CommSHER
Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk
WhyUtah?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Top-ranked program
Large department (30+ faculty)
Competitive graduate assistantships
PAC-12 University
World-class, year-round recreation
MA, MS, and PhD programs
WhyCommSHER?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Top-tier program in Environmental Communication
Top-tier program in Health Communication
One of only four programs to offer specialization in all four areas
Many great faculty: 18 faculty in the CommSHER area alone!
Small graduate cohorts = each student supported by several faculty
Faculty-led writing retreats
Faculty and graduates students in CommSHER study and develop communication
theory related to science, health, the environment, and risk. Other graduate programs
focus on one of these areas (e.g., health communication), but Utah students have the
unique opportunity to develop expertise in all four.
CommSHER faculty member Ye Sun teaching a graduate seminar on environmental and health
communication. CommSHER seminars often focus on the intersection of different topics.
InsidetheClassroom
Utah has CommSHER curricula at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Graduate students are guaranteed a CommSHER course every semester, and they have the
opportunity to TA CommSHER undergraduate courses (e.g., COM 3115). CommSHER students are also encouraged to develop expertise in one of the other areas within
the department. The other areas include rhetoric, interpersonal/organizational, critical/
cultural studies, and media & communication technology.
Sample Courses:
COM 3115: Com Science, Health, & the Environment
COM 4360: Consuming the Earth
COM 5115: Health Communication
COM 5365: Com Climate Change
COM 6360: Environmental Communication
COM 7000: Science Communication
COM 7000: Health Communication
COM 7200: Environmental Communication
CommSHER faculty have published numerous books including Image Politics: The New Rhetoric of Environmental Activism (Kevin DeLuca), Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education 1870 - 1924 (Robin
E. Jensen), and Non-Linear Science and Warfare (Sean T. Lawson).
OutsidetheClassroom
CommSHER faculty are committed to scholarship that impacts the world. CommSHER faculty
member Kevin DeLuca pushes his students to explore and challenge the world outside the classroom.
CommSHER faculty member Robin E. Jensen receiving the Wrage-Baskerville award for her research titled, “For while my mother knows a lot, she won’t tell me a thing”: Ella Flagg Young’s fragmented rhetoric in support of the Chicago Experiment.
Top-tierFaculty
Utah is a premier program in CommSHER with eighteen faculty working on projects
related to global warming, sustainability, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and obesity (to name a
few). Below is a list of CommSHER faculty.
Mark Bergstrom (Associate Professor)
Heather Canary (Associate Professor)
Mardie Clayton (Associate Professor)
Julia Corbett (Professor)
Kevin DeLuca (Professor) Lee Ellington (Associate Professor)
Danielle Endres (Associate Professor)
Glen Feighery (Associate Professor)
Avery Holton (Assistant Professor)
Jakob D. Jensen (Associate Professor)
Robin E. Jensen (Associate Professor)
Kimberly A. Kaphingst (Professor)
Sean Lawson (Assistant Professor)
Maureen Mathison (Associate Professor)
Masha Sukovic (Visiting Assistant Professor)
Helene Shugart (Professor)
Ye Sun (Assistant Professor)
Sara K. Yeo (Assistant Professor)
http://communication.utah.edu/
Scenes of fun and work at a 2013 Park City Writing Retreat.
ParkCityWritingRetreats
Several CommSHER faculty conduct annual writing retreats for their students
in Park City, UT (home to world-class skiing, mountain biking, and the Sundance Film Festival). Writing retreats provide faculty and students with an
opportunity to work on team projects, write manuscripts for publication, and
socialize off-campus. Given their popularity, many former students return to
participate in these retreats.
In 2014, CommSHER faculty will host two writing retreats at this beautiful house in Park City, UT.
EducationalWorkshops
CommSHER faculty periodically hold workshops to help students prepare for the job
market, learn about new areas of research, or develop grant-writing skills.
Training and placing future faculty is the primary goal of our program. Above, CommSHER faculty member Heather Canary leads a grant writing workshop for graduate students.
StudentProfile
Melinda “Mindy” Krakow
Doctoral Student
Originally from San Francisco, CA
Mindy uses experimental methodology to examine
the impact of death narratives on intentions to receive the HPV vaccine. In 2014, Mindy was named
Graduate Researcher of the Year by the Department
of Communication.
http://melindakrakow.com/
The recently renovated J. Willard Marriott Library is a state-of-the-art facility with study nooks, computer
labs, and a cafe. It is also home to the University of Utah Press and the Red Butte Press.
ExcellentResources
Communication graduates also have access to the rich educational resources of a PAC12 University. CommSHER students benefit from programs such as:
Taft-Nicholson Center for Environmental Humanities
Environmental Humanities Program
Global Change & Sustainability Center
The Health Communication Certificate
School of Medicine
The Huntsman Cancer Center
School of Nursing
Marriott Library
Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE)
Tanner Humanities Center
Asia Center
Middle East Center
American West Center
Confucius Institute
CommSHER faculty member Jakob D. Jensen is the
Chair of the Health Communication Division of NCA.
Taft-NicholsonCenter
As an official extension of the University of Utah campus, the Taft-Nicholson Center
works to bridge the arts and humanities with the sciences. Their mission is to increase
environmental literacy, boost environmental awareness, and inspire personal connections
to nature. Students, teachers, artists, scientists and community members participate in
the Center’s diverse educational programming––sharing their perspectives on the natural
world and preparing themselves to impact change in positive and meaningful ways.
