Faculty

Faculty

Name/ Phone Ext. 618-650-	Bio
Alicia Alexander, Ph.D. Assistant Professor TA Coordinator Basic Course Director aalexan@siue.edu ext. 3069	Dr. Alexander received her doctorate in interpersonal communication from the University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys teaching courses in family communication, communication theories, interpersonal communication, and communication research methods. For the last several years she has also instructed students in basic and advanced public speaking courses. In addition to teaching at the university level, she has facilitated numerous workshops to help individuals focus on their leadership strengths, interviewing techniques, and public presentations. Dr. Alexander’s research interests focus primarily on interpersonal communication among family members and between romantic partners. She is particularly concerned with understanding how people overcome adversity in their relationships through talk and various forms of relationship repair. Her research also focuses on the way people talk about and express their emotions in close relationships. On a personal note, Dr. Alexander enjoys spending time with her husband and two dogs. She also loves reading, aerobics, and visiting her family in Kansas City. For more detailed information on Dr. Alexander’s teaching, research, and service, please click on Alicia Alexander.
Isaac Blankson, Ph.D. Department Chair Associate Professor Director of Technology iblanks@siue.edu ext. 3631	Dr. Blankson is an international public relations and intercultural/international communication and media studies scholar. He is also the Director of Technology at the Department of Speech Communication, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where he has been teaching since 2000. Dr. Blankson teaches courses such as Electronic Public Relations, International PR, Intercultural Communication, Public Speaking, Professional and Technical Presentation Skills, and Communication Theory and Research Methods. His primary research areas focus on cultural and critical media studies, media in emerging democracies, and public relations practices among multinational organizations in developing countries.Prior to joining SIUE in 2000, Dr. Blankson served as a private media and public relations consultant to institutions and businesses and also worked in the Division of Student Affairs at Ohio University. He obtained his doctoral degree from the School of Telecommunications, Ohio University in 2000. In 1999, he was named the School of Telecommunications’ Outstanding Doctoral Student. In 2006, he received the Top Conference Paper Award in the International/Intercultural Division of National Communication Association. Dr. Blankson has authored several articles and book chapters. His most recent book, Negotiating Democracy: Media Transformations in Emerging Democracies, was published by SUNY in 2007. His multidisciplinary educational background includes graduate degrees in Human Geography/International Development from University of Oslo, Norway (1994) and International Affairs from Ohio University (1995) and an undergraduate degree in Geography from University of Ghana (1987). At his spare time, Dr. Blankson loves to play and coach soccer. He also enjoys spending time with his family and watching sports on television. For more detailed information on Dr. Blankson’s teaching, research, and service, please visit his website at www.siue.edu/~iblanks
Komie Bumpers, M.A. Instructor kbumper@siue.edu ext. 3081	Komie Bumpers received her graduate degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and joined the faculty in August 2000. Her teaching interests include interpersonal, public speaking, organization communication, small group communication, interracial communication, gender communication, oral interpretation of literature. Personal Philosophy: In the words of John Stewart “The quality of our communication affects the quality of our lives.” When Komie is not teaching, she is a wife and mother/ aunt of three (Tony (14), Mayah (3), Nicole (niece, 16). In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, attending church, reading, singing, and biblical studies.
Joanne Cattafesta, Ph.D Director of Assessment jcattaf@siue.edu ext. 3084	Joanne Cattafesta, the newest addition to the Speech Communication Department, is a recent transplant from the Northeast. Currently, she is teaching organizational communication classes at SIUE and is also completing her doctoral dissertation from Rutgers University, where she received her Master's degree in Organizational Communication in 2000. Her primary interests involve how individuals conceptualize community and work and the consequences of that conceptualization in the way they make sense of their career choices. Her dissertation examines career decisions from the perspective of people making mid-career choices and those who provide professional help in making those choices. In addition to working on her dissertation, Joanne is actively engaged in teaching, research and service within university life. She is passionate about teaching and in 2003, was one of three recipients of the Rutgers University Teaching Excellence Award, which recognizes excellence in graduate student teaching. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in organizational communication, interpersonal communication, organizational culture, gender, public speaking, and communication and community, a course which was created from a Civic and Service Education (CASE) Curriculum grant awarded to her in 2001. In the area of research, she has been actively involved with a variety of federally funded projects, which have focused on topics such as gender, work and technology; interpersonal violence; and health communication, all of which have developed her skills as a qualitative researcher. Also, she has facilitated workshops on public speaking, speech writing, public relations, advertising, media buying, and conference planning for organizations.
