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: Leland Fecher
Leland Fecher
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is Professor Leland Fecher, Senior Lecturer and Director of Basic Courses in the Department of Communication.
Professor Fecher’s teaching philosophy centers around creating well-rounded members of society. As the Director of Basic Courses, he equips his students with the tools, information, and exercises necessary to develop their public speaking skills.
Professor Fecher interested in ludology, the study of games. Here at Clemson, he is able to participate in research projects regarding ludology in terms of communication. He is also the faculty supervisor of Clemson’s ESports Club.
His advice for Department of Communication students is to “never stop asking questions.”
Learn more about Professor Fecher and his teaching philosophy below!
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. Andrew Pyle
Dr. Andrew Pyle
The next faculty member we would like to introduce is Dr. Andrew Pyle, Associate Professor, and Researcher in the Department of Communication.
Dr. Pyle’s research area includes Crisis Communication, something that has been of increasingly heightened importance with the development of social media use. One of the main skills Dr. Pyle hopes students leave his classes with is resiliency.
As a Faculty in Residence here at Clemson, Dr. Pyle and his family have been able to experience the Clemson community tenfold. Some of his favorite memories include walking down to the stadium on game days and participating in programming or passing out baked goods for students in the Stadium Suites.
The advice Andrew Pyle gives to students is to make meaningful connections with their professors. He believes it makes the classroom experience more meaningful for students and professors alike.
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: Marianne Glaser
Marianne Glaser
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is Professor Marianne Glaser, Senior Lecturer.
Professor Glaser grew up in Clemson, graduated with two degrees from Clemson University, met her husband at Clemson, and still loves everything about Clemson, especially the Clemson family. The thing Professor Glaser loves the most about Clemson is the students. She looks forward to helping her students not only improve academically, but also improve their self confidence. When teaching, she looks for a student’s willingness to learn and their critical thinking skills. To succeed in her class students need to be involved, ask questions, and communicate.
When talking about online classes Professor Glaser likes facing the challenge of online classes but is ready for in person classes to start. Professor Glaser loves teaching in person because she likes to have a very active class.
If a student needs a little more help than others Professor Glaser will reach out to help the student as long as they will put effort in as well. Professor Glaser is not only interested in supporting her students academically but also ensuring they are supporting in their personal lives.
Finally, some advice that Professor Glaser gives to students is to be engaged in whatever club or activity Clemson has to offer and to branch out of their comfort zone. Professor Glaser thinks Clemson is a special place and students need to take advantage of everything it has to offer.
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. Travers Scott
Travers Scott
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is Dr. Travers Scott, Associate Professor, and researcher in the Department of Communication.
After earning his graduate degrees on the west coast, Dr. Scott began teaching here at Clemson in 2010. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Scott has done research in many aspects of communication such as cultural, American, history, feminist, gender, and sexuality studies.
Dr. Scott’s most recent book, Gay Men and Feminist Women in the Fight for Equality: “What Did You Do During the Second Wave, Daddy?” (Cultural Media Studies), was published in November 2020.
In the classroom, Dr. Scott likes to employ various teaching methods such as experiential learning. He does this by utilizing field trips, study abroad, activities, debates, and so forth to create meaningful experiences for his students.
Learn more about Dr. Travers Scott and the Communication Department below!
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. Kristen Okamoto
Dr. Kristen Okamoto
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is Dr. Kristen Okamoto, Assistant Professor, and researcher in the Department of Communication.
Dr. Okamoto’s first passion is teaching. When she got her masters, with the idea of wanting to teach non traditional students. Since then, she has developed a passion for research which led her to earn her doctorate.
Dr. Okamoto’s goal is not to teach her students a specific skill, but instead to teach them how to think. To do so, she uses class discussion as opposed to long lectures which keep her students engaged in the classroom.
Learn more about Dr. Okamoto and her teaching expertise below!
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: Professor Lindsey Dixon
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is Senior Lecturer and Debate Team coach, Professor Lindsey Dixon.
Professor Dixon enjoys maintaining an interactive classroom environment by incorporating group discussion and debate into her instructional methods. She believes the best communicators are adaptable. Through teaching her students persuasion, she hopes to build their public speaking skills, their debate skills, and their deductive reasoning skills.
As the Debate Team coach here at Clemson, Professor Dixon serves as a great resource and supporter of her students. When she is not traveling or coaching the team, she creates workshops for students around the world to develop their argumentation on topics such as civil discourse and civil discussion.
While one of Professor Dixon’s favorite things about Clemson is the lake, she also enjoys the overall small-town atmosphere because it reminds her of where she grew up. Her advice for Clemson students is to figure what you love and go All In!
Learn more about Professor Dixon and her experiences at Clemson below.