The Taft-Nicholson Center is located in Centennial Valley, Montana.
CommSHER students can take
courses and participate in writing
workshops at this awe-inspiring
location.
NewFaculty
Avery Holton
Assistant Professor
(PhD, University of Texas - Austin)
Professor Holton joined the Department in 2013.
Avery is an expert in digital media, and his research
examines intersections of media and health. Avery is
currently co-directing (with Ye Sun) the Networked
Health Lab, a new venture aimed at exploring the
intersection of social media and health.
Sara K. Yeo
http://sarakyeo.com/
Assistant Professor
(PhD, University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Professor Yeo joined the Department in 2014. Sara
is an expert in public opinion and science communication, and her research explores the intersection
of media, science, and politics. Sara is currently
working on how selective exposure and information
processing influence the formation of public attitudes toward science and technology.
Kimberly A. Kaphingst
Professor
(ScD, Harvard School of Public Health)
Professor Kaphingst joined the Department in 2014.
Dr. Kaphingst is an expert in the intersection between health communication and the clinical and
public health translation of genetic/genomic information. Her current research is focused on developing effective strategies for communicating genetic
and genomic information for diverse populations.
CommSHERFaculty
Mark Bergstrom
Associate Professor/Senior Associate Dean
Professor Bergstrom studies the intersection of
interpersonal, organizational, and health communication. He is currently developing patient informational tools for parents faced with the difficult
decision to pursue a permanent tracheostomy for
their child.
Heather Canary
Associate Professor
Professor Canary’s research broadly concerns organizational and family communication processes,
specifically in contexts of public policy, health, and
disability. She is currently developing a scheme to
code patient-provider interactions in genetic counseling sessions.
Margaret “Mardie” F. Clayton
Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Professor Clayton’s research blends the disciplines
of nursing and health communication, addressing communication processes of patient-provider
interactions. She is currently the Co-Chair of the
Assessment, Prevention Diagnosis, and Treatment
Options PCORI Advisory Panel.
Julia Corbett
Professor
http://juliacorbett.net/
Professor Corbett investigates environmental communication from a macro-sociological view of social conflict and change, primarily now in narrative
nonfiction essays and books about human relationships with the natural world. Her second book,
Seven Summers, was published last year.
CommSHERFaculty
Kevin DeLuca
Professor
Professor DeLuca explores humanity’s relations to
nature and how those relations are mediated and
transformed by technological and ideological discourses. DeLuca is now writing and doing documentary film work on environmental activism, art,
and the public screen in China.
Lee Ellington
Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Professor Ellington pursues an interdisciplinary
program of research in patient/family-provider
communication and has served as PI or Co-I on
10 NIH funded grants. She is currently studying
home-based family caregivers and their communication with hospice nurses.
Danielle Endres
Associate Professor
Professor Endres is a rhetorical theorist and critic
with research expertise in the areas of environmental communication, social movements, and Native
American cultures. With a grant from the NSF, she
is currently studying the discourse of low-carbon
energy scientists and engineers.
Glen Feighery
Associate Professor
Professor Feighery worked for 15 years as a professional journalist before joining the faculty at Utah.
He studies environmental/science journalism, and
he is currently analyzing discourse about aboveground nuclear testing and the development of science journalism.
CommSHERFaculty
Jakob D. Jensen
Associate Professor
http://jakobdjensen.com/
Professor Jensen is an expert in the design and
evaluation of health campaigns/interventions. He
is currently evaluating the Utah Department of
Health’s Mammography Screening campaign, and
serving as the Director of the Health Communication and Technology (HCAT) lab.
Robin E. Jensen
Associate Professor
http://robinejensen.com/
Professor Jensen studies historical and contemporary discourses concerning health, science, and
gender. She is currently working on her second
book, Infertility: A Rhetorical History, and launching a study to interview low-income women about
their sexual education experiences.
Sean Lawson
Assistant Professor
http://www.seanlawson.net/
Professor Lawson focuses on relationships among
science, technology, and the development of military theory and discourse. He just published a book
titled Nonlinear Science and Warfare.
Maureen Mathison
Associate Professor
Professor Mathison is primarily interested in how
knowledge is constructed and disseminated among
scientists. She is currently working on a book titled,
Sojourners and Third Cultures, which examines how
technical sciences and humanities collaborate.
CommSHERFaculty
Masha Sukovic
Visiting Assistant Professor
Professor Sukovic studies the intersection of culture, gender, and health communication. She is
currently working on several projects related to the
role of technology in improving the health of individuals, particularly women and members of underprivileged populations.
Helene Shugart
Professor
Professor Shugart’s expertise is in rhetoric, cultural
studies, and health; she is currently working on a
number of projects regarding contemporary public
discourses about obesity. She also presently serves
as Director of Graduate Studies for the department.
Ye Sun
Assistant Professor
Professor Sun is an expert in media and health.
Her research examines media processes and effects,
including media framing and self-other perceptual
distortions. She is currently working on a series of
studies using network analysis to examine communication exchanges.
Have you seen this image before? It was created in the College of Humanities at the University of Utah!
JoiningtheProgram
Prior background in CommSHER is not a requirement for admission; in fact,
many of our top graduates did not study CommSHER until arriving at Utah.
Students admitted to the program may receive an assistantship that includes a
competitive stipend plus a tuition waiver.
ContactUs
Students interested in learning more about CommSHER can email the area
head, Jakob D. Jensen (jakob.jensen@utah.edu), or any of the faculty members
in the area.
http://communication.utah.edu/