Career

I’m an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Montana. As a teacher-scholar in interpersonal health communication, I am particularly interested in how people communicatively manage illness identity, how individuals seek and offer social support during chronic illness, and how people choose to disclose health-related information. I’m a pragmatist, choosing the theory and paradigm based on the question at hand, and a qualitative and mixed-methods scholar. I have researched contexts such as infertility, mental health, and chronic pain.

Academia is my third career. I started as a print journalist (i.e. writer, photographer, graphic designer, op-ed writer, etc.) for small-town and suburban newspapers across Minnesota. Then, I worked as an internal communication manager for Fairview Health Services, the Twin Cities’ largest healthcare system, for seven years. I also managed internal communication at U.S. Bank, in their Minneapolis headquarters.

Education

University of Texas at Austin (2019-2020): Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Health Communication

University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2019): Ph.D., Communication Studies, specialization in Interpersonal Health Communication

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (2015): M.A. Strategic Comm.

Minnesota State University, Moorhead (2003): B.A. Mass Comm, specialization in Print Journalism