College of Communication - Communication Studies
Faculty
Dr. Kenneth Albone, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Bowling Green State
Phone: 856-256-4500x3393
Email: albone@rowan.edu
Kenneth R. Albone began his teaching career at Rowan University in the Fall of 1982. He received his Ph.D. in Speech Communication from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio in 1982; his M.A. in Communication from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1979; and his B.S. in Psychology (Speech Minor) from Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. While at Bowling Green State, he received recognition as one of five outstanding graduate students in the College of Communication during the 1981-1982 academic year, receiving a full Non-Teaching Fellowship.
Dr. Albone has taught Public Speaking, Small Group Communication, and Interpersonal Communication regularly while at Rowan, and has also taught, on occasion, Advanced Public Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism, and the new Communication Studies Research Methods course. He has also taught a variety of courses in the Public Relations Summer Graduate program, the Psychology and Philosophy/Religion departments, and the EOF program.
Dr. Albone has served on a number of College and University committees, including being chair of the University Senate Academic Policy and Procedures committee and the University Senate Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee. He has served on the latest ten year accreditation committee for the university, the University Assessment Committee, the subcommittee of the Board of Trustees for Academic and Student Life, an advisory member of the Learning Center, as well as other College and Departmental committees.
Dr. Albone's research areas include interpersonal communication, educational assessment, quantitative research methods, and instructional practice. He has been a contributing author to a Public Speaking Handbook, had two articles published in the Assessment Update national newsletter, has had numerous competitively selected convention papers and presentations for a variety of national and regional conventions including the American Association of Higher Education, National Communication Association, National Conference on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Eastern Communication Association, Central States Communication Association, and the Northeast Lilly Conference on Higher Education Teaching and Learning. He has attended a variety of other conferences including several Speech Communication Association Summer Conferences, Middle States Accreditation workshops, and Pedagogical workshops.
In his spare time Dr. Albone enjoys conversation, reading, walking, light exercise activities such as bowling, softball and bicycling, movies, Barnes and Noble, and surfing the web.
Dr. Lorin Basden Arnold, Interim Dean of The College of Communication, Professor, Ph.D., Purdue University
Phone: 856-256-4293
Email: arnold@rowan.edu
Lorin Basden Arnold came to Rowan in the fall of 1998. Previous to this position, she taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown for two years. In the years previous to that appointment, she taught at Purdue University while pursuing her graduate degrees. Dr. Arnold holds a B.A. in Communication (with a specialization in Public Relations/Issue Management), an M.A. in Communication (with specializations in Public Relations/Issue Management and Organizational Communication), and a Ph.D. in Communication (with specializations in Interpersonal Communication and Organizational Communication).
At Rowan, Dr. Arnold teaches Interpersonal Communication, Family Communication, Communicating Gender, Communication Theory, Public Speaking, and Seminar in Communication Studies. Her Seminar in Communication Studies (also known as Senior Seminar) topics have included romantic relationships, family communication, organizational communication, and friendship. Dr. Arnold has previously served as the Chairperson of the Communication Studies program and as the department's Public Speaking Course Director.
Dr. Arnold's research interests relate primarily to family communication and sex roles. In recent years, she has studied topics such as sex role narratives, communication about pregnancy, cross-sex and same-sex friendship, and family size.
Harriet Sharlow Benavidez, Instructor, M.A., University of Hawaii
Phone: 856-256-4615
Email: benavidez@rowan.edu
Harriet Sharlow Benavidez has been teaching at Rowan since the fall of 1992. She has taught Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, and the public speaking portion of Sophomore Engineering Clinic II. Her previous college teaching experience includes positions at Brookdale Community College; Central Texas College; the University of Maryland, Asian Division; and the University of Hawaii. Mrs. Benavidez holds a BA in Education from Purdue University and an MA in Communication from the University of Hawaii.
Mrs. Benavidez has over 20 years of teaching and training experience in government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors. In addition to college teaching, she has served as a senior corporate trainer for GE Information Services and as an instructor at the Naval Air Technical Training Center Memphis in Millington, Tennessee.
One of Mrs. Benavidez's continuing interests is the role of interpersonal communication in military family life. She has designed and facilitated seminars on how to deal effectively with communication issues that arise due to a military member's frequent and prolonged absences from the family.
Dr. Joy Cypher, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Purdue University
Phone: 856-256-4771
Email: cypher@rowan.edu
Joy Cypher is one of the Midwest transplants within the department of Communication Studies at Rowan. She received her B.A. from Loyola University Chicago in 1992 studying communication. Joy earned her M.A. in 1994 specializing in Interpersonal Communication and Organizational Communication and her Ph.D. in 1999 studying Communication Theory and Philosophies of Embodiment. Both of Dr. Cypher's graduate degrees are from Purdue.
