EducationPh.D. University of Missouri
Communication Studies M.A. Purdue University Professional Communication B.A. Purdue University English Professional Writing and Communication |
Tessa Pfafman, PhDI am a professor of organizational and strategic communication, which is the intersection of organizational communication, public relations, and rhetoric. I specialize in working with diverse populations.
My research focuses on the power of messages to influence social relations and inequalities. I advocate for empowering employees through socially conscious organizational culture. My teaching and research expertise is in organizational communication, but I teach a variety of communication courses that impact the quality of organizing. Effective interpersonal communication and conflict management are essential to effective organizing. Interacting with the public through public relations, media writing, and public speaking are also essential skills. Embracing difference enables creative and satisfying workspaces. Each of these build the foundation of the most successful organizations. I have nearly twenty years experience working in and teaching communication courses. Communication skills help individuals understand themselves, their relationships, and their place in the world. Over the last several years I have gotten involved in prison education as a way to empower inmates, their families, and their communities with these skills. My professional attention has turned toward developing programs that merge academic with personal development. My current projects explore inmate role identity, assimilation, and reentry. A second project explores correctional institutions through an organizational alignment lense . |
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