Wai Hsien Cheah, Ph.D. Director of Graduate Program wcheah@siue.edu ext. 5016	Dr. Cheah is a health and intercultural communication scholar. He received his Ph.D. in health communication from the University of Kentucky in 2004. He specializes in health and public communication campaign design and evaluation. As the newest addition to the Department of Speech Communication, Dr. Cheah teaches communication theory, research methods, and interpersonal communication skills. He has previously taught research methods, sample survey research, communication theory, persuasion and social influence, basic public speaking, and introductory courses in interpersonal communication, mass communication, and telecommunications at Saint Louis University, University of Kentucky, and Sunway University College in Malaysia. His research focuses on testing the influence of personality factors and cultural orientation on the effects of fear appeal messages, and examining factors that influence Bosnian refugees’ cross-cultural adaptation in the St. Louis area. Dr. Cheah serves as an Asian cultural consultant for Harmony in Life’s Multicultural Training Program, whose goal is to train health care providers in the St. Louis area on how to be more culturally sensitive and effective in their service delivery. Dr. Cheah is from Malaysia, and he enjoys traveling and playing sports, particularly badminton and tennis. For more detailed information on Dr. Cheah’s teaching, service, and interests please click Wai Hsien Cheah.
Renee Fussell, M.A. Instructor rfussel@siue.edu ext. 5011	Renee Fussell is an instructor at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts in December of 1989 and her Master's in Speech Communication in August of 1991. She has taught at SIUE for over 13 years, and her courses include Public Speaking, Presentational Skills (Advanced Public Speaking), Interpersonal Communication, Interracial Communication, University Experience, and Cultures Ideas and Values. She is involved on campus with the Organization of Minority Business Students, Student Mentoring Program, and The Blaq Poet Society. Renee is a mentor of her students and enjoys helping them reach their educational goals. She believes, as Tim Merriman says, "Education is not just what we learn in school. We have the opportunity to grow and become better communicators, partners, parents, teachers, students, and workers in everything we do." Renee loves spending time with her family and traveling. She also enjoys learning as much as teaching and spends time outside of the classroom attending workshops, quilting, and practicing other creative activities. For more detailed information on Ms. Fussell’s teaching and service please click on Renee Fussell.
Elizabeth Grant, M.A. Instructor Director of Undergraduate Studies egrant@siue.edu ext. 3012	Elizabeth Grant joined the department in 1993. She received her M.A. in speech communication from Eastern Illinois University in 1991. She was formerly active in the speech education program, which has now merged with English into a Language Arts certification. Elizabeth now holds the position of Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Speech Communication. Her teaching interests include interpersonal communication, small group communication, service learning, listening, and speech education. For more detailed information on Ms. Grant’s teaching, service, and interests please click Elizabeth Grant.
