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College of Liberal and Fine Arts

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Kimberly N. Kline, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Communication

Email: kim.kline@utsa.edu
Phone: (210) 458-4819
Office: NPB 2.204

Research area: Intercultural Communication, New Media, Health, Women’s Studies, Popular Media

General
Teaching
Research
Publications

  • Biography

    Kim Kline received her B.A. from Kennesaw State University, her M.O.C. from Georgia State University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

    She 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, and the Handbook of Health Communication and Constructing Our Health: The Implications of Narrative for Enacting Illness and Wellness.

    Degrees

    • Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens (1996)
    • M.O.C., Georgia State University, Atlanta (1992)
    • B.S., Kennesaw State College, Kennesaw, GA (1989)

  • Recent Undergraduate Courses

    • Rhetorical Communication Analysis
    • Theory and Practice of Social Interaction-Health Communication
    • Conduct of Communication Inquiry

    Recent Graduate Courses

    • Qualitative Research Methods
    • Interpretive/Critical Methodologies
    • Critical Studies in Health Communication

  • Research in Progress

    • Defenbaugh, N., & Kline, K. N. (accepted). Gendered construction of illness: A poststructuralist critique of HPV vaccine advertisements. In Carilli, T. and Campbell, J. (Eds.), Women and the Media: Global Perspectives. (refereed book chapter)
    • Popular media and health communication: Theoretical approaches and methodological choices – book.
    • Female police officers on prime-time television (with Dr. Renee Cowen).
    • Diabetes and Mexican-American Youth: At-risk Populations, Intervention, and Bienestar Education (with Dr. Kirsten Gardner and Dr. Roberto P. Trevino)
    • Gynecology as a Metaphor for Patriarchy: Reimposition of the Male Order in Dr. T and the Women.

  • Recent Publications

    • Nicholas, C.L., & Kline, K. N. (in press). Cerita Pontianak: A ghost story as a narrative which makes sense of cultural paradigmatic contradictions and patriarchal hegemony in Malaysia. Storytelling, Self, Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Storytelling Studies.
    • Kline, K. N. (in press). Poking fun at midwifery on prime-time television: The rhetorical implications of burlesque frames in humorous shows. Women and Language.
    • Rustveld, L. O., Pavlik, V. N., Jibaja-Weiss, M. L., Kline, K. N., Gossey, T., & Volk, R. J. (2009). Adherence to diabetes self care behaviors in English and Spanish speaking Hispanic men. Patient Preference and Adherence, 3, 123-130.