University of North Carolina at Charlotte

We have an M.A. program in Communication Studies. Our general areas of study are Health Communication; Rhetoric, Media Studies and Popular Culture; Organizational Communication; and Public Relations/International Public Relations. However, our program is unique in that you don’t specialize in any one area but instead take courses throughout many of our interest areas, thus crafting your study to meet your specific interests. For example, you may decide to combine courses to focus on Risk Communication, Global Health Communication, Social Advocacy, Health Information, Healthcare Groups and Teams, Media and Health, and so on. Another key strength is that we offer many opportunities for students to work with faculty on their research. Our program is very hands-on and engaged. We are a community of scholars, sharing, stretching, enlightening, and supporting each other. Our program offers a cutting-edge education with world class award-winning faculty at the intersection of theory and practice.

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Graduate Faculty Involved in Health Communication Research

• Christine S. Davis, Ph.D., University of South Florida. Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Program. Research Interests and Courses Taught: Health Communication; Communication & Disability (Family Communication with People with Traumatic Brain Injury); Communication in Children’s Mental Health; Communication Groups and Teams; Communication at End of Life; Communication & Aging; Healthcare Narratives; Health Communication Focus Groups; Communication in Community-Based Participatory Research Medical Groups. Core/Affiliate Faculty in Gerontology, Health Psychology Ph.D. Program, Health Services Research Ph.D. Program.

• Margaret M. Quinlan, Ph.D., Ohio University. Assistant Professor. Areas of Study and Research Interests: Health Communication; Intersections between health and organizational communication, Narrative and feminist sensibilities, Social justice issues that affect marginalized populations including disability-rights and gender inequities, Use of interpretive, critical and rhetorical methodologies as well as interdisciplinary quantitative methods; Courses taught: Health Communication; Narratives of Health and Illness; Interpersonal Health Communication; Communication, Health, & Gender.

• Jillian Tullis, Ph.D., University of South Florida. Assistant Professor. Areas of Study: Health Communication; Communication at the End of Life, Healthcare Teams in Action, Ethnography, Interviewing, & Narrative. Courses taught: Health Communication, Spirituality, Health, & Communication. Research Projects: American Cancer Society funded project regarding communication between head and neck cancer patients and their physicians

• Shawn Long, Ph.D., University of Kentucky. Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Communication Studies. Areas of Study, Research Interests, and Courses Taught: Organizational Communication, Organ Donation Communication  

• Ashli Stokes, Ph.D., University of Georgia. Assistant Professor. Areas of Study, Research Interests: Public relations, rhetoric and health, Healthcare campaigns, Direct to Consumer Prescription Drug Marketing, Consumer Health Literacy, Online Health Promotion, Rhetorical Healthcare Methodologies. Courses Taught: Healthcare Campaigns.  

• Cliff Scott, Ph.D., Arizona State University. Assistant Professor. Areas of Study, Research Interests, and Courses Taught: Organizational Communication, Relationships among occupational safety and health.

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Davis, C.S., Delynko, K.M., & Cook, J. (2010). Oral History of McCreesh Place, Apartment Building for (Formerly) Homeless Men: Advancing the Warp and Balancing the Weave. Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies, 10(5). [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS]

Davis, C. S., Massey, O. T., Smith, R. B., Armstrong, M., Vergon, K. S., & Smith, R. B. (2008). Refinement of an instrument to measure mental health literacy among caregivers and providers and a qualitative examination of interventions to enhance mental health literacy. Tampa, FL: Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute. University of South Florida.[RESEARCH CONDUCTED WITH UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS]

Davis, C.; Nelson, J.; Hirsch, M.A.; Hammond, F.M;, Karlawish, J.; Schur, L.; Kruse, D.; & Ball, A. (2010). An exploratory examination of political empowerment and voting among individuals with TBI (Abstract). Brain Injury. 24(3),208. [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENT AND IS NOW PART OF STUDENT’S MA THESIS]

Hammond. F., Davis, C.S., Whiteside, O., Hirsch, M.A., & Philbrick, P. (Under review). Relational disability in marriages with persons with traumatic brain injury: A pilot qualitative analysis of spouse perspectives. [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS]

Davis, C.S., & Sharpe, D. (Under review). From recliner to 5K: Exercise and the body politic. [CO-AUTHORED AND ESEARCH CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENT]

