Kimberly R. Jordan, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Ohio University College of Business, where she teaches strategic business communication and leadership and serves as Co-Director of the Emerging Leaders program. Her teaching centers on a simple but demanding goal: helping students learn to think critically, communicate clearly, and work effectively with others amid the ambiguity of organizations and teams.

Jordan has taught Strategic Business Communication in Ohio University’s Integrated Business Cluster since 2017. In this interdisciplinary program, students work in teams on complex business challenges, conducting research, developing evidence-based insights, and communicating recommendations to professionals. She designs learning experiences that ask students to wrestle with ambiguity, test their thinking against evidence, reflect on their experiences, and and develop the judgment to make and defend their own decisions. Her teaching also extends to leadership development and international experiential learning, including consulting experiences in Tokyo with Japanese and multinational organizations.

Her scholarship grows directly from her classroom. Jordan’s research examines communication, team identity, and experiential learning, with a particular interest in how educators can design experiences that help students develop as professionals. A Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, she also brings strengths-based development into her work with students and emerging leaders. She earned her Ph.D. from Ohio University in 2025, studying organizational communication, leadership, and higher education; her dissertation explored the development of team identity in the Integrated Business Cluster.

Dana Cloud is Professor and Director of the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies. Before joining the faculty at UC, she had appointments at the University of Texas, Austin, and Syracuse University, where she directed premier graduate programs. Dr. Cloud’s work, focused on Marxist and queer theory, critical-cultural studies and the rhetoric of social movements, includes four sole-authored books, most recently A New Rhetoric of Social Movements (Cognella, 2026) and Reality Bites: Rhetoric and the Circulation of Truth Claims in US Political Culture (Ohio State, 2018). In addition, she has published journal articles in Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and Critical Studies in Media Communication, among others. She was a leading figure in debates over ideology and materiality in the discipline. The recipient of many national and regional awards (including NCA awards for activism and social justice and graduate mentoring), Dr. Cloud is a Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association and a Fellow of the University of Cincinnati Graduate College. She is also a longtime activist for social justice. 

Amber L. Ferris, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the School of Communication at The University of Akron. Her research examines media and technology uses and effects, from television and interpersonal relationships to social media use and dependency. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Communication, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, and Social Media & Society. As an Akron Community Engaged Scholar, she works with community partners to create hands-on communication experiences that benefit both students and the organizations they serve.

Ferris has been a member of the Ohio Communication Association since 2005. Her first position on its Executive Board was as associate editor of the Ohio Communication Journal, where she had the opportunity to work with scholarship from across the field. She later served as OCA president from 2020 to 2022, working alongside colleagues who gave their time and care to the organization during a challenging period.

What has kept Ferris involved with OCA for more than two decades is its community. The association has given her opportunities to learn from colleagues, grow as a scholar and leader, and form lifelong friendships. She is grateful for the chance to serve an organization she loves and honored to receive the Earl W. Wiley Presidential Award.

Shatakshi Semwal is a doctoral candidate in Health Communication and a Graduate Teaching Associate in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. Since 2023, she has taught Public Speaking, Communication and Persuasion, Techniques of Small Group Discussion, and Communication Among Cultures.

Her teaching emphasizes participation, thoughtful dialogue, and connections between communication concepts and everyday experiences. She strives to create a welcoming classroom where students from different backgrounds feel comfortable contributing, asking questions, and developing confidence in their communication skills. Alongside her undergraduate teaching, she has mentored incoming graduate teaching associates and shared classroom activities and perspectives on student mental health at the Eastern Communication Association’s annual convention.

Her research examines maternal and mental health communication, family relationships, and social support. Her dissertation explores postpartum distress and communication among South Asian immigrant mothers in the United States. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she completed her undergraduate and master’s education in India, where she also contributed to educational research and student engagement initiatives.

Shatakshi is grateful to receive Ohio’s Distinguished Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for 2026. She credits the encouragement and mentorship of her faculty, the support of her colleagues, and the students who continue to shape her growth as an educator.

Amanda Kporwofa is a second-year doctoral student in the School of Communication, Film and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her scholarship lies at the intersection of game-based learning, environmental communication, and behavior change communication, with a commitment to applying communication research to solving real-world environmental challenges.

In 2024, Amanda founded EcoGames Foundation, a Ghanaian nonprofit that uses games as innovative tools for environmental education and climate action. She designed ATi, Ghana’s first sustainability board and mobile games, using culturally grounded gameplay to educate people and communities about deforestation, illegal mining, and sustainable practices. Her game has reached more than 500 students across five schools in Ghana and the United States.

