Faculty Research Interests
Dr. Margaret Batschelet is currently researching academic applications of new media technologies, including animation and digital video production, as well as risk communication. Dr. Batschelet is the author or coauthor of XHTML/CSS Basics for Web Writers (2006), Web Writing/Web Designing (2002), Writing in Three Dimensions (with Linda Woodson) (1996), Writing and Designing Documents (with Maxine Hairston) (1996), Early American Scientific and Technical Writing: An Annotated Bibliography (1991, awarded Best Bibliography in History, American Library Association), The Technical Writing Casebook (with Thomas Trzyna) (1987), Writing for the Technical Professions (with Thomas Trzyna) (1987). Her articles have appeared in The Journal of Popular Culture, The Writing Instructor, English in Texas, The Journal of Expanded Perspectives on Learning, PostScript, CCTE Studies, and Writing on the Edge (among others). She has presented multiple conference papers at SCMLA, MLA, CCCC, NCTE, PCA, and ITCC since the early 1980s.
Dr. Karen L. Daas's research examines the intersection of communication with issues of identity and popular culture, particularly cases in which identity becomes contested. She is especially interested in the processes of negotiating a personal and/or social identity that is at odds with cultural norms and expectations. She has published articles in The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, The Journal of Applied Communication Research, Journal of Family Communication, Journal of Family Issues, and Western Journal of Communication. She has also co-authored a chapter on lesbian families for a family communication reader. Dr. Daas is currently studying male breast cancer survivors, their self-disclosure concerning their illness, and their identity negotiation of 1) being ill, and 2) being ill with what has been constructed in popular culture as a women's disease.
Dr. Sara DeTurk's research examines the ways in which U.S. Americans, especially those with social privileges accrued by virtue of their race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation, experience cultural diversity. In particular, she explores the roles of dialogue and other forms of communication in shaping, reinforcing, and challenging ethnocentrism and other cultural phenomena; how such communication is situated in cultural and political contexts; and how it constitutes ally development, social justice activism, and social change. She has published articles in Communication Quarterly, Communication Education, the Journal of Business and Management, and the Journal of Intergroup Relations, and is currently conducting research on ally communication and on the cultural adaptation of Hurricane Katrina evacuees to San Antonio.
Dr. Christopher Hajek has taught one graduate level course at the Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago, and upper division undergraduate courses at the University of Hawaii; the University of California campuses in Santa Barbara; and Los Angeles. Dr. Hajek’s research is grounded in intergroup communication, with foci at the intersections of health, aging, and social stigma. His work has also explored relationships between group identity and police/community interaction outcomes. His teaching interests in intergroup and intercultural communication developed during his work as an intern for CNN and The Associated Press in Rome, and his Peace Corps experience in Rwanda preceding that country’s genocide. Dr. Hajek has published peer-reviewed articles in several journals, including the Journal of Communication, the Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, Language and Communication, Communication Research Reports, Psychological Reports, Journal of Russian Communication, and the Journal of Language and Social Psychology. Dr. Hajek has also co-authored several invited book chapters.
Dr. Seok Kang taught at Arkansas Tech University before coming to UTSA in 2007. He has published 11 research articles and book chapters and presented 37 conference papers on topics including the Web, e-health communication, family communication and the media, and cultivation theory. He has won over 10 top faculty paper awards and other research paper awards at various national or international conferences. He has received research grants over $15,000 in total for his new media research. He recently won a $5,000 Faculty Research Award for 2008 awarded by UTSA. Dr. Kang is currently conducting several research projects. One of them is the role of the Web in public relations in the public sector. It involves how the Web plays a role in local governments’ relationship building with the public and the community. Another project as a co-researcher is to examine the influence of media messages about autism on viewers’ attitude toward and knowledge about people with autism. He is also working on the role of Web interactivity in enhancing users’ intentions of weight management behavior. He has finished an experiment for the weight management project and will analyze the data for completion.
Dr. Ali Kanso El-Ghori taught graduate-level courses and supervised theses at Emerson College. He is the author of more than 30 articles, essays, and reports which have appeared in the Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Commerce and Management, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Global Competitiveness, Business Research Yearbook, Ecquid Novi, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal and other publications. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Promotion Management and Journal of Global Competitiveness, both of which are refereed.