Diana Hayes, M.A. Instructor @siue.edu ext.	Diane D. Hayes recently joined the faculty staff in Speech Communication in Fall of 2007 as an Instructor. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Speech Communication in August of 1996 from SIUE. As an undergraduate, she received numerous awards and certificates which included,"The Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Humanitarian Award", "The Kimmel Leadership Award","Who's Who's Among Students","The National Dean's List", "The Dean's List", "The Johnetta Haley Scholarship", "The Black Student Association Certificate of Appreciation", and "The Kappa Alpha PSI Fraternity Certificate of Appreciation". In December of 2006, she graduated from SIUE with the Master's of Art in Speech Communication. Diane was a recipient of the James Walker Graduate Scholarship Award and the Graduate Scholar Award. She has taught for over ten years in various public school settings. Her scholarly interests include spiritual issues and evangelistic communication. On a personal note, Diane is a mother of six children and a grandmother of eight. She was ordained as an licensed minister into the gospel ministry in December of 2004. Diane received the Certificate of Achievement in Ordinational Instruction, Certificate of Certification for Ministerial Ordinational Instructor in 2004. She was a Volunteer Chaplin for Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital in East St. Louis, IL. Also, she was a Bible teacher for the Southwest Correctional Facility in Washington Park, IL where she received a Certificate of Appreciation in 2005. In her spare time she loves to spend time with her family and friends, travel, reading, going to the movies, engaging in thought provoking conversations, and watching "Star Trek". Diane will be teaching Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, and Oral Argumentation.

Min Liu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor mliu@siue.edu ext.	Dr. Min Liu received her doctorate in Communication Studies from North Dakota State University. Her teaching interests include communication theories, research methods, intercultural communication, and a variety of health communication courses. She has previously taught public speaking, small group communication, persuasion and social influence, health communication, intercultural communication at North Dakota State University and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Liu comes from a family of teachers, and strives to have the passion, professionalism, and compassion that her parents demonstrated in their lifetime careers of high school teachers in China. Dr. Liu’s research interests are at the intersection of intercultural and health communication. Her recent research projects include a cross-cultural comparison of American and Chinese teachers’ compliance gaining strategies, and an analysis of non-native organizational newcomers’ information seeking behaviors. She also takes a critical approach to studying the strategic use of state-owned media outlets by the Chinese political elite. In one study, she and colleagues examined the crisis response strategies used during the SARS outbreak by the party newspaper, People’s Daily, to restore normalcy and confidence among its people. In another critical reading of the newspaper, she and colleagues study how the AIDS related news stories serve the interest of the elite with messages that other those with the disease and other problematic representations of the health crisis. Dr. Liu’s dissertation examined Chinese young women’s safe sex behaviors and perceptions, a line that she’ll continue to pursue. Dr. Liu now lives in the Forest Park area in St. Louis, where she and her husband enjoy the great activities the city has to offer. Her favorite things to do in her spare time include cooking Chinese food, grocery shopping, spending time on the Internet, and bicycling in the park. And yes, she loves tofu and cannot live a day without it!
Rosemary Monaco, MA Instructor PRSSA Advisor rmonaco@siue.edu ext. 3361	Rosemary Monaco considers herself both a writer and a teacher. She has written articles and essays in publications as diverse as Country Living magazine and the Wall Street Journal. In 2002 she was only the second person in Edwardsville, Illinois to receive a full fellowship award in prose from the Illinois Arts Council. She has been awarded fellowships to the Ragdale Colony and the Vermont Studio Center. Raised in southern New Jersey, she received her undergraduate degree in English from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree in Corporate and Political Communications from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. She later earned a master’s degree in English, The Teaching of Writing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. While at SIUE, she was awarded a prestigious graduate research grant for the Poetry Project, research that studied the effects of teaching poetry to Head Start preschoolers in East Saint Louis. In 1998, she created and hosted Off the Shelf, a cable television show that featured local authors and book lovers. The program can still be seen on ECTV, Edwardsville’s television station. She has done public relations work for the SIUE East Saint Louis Center and has written many features for Focal Point, the publication for the Southern Illinois University system. Rosemary has taught communications and writing for McKendree College, Lewis and Clark Community College, and Southwestern Illinois College. In addition to teaching and writing, she loves to ride her bicycle on Illinois’s many trails. She also enjoys travel having most recently been to Italy and Argentina.
