Deborah F. Atwater
Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of African and African American Studies

Office: 205 Sparks Building
Telephone: (814) 863-3361

Fax: (814) 863-7986
E-mail: dfa1@psu.edu

EDUCATION:

• B.S., Penn State University, With Distinction
• M.A., Penn State University
• Ph.D., University of New York at Buffalo

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS:

My research interests are in the areas of Black rhetoric, organizational and intercultural communication. I am on the editorial boards of Communication Quarterly and The Howard Journal of Communications and I am past President of the Eastern Communication Association. While I served as Senior Faculty Mentor in the Center for Minority Graduate Opportunities and Faculty Development in the Graduate School, I was responsible for developing a mentoring program for junior minority faculty to enhance the university's retention rates. I hold a joint appointment with the Department of African/African American Studies.

COURSES:

CAS 083S: First Year Seminar
CAS 271: Intercultural Communication
CAS 422: Contemporary Black Rhetoric
CAS 471: Cross-Cultural Communication
CAS 478: Contemporary American Political Rhetoric
CAS 597 B- Graduate Seminar on Race and Gender

RESEARCH AREAS:

Black Rhetoric
Intercultural Communication
The Rhetoric of Black Mayors