Ms. Kporwofa’s work has also gained international reach. ATi has been incorporated into an undergraduate Game Studies course at the University of Cincinnati and used in community climate engagement initiatives involving Sierra Club Ohio, Cincinnati Museum Center, and UC’s Center for Collaboration on Climate and Community for Health (C4H). Her environmental game-based learning work has also received recognition from the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Her research has been presented at academic conferences, including CSCA, AEJMC, OCMC, Generation Analog, and Meaningful XR. She also served as a Climate Action Intern with Green Umbrella, contributing to regional strategic planning and wellness policy frameworks.

Kporwofa is honored to receive the 2026 Ohio Distinguished Graduate Student Award and is grateful for the mentorship of her faculty, the support of the UC Game Lab and partners who continue to inspire her work.

Pam Lasure is an adjunct professor for the Communication Department at Capital University and for the Communication, English, and Developmental English Departments at Columbus State Community College. During her 33 years of teaching, she often taught eight classes at three different colleges or universities each semester. She has worked at CSCC and Central Ohio Technical College for over 20 years. She also taught Communication, Journalism, and Agricultural Communication courses at Ohio State University. While working eight years for Sinclair Community College,  Pam taught incarcerated men inside two Ohio prisons. I told them I wanted them “to have a better life when they got out than the life they had that led them here,” she said. Upon release, several of her students went on to pursue bachelor’s degrees. She also taught five communication courses at Ohio Wesleyan University. As an Ohio University graduate with degrees in Journalism, Higher Education and Communication, Pam’s daughter, Amy; son, Dan; and son-in-law, Sean; are also Bobcats. She met her husband, Chuck, more than 40 years ago on this campus. As a former stand-up comedian, Pam brings humor and innovative ideas to the classroom. She strives to help the students with their studies and truly cares about their well-being. She presented at the OCA conference “Trauma that Binds the Books of Our Lives” to help incorporate therapeutic writing techniques into the assignments to help the Somalia refugees, the soldiers with PTSD and the domestic violence survivors. When she was a journalist, Pam wrote a six-part series on domestic abuse that led to the development of a domestic violence shelter in Pickaway County, OH.

Hailing from Slapout, Alabama, Cassidy D. Ellis (PhD, University of New Mexico) is an Alabama football fan, cat mom, Cicerone Certified Beer Server, and yoga teacher (200hr-RYT). She is a co-founder of the nonprofit organization Yellowhammer Fund, the first and only state-wide abortion and reproductive health fund in Alabama. Cassidy is a critical cultural communication and media studies scholar whose work is duly invested in unearthing ideologies that underly contemporary cultural narratives and in unpacking the material histories of settler colonialism in the present. Her scholarship has been recognized at national and regional levels for outstanding feminist and activist investments and has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and academic books. 

Dr. Kelly Merrill Jr. (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Health Communication and Technology in the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. His research, teaching, mentorship, and community engagement are grounded in a commitment to advancing inclusion, equity, and access within higher education and the communities it serves.

A central focus of Dr. Merrill’s advocacy is addressing (digital) health inequities through community-engaged research. He currently co-leads the Technology for Health, Resilience, Equity and Decision-Making (THREAD) lab, which partners with residents of Avondale, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Cincinnati. Through community listening sessions, focus groups, and sustained engagement with community liaisons, the THREAD lab has reached more than 100 community members while centering residents’ experiences, priorities, and expertise in efforts to address (digital) health inequities.

Dr. Merrill also serves as Director of the Communication PhD Pipeline Program (CP3), an initiative designed to expand access to doctoral education in communication and support students from historically underrepresented backgrounds as they explore and prepare for graduate study.

Across these efforts, Dr. Merrill’s advocacy centers on creating pathways for communities and students who have historically been excluded from various spaces to participate in and help shape the institutions, research, and innovations that affect their lives.

Azade Asadi Damavandi is a third-year Ph.D. student in Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. Her research examines news media and audience trust, online reviews and consumer behavior, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in journalism.

During her graduate program, Azade has published three peer-reviewed journal articles in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journal of Islamic Marketing, and Jurnal Minds: Manajemen Ide dan Inspirasi. Her research has examined digital consumer behavior, news media trust, and the relationship between audiences’ trust in different news media and their news consumption. She has also contributed to a white paper on best practices in funded journalism and trust in local news media.

Her scholarly achievements include the 2025 Top Student Research Paper Award at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Annual Conference and third place in the 2026 BEA Paper Competition. She has presented her research at national and international conferences, including 2026 AEJMC, 2025 OCA, 2025 CSCA, and the Global Communication Association (GCA 2024).

As a Research Assistant under the mentorship of Dr. Louisa Ha, Azade has played an active role in advancing research projects focused on journalism funding, local news trust, and social media influencers. Through the “Journalism Funding Partners project” and “the Global Social Media Influencer Research Lab”, she has contributed to research development, scholarly collaboration, and the dissemination of research findings. Her work with Dr. Louisa Ha has provided opportunities to apply her research expertise while contributing to collaborative projects addressing emerging issues in journalism and communication.