Davis, C. S., Tapp, H., Dulin, M., Urquita de Hernandez, B., Smith, H., Brucato, J., Tyson, A., & Jilg, A. (In progress). Development of an instrument to measure PAR-ness in a community based medical team. [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS]

Davis, C. S., Tapp, H., Dulin, M., Urquita de Hernandez, B., Smith, H., Brucato, J., Jilg, A. &Tyson, A. (In progress). A discourse analysis of PAR-communication in a community based medical team. [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS]

Davis, C. S., Warren-Findlow, J., & Myers, C. (In progress). African American Spouses with Hypertension (AASH): Co-construction of liminal health spaces in dyadic communication.  [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS]

Davis, C. S., Anchia, M., Howard, A. & Mette, C., (In progress). Motherline stories: How family stories construct female identity. [CO-AUTHORED AND CONDUCTED WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS]

$99,945.00:  North Carolina Urban Water Consortium. (2010). Improving Grease Disposal in Multi-family and Latino Populations. Environmental Assistance Office, University of North Carolina, Charlotte. PI: Clifton Scott. Co-Investigators: Regina Guyer, Alan Freitag, Helene Hilger, James Oakley [GRADUATE STUDENTS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH].

Baran, B. E., & Scott, C. W. (2010). Organizing ambiguity: A grounded theory of leadership and sensemaking within dangerous environments. Military Psychology, 22(S1), S42-S69 [GRADUATE STUDENTS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH].

Allen, J., Baran, B. E., & Scott, C. W.  (2010). After-action reviews: A venue for the promotion of  safety climate. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42, 750-757 [GRADUATE STUDENTS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH].

Scott, C. W., & Trethewey, A. C. (2008). Organizational discourse and the appraisal of occupational hazards. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 36, 297-317.

Roscoe, L.A., Tullis, J.A., Schenck, D.P., McCaffrey, J. C. (2009). A Study of Communication Between  Head and Neck Cancer Patients and Their Physicians. Funded by the American Cancer Society

Stokes, A. Q. (2009). Living the sweet (d)Life: public relations, IMC, and diabetes. Journal of Communication Management, 13.4, 343-361.

Stokes, A.Q. (2005).  Healthology, health literacy, and the pharmaceutically empowered consumer. Studies in Communication Sciences, 5, 129-146.

Quinlan, M. M., & Harter, L. M. (2010). Meaning in motion: The embodied poetics and politics of Dancing Wheels. Text & Performance Quarterly, 30, 374-395.

Titsworth, B. S., Quinlan, M. M., & Mazer, J. P. (2010). Emotion in teaching and learning: Development and validation of the Classroom Emotions Scale. Communication Education, 59, 431-452.

Quinlan, M. M. (2010). Fostering connections among diverse individuals through multi-sensorial storytelling. Health Communication, 25, 91-93.

Quinlan, M. M., & Bates, B. R. (2010). Are our president learning?: Unpacking the enthymematic connections in the speech mistakes of President George W. Bush. Journal of Research in Special Education Needs, 10, 3-12. (lead article)

Quinlan, M. M., & Bates, B. R. (2009). Bionic Woman (2007): Gender, disability, and cyborgs. Journal of Research in Special Education Needs, 9, 48-58.

Quick, B. L., Bates, B. R., & Quinlan, M. M. (2009). Rights as a rhetorical resource: An argument in favor of promoting clean indoor air policies employing rights and risk appeals.  Health Communication, 24, 548-561.

Harter, L. M., Mitchell, P., Norander, S., Leeman, M., & Quinlan, M. M. (2011). Creating expressive and vocational opportunities for individuals marked as (dis)abled. In L.M Harter, J. Hamel-Lambert, & J. Millesen, J. (Eds.). Case studies of community-based participatory research (pp.71-95). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Quinlan, M. M. (2010). Dancing Wheels: Integration and diversity. In L. Black (Ed.). Group communication: Cases for analysis, appreciation, and application. (pp. 43-48). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Egbert, N., Query, J. L., Jr., Quinlan, M. M., Carol A. Savery, & Martinez, A. R. (in press). (Re) Viewing health communication and related interdisciplinary curricula: Towards a transdisciplinary perspective. In T. Thompson, R. Parrott, & J. Nussbaum (Eds.) Handbook of health communication, 2^nd ed. Routledge. [GRADUATE STUDENTS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH].

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