Laura Perkins, Ph.D. APR Professor lperkin@siue.edu ext. 3099	Laura Perkins, PhD, APR is an environmental communication scholar. Her research project is designed to document, in particular but not exclusively, the environmental work of women and people of color. In addition, she is interested in exploring the ways in which different speech communities advance environmental dialogue. She also explores how activist groups and Others create targeted communication campaigns to raise awareness of concerns and issues. Her favorite theory is chaos theory and she patterns her work around this construct. She teaches in these areas: public relations, environmental communication, interracial communication and gender communication. She has been a keynote speaker at a number of environmental conferences. She loves being department chair and the mother of two emerging, enlightened young adults. For more detailed information on Dr. Perkins' teaching, research, and service, please click on Laura Perkins.
Alan Shiller, M.A. Instructor Language Arts/ Speech Liaison ashille@siue.edu ext. 3095	For over thirty years Alan Shiller has been teaching speech communication courses at university level. After completing his graduate program at Purdue University, Alan accepted his first faculty appointment at the University of Georgia in Athens. In 1980 he was named Outstanding Professor of the Year. That same year he accepted an offer as an Assistant Professor in Speech at Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri. As a tenured professor Alan designed a number of communication courses that become requirements for various departments on campus. In 1999 Alan joined the faculty at SIUE teaching Oral Argumentation Skills, Nonverbal Communication, Interviewing, Strategies for Teaching Speech, Interpersonal Communication, and Public Speaking. In 2001 he was recognized by the university as Outstanding Professor of the year. Mr. Shiller has presented many workshops and seminars nation-wide. He is an outstanding keynote speaker. Among his clients are the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Cooperating School Districts of St. Louis, Accenture, General American Life Insurance, Missouri Baptist Children's Home, and the Atlanta Regional Commission. He also makes presentations at the National Communication Association conventions. Students agree that Professor Shiller is informative, pragmatic, and entertaining. He has the ability to breath new life into standard courses. Students rarely miss his class because they do not want to miss the exciting activities that are planned for each meeting. For more detailed information on Mr. Shiller’s teaching, service, and interests please click on Alan Shiller.
Duff Wrobbel, Ph.D. Associate Professor Speech Center Coordinator Faculty Senate President Elect ewrobbe@siue.edu ext. 3098	Duff Wrobbel is not a bad sort. A bazillion years ago, he graduated from Miami of Ohio with a BA in Communication & Theater and got a job selling computer supplies to defense contractors in Southern California. When that got old, he tried a whole bunch of other things, then decided to go back to school. He earned an MA from San Diego State University. For his thesis, he did a rhetorical criticism of Nixon's Checkers speech. Really. Then, off to Austin to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, where he trained as a conversation analyst. No one really knows what that is. He came to SIUE in 1993 and has been here ever since. Shortly after arriving, he had the good fortune and good sense to meet and marry Tammy, and they now have a son, Parker, and a daughter, Holly. Both are very nearly perfect, in spite of their paternal genes. Duff teaches across most of the speech communication curriculum, does lots of busy work around the department and across campus and, when he can, writes about pedagogy, Down syndrome, conversation-analytic methodology, and other esoteric stuff. He lives in the middle of the woods and, while at home, likes to cook and work wood whenever he can. He got his first Ford truck in 1984 and had four more after that. The last one was really big and had nice seats. Sadly, the cost of gas finally got the best of him and he now drives a Scion Xb, which looks for all the world like a motorized toaster. Ah well.
	I am an Associate Professor in Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and I am responsible for the development and direction of the Organizational Communication track. In terms of my education, I have a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland, a Masters degree in Interpersonal/Intercultural Communication from the University of Florida, another Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the University of Oregon. In addition to my academic life, I consult with organizations on issues of managing cultural diversity and dealing with change. I am a native of Athens, Greece, where I spent the first twenty one years of my life, and visit every year. On a personal note, I am the mother of an incredible little girl and the stepmother of two wonderful young men. I am also married and enjoy living in St. Louis. In my spare time, I enjoy coffee-shops and long talks with my friends, walking and going to the theater.
Sonia Zamanou-Erickson, Ph.D. Associate Professor Director of Internships Co-Director of Assessment szamano@siue.edu ext. 3089