I am Athar Memon, a doctoral candidate in Health Communication at Ohio University. I see community engagement as a civic responsibility that requires individuals to contribute meaningfully to their communities. Guided by this belief, I integrate research, teaching, and service to improve health and well-being, especially for underserved and underrepresented groups.

My community-engaged research focuses on health disparities and barriers to healthcare. My doctoral dissertation examines patient-provider communication, health literacy, trust in the medical profession, transportation barriers, and medication adherence among adults with chronic diseases in Appalachian Ohio, in collaboration with healthcare and community-based clinical partners. My broader scholarship addresses transgender healthcare access, human trafficking, mental health help-seeking, digital health access, and other public health challenges.

In addition to research, I support community health initiatives that address food insecurity among underserved residents and university students in Athens County. As an educator, I integrate community and public health issues into my teaching and encourage students to apply communication theories to real-world challenges.

In the 2025–2026 academic year, my scholarship and service were recognized with the School of Communication Studies Outstanding Researcher Award, the Scripps College of Communication Discovery Pillar Award, the Eastern Communication Association’s 2026 Centennial Scholarship (Ph.D.), and the Dr. James W. Chesebro Marginalized Community Scholarship.

Through these efforts, I seek to bridge academic scholarship with community needs and use communication to advance health equity and strengthen communities.

Dr. Divya S. is an Assistant Professor of Communication in the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University, where she teaches communication theory, health communication, and human-machine communication. Her teaching focuses on preparing students to become thoughtful, critical, and responsible communicators in an increasingly AI-mediated world. She developed the Human-AI Communication Studio within COMM 2010: Communication Theory, a large-enrollment core course serving approximately 120 students each semester. The Studio integrates AI literacy into communication theory through interactive experiences such as the AI Showdown, Prompt Creativity Lab, and AI Escape Room, where students evaluate AI-generated messages, identify errors and biases, strengthen prompting skills, and apply communication theory to human-AI interaction.

Her teaching also emphasizes collaborative and inclusive pedagogy. With her teaching team, she developed the Co-Educators Framework, which positions graduate teaching assistants as active pedagogical partners rather than traditional assistants. This approach was published in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy in the article, “The Co-Educators Framework: An Illustrative Account of Shared Pedagogical Practice and Inclusive Teaching in a Large-Enrollment Communication Course.” Through this model, graduate instructors receive ongoing mentoring while contributing meaningfully to course design and student learning. Dr. Divya hopes to continue building on this work by developing innovative, inclusive, and engaging learning experiences that strengthen the classroom environment and better prepare students to communicate thoughtfully and effectively in a rapidly changing world.

Since I walked into the room to schedule my first communication classes during freshman year orientation, I knew that I wanted to become deeply involved with the School of Communication Studies that would become, in a way, my home during my undergraduate experience. Since my freshman year, I have not only participated in our Communication Studies program through my coursework, but also through my experiences as a peer leader, office worker, and student organization leader. To me, the School of Communication Studies isn’t just a title on my transcript; it’s a place where I have met peers and mentors who have become my community, where I have grown as an academic, and where I have been challenged to be better every year. All of the hard work, dedication, and effort I have put into my undergraduate degree through the School of Communication Studies hasn’t just been worth it because of the scholarships I’ve earned or the extra titles on my resume, but because of the people I have met and the quality education I have received and will serve me as I enter the professional world.

Namra Nadeem is a Doctoral Candidate in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication and a Graduate Teaching Associate at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication. With nearly ten years of teaching experience, she is committed to helping students become effective communicators.

Namra’s research interests include close relationships, digital and mediated communication, and organizational behavior. Her work has been published in academic journals and presented at national and international conferences, including conferences at the University of Oxford, UK, and the Athens Institute for Education and Research, Greece. In 2024, she received the Ohio Communication Association’s Top Graduate Student Paper Award. She also reviews research papers for the Ohio Communication Association, National Communication Association, and International Communication Association. In addition, she reviewed student research for Ohio University’s Original Work Grant program. Her contributions as both a reviewer and scholar demonstrate her strong commitment to advancing communication research and encouraging professional collaboration across Ohio.

Namra is involved in student organizations at Ohio University. Through leadership roles in student organizations, she has organized events, encouraged engagement, and promoted intercultural understanding. As a Peer Advisor with International Student and Scholar Services, she welcomed international students and supported their transition to life in the United States. She served as a Summer Conference Assistant, supporting guests and helping create a welcoming environment. Through her teaching, research, leadership, and service, Namra strengthens engagement and promotes intercultural understanding. Her contributions to the communication discipline reflect her commitment to advancing research, supporting collaboration, and strengthening education.