IN THE STACKS
COMMUNICATION STUDIES hires two new tenure track professors
John Kephart III, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Director of Forensics
John M. Kephart III (M.A., 2005, University of Southern California), received his B.A. and M.A. in Communication from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication. His emphasis is on Rhetorical Theory and Criticism and Gender Studies. His dissertation engages cultural responses to narratives of “masculinity crisis” within the United States in the late 20th, examining rhetorical strategy and cultural politics within popular culture and social movements. John is the Director of Forensics at CSUN, which competes in a wide variety of debate and individual events. John blends theoretical inquiry with practical application to create a collaborative learning environment devoted to critical thinking. He has taught a wide range of courses, including Argumentation, Gender and Media, Rhetorical Theory, and Small Group and Team Communication. As likely to quote "The Big Lebowski" in class as he is Aristotle, John believes that critical engagement is just as valuable in our everyday lives and mundane experiences as it is when examining issues of global significance.
Jeanine Mingé, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Director of CSUN’s Performance Ensemble
Jeanine Marie Mingé (Ph.D., University of South Florida), received her Master's degree from San Diego State University and her Bachelor’s degree from James Madison University. Jeanine has published her work on performance and sexuality in the journal Qualitative Inquiry. Her dissertation focuses on cob building, a natural building process, to create sacred and aesthetic spaces with the community. Cob building expands and complicates our understanding of arts-based and performance methods in communication, the categorization of community art, feminist poststructural pedagogies, and community methods. Her areas of interest include performance studies, feminist theory, queer theory, and arts-based inquiry. All of her work is dedicated to cultivating social justice. She is equally enthralled by and creates the communicative presence of visual imagery, poetry, installation art, narrative, and performance.