Dr. Kim Kline employs rhetorical, narrative, critical-cultural and feminist theories and methodologies to interrogate contemporary meanings of health, illness and medicine as well as their sociopolitical implications. Her research focuses on the social construction of health, illness, and medicine especially with regard to women’s health issues. Published studies have addressed topics such as the theoretical and methodological issues in the study of health and the mass media, socially constructed understandings issues associated with pregnancy and childbirth, and the persuasive potential and cultural sensitivity of breast cancer education materials. Her research can be found in such journals as Women & Language, Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Social Science and Medicine and in edited volumes including Communication Yearbook (forthcoming), Evaluating Women’s Health Messages, the Handbook of Health Communication and Constructing Our Health: The Implications of Narrative for Enacting Illness and Wellness.
Dr. Paul LeBlanc taught at Baton Rouge Community College and Louisiana State University before coming to UTSA in 2001. He has published over 15 research articles and book chapters and presented over 20 conference papers on diverse topics including health communication, family communication and communication education. Dr. LeBlanc is currently conducting research on physician-patient communication, marital communication, and the communication of humility. His primary research question is "How do relational partners communicate inclusion?" While at Southern Illinois University, he served as Project Coordinator for the Illinois/Indiana Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse-Midwife and Physician Assistant Training Consortium, a two year multi-agency planning grant sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Steven Levitt’s teaching and research interests include distance learning, organizational teamwork, corporate social responsibility, and teen/adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviors. He has presented numerous workshops on gender communication, and is certified in conflict resolution and mediation. He has published book chapters and articles on women and power in organizations, uses of technology in education, and international technology transfer. Dr. Levitt’s most recent publications are Nelson, R. A., Kanso, A. M., & Levitt, S. R. (2007). Integrating public service and marketing differentiation: an analysis of the American Express Corporation’s "Charge Against Hunger" promotion program. Service Business, 1(2), online edition; and Johnston Polacek, G. N. L., Rojas, V., Levitt, S., & Mika, V. (2006). Media and sex: Perspectives from Hispanic teens. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 1(4), 51-69. Other recent publications include a 2002 article entitled "Improving the Critical Communication and Decision-Making Interface Between Engineers and Managers" in Industry and Higher Education (16: 5). This article won the best paper award at the 2nd International Conference on New Horizons in Industry and Education, Milos, Greece. His research on improving communication skills for engineering students has been presented at several national and international meetings.
Dr. Viviana Rojas came to the United States from Chile in 1997. In Chile she worked as a professional newspaper and radio journalist for ten years, and taught diverse courses in journalism and communication theory at the Universidad de Chile and Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago. Dr. Rojas has collaborated with colleagues on national research teams, and has guided major student papers as well as undergraduate honor theses. Dr Rojas is the lead author in a forthcoming book chapter entitled "Communities, cultural capital and the digital divide" (in Media access: Social and Psychological dimensions of new technology use, Lawrence Erlbaum). She is currently editing her dissertation, Latina's image on Spanish-language television: A study of women's representation and their self-perceptions, for publication as a book.
Yogita Sharma studies contentious politics using rhetorical and organizational perspectives. Her doctoral research investigates how women organize to constitute themselves as a self conscious collectivity. Specifically, her dissertation examines the organizing practices of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), an Indian organization with a membership of eight million and a unique commitment to developing women as responsible and democratically conscious citizens.
Dr. Juyan Zhang's teaching and research interests include public relations, international communication, journalism and media analysis. His research primarily focuses on public diplomacy, or public relations by national governments in international relations. He has published close to a dozen papers and book chapters in such journals as Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management and Newspaper Research Journal. His recent publications include "Beyond anti-terrorism: Metaphor as message strategy of post-September-11 U.S. public diplomacy" (Public Relations Review, 33 (2007), 31-39) and "Symbolic interactionism in public diplomacy: A case study of major power's diplomatic communications in the Asian tsunami relief campaigns" (Public Relations Review, Vol. 32, No. 1, Spring 2006, 26-32).