On behalf of the Communication Department, we would like to welcome you all back to Clemson and hope you had a safe and restful holiday break! We are also welcoming back our two fantastic interns, Bridget and Pepper. Bridget and Pepper are returning for their third and second semesters, respectively, under the guidance of Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Lori Pindar, Ph.D. Both interns are excited to get back to virtually engaging with department faculty, staff, and students!
See below to learn about Bridget Kane and Pepper Kolman and how they have adjusted to their new virtual/ hybrid lives.
Bridget Kane
Bridget Kane
My name is Bridget Kane and I am excited to continue working with Dr. Pindar and Pepper during my final semester at Clemson. This internship has helped me develop skills that will allow me to seamlessly transition into the workforce upon graduation. Specifically, over the past three semesters I have developed into a leader, sharpened my decision making skills, and enhanced my professional communication skills. I have greatly enjoyed engaging with department faculty, staff, and alumni and look forward to continuing to do so this semester.
Transitioning from a social and outgoing person to one who spends most of my time behind a computer screen, has not been the easiest, especially as a Student-Athlete at Clemson. The interviews I have conducted with faculty, staff, and alumni were a much needed source of social interaction and I greatly enjoyed getting to know, and equally as importantly laughing with, these individuals via Zoom. Thankfully, after 7 months of the pandemic and the understanding of social distancing and mask wearing, I have been able to return to a life that is starting to resemble normalcy. Although I still take most of my classes from my bedroom, I have returned to rowing practice and interacting with friends in a safe manner. As more and more people are starting to get vaccines and my May graduation slowly approaches, I am hopeful for what the future holds and where my Tiger Pride will take me!
Pepper Kolman
Pepper Kolman
My name is Pepper Kolman, and I am so excited to be returning as an intern for the Department of Communication. It was truly a pleasure to work with Bridget and Dr. Pindar last fall, and I can’t wait to see what is to come this Spring. I think my favorite part of this internship so far has been engaging with faculty and staff in the department. In addition, I have appreciated the opportunity to further develop my communication skills and fine tune my coachability.
As someone who is comfortable spending most of my time at home, one challenge I have faced these past few months has been remembering to venture out and stay social. While meeting over Zoom is not the same as meeting in person, I have greatly valued getting to know Dr. Pindar and other faculty members during our interviews. I am also on the women’s rowing team here at Clemson, and seeing my teammates each morning is becoming a highlight of my day. If you happen to see bow lights dancing across Lake Hartwell at 6am, it is probably us. Even though I have another year here at Clemson, it is quickly dawning on me how fast this time truly passes. I am not yet done writing my story here at Clemson, but I am so grateful to continue being an adjunct part of this department.
We recognize the research publications, honors, and awards of our faculty on this evolving post. Check back often to see just what our faculty have been up to this past semester.
Distinguished Article | Skye Wingate Currently an assistant professor, Dr. Wingate received the 2020 Distinguished Article Award from the National CommunicationAssociation’s Social Cognition Division. Her article, “Victims’ Goal Understanding, Uncertainty Reduction, and Perceptions in Cyberbullying: Theoretical Evidence from Three Experiments,” was recently published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, one of the top journals in the discipline.
The National Communication Association (NCA) serves to advance Communication “as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry” (www.natcom.org). As our national organization, this top honor for our faculty is celebrated as an amazing step into a career of important scholarly contributions to the discipline.
Book Release | Greg Cranmer
Greg Cranmer received the Sue DeWine Book Award from the National Communication Association’s Applied Communication Division. His book, Athletic Coaching: A Communication Perspective, was recently published by Peter Lang.
As outline on peterlang.com, this text “provides a foundation for a communicative perspective of coaching in an effort to better understand and promote coach effectiveness. As part of this effort, this book conceptualizes coaching as a communicative endeavor, provides a framework from which to understand coaching effectiveness, and explicates four common perspectives (i.e., instructional, organizational, group, and interpersonal) utilized by communication scholars to examine coaching. Moreover, this book forwards a scholarly agenda for building a holistic framework of coaching and increasing the applied value of coach communication scholarship via methodological and theoretical considerations.” The text is available today and open and accessible to all audiences including students, scholars and coaches.
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: Caitlin Baker
Caitlin Baker
The next faculty member we would like to introduce is Caitlin Baker, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication.
While Professor Baker is a lecturer, she likes to implement a multitude of different instructional methods to allow students to participate more effectively. She also applies current events to her teaching, allowing students to relate their studies to real-world happenings.
As a student and now as a professor, Caitlin Baker loves the town-gown relations here at Clemson, as well as cheering on the Clemson Tigers! Her advice for communication students is to get involved as much as possible during their time at Clemson.
Until we can safely return to campus in its full capacity, watch the video below to learn more about Professor Baker and the tips she has for communication students.
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!
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.
The next faculty member we would like to introduce you to is new faculty member Dr. Sky Wingate, Assistant professor of Health Communication.
