty: film history; TV production. Profile: Author of Star Myths: Show Business Biographies on Film. Office: WH 214, (815) 753-6993. E-mail: videodoc@niu.edu.

Orayb Najjar(Ph.D., Indiana University, Bloomington). Assoc. Professor. Specialty: journalism, international media with emphasis on the Middle East and North Africa, photojournalism and graphics. Author of book chapters and articles on globalization, cyber-communities, censorship, and freedom of the press. Office: RH 118, (815) 753-7017. E-mail: onajjar@niu.edu.

Joseph Scudder (Ph.D., Indiana University). Assoc. Professor. Specialty: organizational communication; information technologies. Profile: Author of several essays on compliance gaining and informational organization and consultant with corporate and government agencies. Office: WH 304, (815) 753-6991. E-mail: jscudder@niu.edu.

Lois S. Self (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin). Department Chair/Assoc. Professor. Specialty: history of rhetoric and public address; gender communication. Profile: Department Chair and consultant for interdisciplinary curriculum development in women's studies and multiculturalism. Office: WH 212, (815) 753-7028. E-mail: lself@niu.edu.

Brian Thornton (Ph.D., University of Utah). Assoc. Professor. Specialty: Mass media law, ethics, history, various forms of journalism, including beginning and advanced news writing, feature and editorial writing, film history and media management. Profile: I was a newspaper reporter for 11 years in Kansas and Hawaii before entering academia. I moved to DeKalb from Wichita Falls, Texas. I am studying the history of journalistic ethics. Office: RH 113, (815) 753-7012. E-mail: thornton.b@attbi.com.

Kathleen Valde (Ph.D., University of Iowa). Asst. Professor. Specialty: Organizational Communication, Communication Theory, and Qualitative Methods. Office: WH 205, (815) 753-7106. E-mail: kvalde@niu.edu.

Laura Vazquez, (Ph.D, Northwestern University). Asst. Professor. Speciality: Documentary video production; feminist film theory; autobiographical film and video; web design. Office: WH 302, (815) 753-7102, E-mail: lvazquez@niu.edu. Coordinator of Reality Bytes Film Festival.

Karen Whedbee (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin). Asst. Professor. Specialty: History of Rhetoric; communication ethics; historical/ critical methods. Office: WH 203, (815) 753-6990. Email: kwhedbee@niu.edu

Dale Zacher (Ph.D., Ohio University). Asst. Professor.  Speciality: government media relations, law, progressive-era journalism history, and broadcast news. Profile: worked in TV and Radio news, government and political campaign PR.  Won top dissertation award from American Journalism Historians Association in 2000.  Office: WH 305, (815) 753-7023. Email: dzacher@niu.edu

 

Recently Retired Faculty

Richard Johannesen (Ph.D., University of Kansas). Professor. Specialty: contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism; communication ethics. Profile: Author of Ethics and Human Communication, 4th ed., and publications about Richard M. Weaver. Office: WH 203, (815) 753-6990. E-mail: rjohannesen@niu.edu.

Charles Larson (Ph.D., University of Minnesota). Professor. Specialty: persuasion; advertising, and propaganda; political communication. Profile: Author of Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility, 8th ed., and Past Executive Secretary of the University Council. Recipient of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. Office: WH 205, (815) 753-7106. E-mail: clarson@niu.edu.

Abraham (Avi) Bass (Ph.D., University of Minnesota). Associate Professor. Specialty: news reporting, mass media, international journalism. Profile: Webmaster of “NewsPlace,” “Grammar Matters,” and “WhiteHouse 2004” at http://NewsPlace.org Office: RH 107, (815) 756-1227. E-mail: abass@niu.edu.

Dorothy Bishop (M.A. University of Missouri).Asst. Professor. Specialty: Rhetoric, argumentation, public address. Office: WH 305, (815) 753-7023. E-mail: dbishop@niu.edu.