Although we may be limited in our interactions, we definitely do not want to be strangers. Our Meet the Department series hopes to introduce you to our faculty and staff that support our undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Communication.
Meet: Dr. Skye Wingate
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is new faculty member Dr. Sky Wingate, Assistant professor of Health Communication.
We are so excited to welcome Dr. Wingate to her first semester at Clemson University! Although she has only been on campus once, she has already fallen in love with this university thanks to the kindness of the faculty and staff in the Communication Department and the bright, engaged students she has taught thus far.
In order to be successful in the online setting, Dr. Wingate has utilized a variety of teaching methods including chat responses and teaching material that applies to her student’s everyday lives. Dr. Wingate asks that her students become invested in topics that they are passionate about and use their own voice to have an impact. The best way to succeed in her class would be to read the textbook and to be a good critical thinker.
When Dr. Wingate sees a student that might need a little more help than other students, she will reach out privately to see what she can do to help. Dr. Wingate understands that this is a difficult time for everyone and is willing to work with her students to ensure a positive learning environment.
Dr. Wingate cannot wait to see Clemson in all of its glory when it is safe to return to campus and cannot wait to meet her current and future students in person. Until then, learn more about her in the video below!
UPDATE:
Clemson News recently posted an article highlighting Department Assistant Professor Dr. Skye Wingate’s bullying research. Dr. Wingate’s message-centered communicative approach to her studies led her to conclude that the severity and intentionality behind bullying can predict negative mental health effects on bullying victims. Dr. Wingate has been able to use this information to design methods for counselors to approach the effects of bullying by closely examining how the victim frames and appraises the intentionality and severity of the bullying they experience, as published in her recent peer-reviewed journal article “The severity of bullying messages predicts increased levels of targets’ depression and general anxiety as a function of targets’ inferences of a bully’s goals”.
Dr. Skye Wingate is performing groundbreaking research to not only understand the effects of different types of bullying through different mediums, but also to find a way to help those who experienced or continue to experience bullying that negatively impacts their mental health. A big breakthrough that Dr. Wingate had is finding that it not only matters what a bully says, but how the victim interprets it. Wingate explained, “you have to consider multiple perspectives [with bullying communication], the actual intention and the perception of it. But it’s clear to me that you can trust recollection more than one might think; memory isn’t perfect, but you’d be surprised how many respondents remember what was said to them in exact, quotable detail. Those severe attacks stuck with them, and it shows”.
As a Department, we are extremely proud of the research Dr. Skye Wingate has been conducting and the positive impacts it will have on bullying victims in the future.