Joy's main area of study as a professor is the intersection of embodiment and communication, with particular interest in, and commitment to, Disability Studies. Here at Rowan, Joy has taught Introduction to Communication Studies, Ethical Issues in Human Communication, Health Communication, Constructing Health, Communication Theory, Public Speaking, What's Wrong with Normal? The Body, Normalcy and Social Justice, and Senior Seminar topics on Embodiment, Language/Self/Other, and Health Communication. Dr. Cypher also is the advisor to Lambda Pi Eta, the communication national honor society of NCA. When not advising students or lecturing passionately, Joy spends her time at her home outside of Philadelphia with her partner--or gallivanting in far away places.
Dr. Julie Haynes, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Penn. State University
Phone: 856-256-4329
Email: haynes@rowan.edu
Julie Haynes has been teaching at Rowan since 1998. She received her B.A. in American Studies and Speech Communication from the University of Richmond in 1992 (go spiders!). She received her M.A. in Speech Communication from Texas A&M University and her PhD in Speech Communication from Penn State University.
Dr. Haynes teaches Rhetorical Criticism, Images of Gender in Popular Culture, Mass Media and Their Influences, and the Seminar in Communication Studies. She also teaches Public Speaking and team-teaches courses in Public Speaking for Engineers.
Her research interests include rhetorical dimensions of media and popular culture, rhetorical constructions of gender and feminist resistance rhetoric, rhetoric of social protest, and rhetoric of regional identity.
Dr. Maccamas Ikpah, Associate Professor, Ed. D., Oklahoma State University
Phone: 856-256-4632
Email: ikpah@rowan.edu
Dr. Ikpah teaches Mass Media and Their Influences, Communication Studies Seminar, International Communication and Intercultural Communication. He has made extensive medial travels to China, the United Kingdom, Holland, Cameroon and Ghana.
Gerald A. Lazzaro, Visiting Instructor, M.A., Temple University
Phone: 856-256-4659
Email: lazzaro@rowan.edu
Gerald A. Lazzaro is a communications professional with over thirty years of experience as a teacher and practitioner in the field, most recently as a member of Rowan University's Department of Communication Studies, where he teaches communication theory, interpersonal communication, and public speaking.
He formerly taught full-time in the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre at Kutztown University. Prior to his appointment at Kutztown, he served as director of public relations and marketing at Delaware County Community College. He was previously director of public relations for the Fox School of Business and Management and the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University.
Before that, he was an assistant professor of communication and English at the Titusville Campus of the University of Pittsburgh (UPT) and served for ten years as UPT's director of public affairs.
His first full-time teaching position was in the department of Communication and Theater Arts at Allegheny College where he developed and taught a broad range of courses in speech communication, theater and media. He later taught courses in Italian language at Allegheny College and graduate courses in innovative education strategies for Penn State. He has also served as a communication and public relations consultant, writer, speaker, executive trainer, and translator for many organizations in both the public and private sector.
He is a double alumnus of Temple University, having graduated magna cum laude, President's Scholar, from Temple's undergraduate English Honors program and earning his MA in rhetoric and communication at Temple. While earning his master's degree, he served as a graduate teaching assistant and assistant director of Temple’s Readers Theater. He has continued to serve Temple as adjunct faculty in the School of Communication and Theater and the Fox School of Business and Management and as a university relations consultant. He has also taught as adjunct faculty for other schools including Penn State, Montgomery County Community College, and Northampton Community College.
Corey Leighton, Visiting Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Louisiana State University
Phone: 856-256-4327
Email: leighton@rowan.edu
Corey ("Cora") Leighton received her BA in Theatre from San Francisco State University; her MA in Communication Studies from California State University, Los Angeles, and her PhD in Communication Studies from Louisiana State University. Her areas of research focus on performance, identity, community, and culture. Cora has published in popular feminist magazines and scholarly journals throughout her academic career.
Pamela Marshall, Visiting Instructor, M.A., Temple University
Phone: 856-256-4394
Email: marshall@rowan.edu
Pam Marshall is a communication scholar, with an emphasis on listening and perception. She has taught such classes as Public Speaking, Group Communication, Family Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Organizational Communication. Her research includes her Master’s thesis on the communication satisfaction of off-site workers, as well as various studies on the listening capabilities of high-level managers.
As well as being an instructor, she is also a consultant in the corporate sector, and has conducted both research and workshops in the telecommunications field, the pharmaceutical industry, the publishing industry, and the prison systems in New Jersey.
Clara L. Popa, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Kent State University
Phone: 856-256-4245
Email: popa@rowan.edu
Clara Popa joined the department in the Fall of 2004. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Bucharest in Sociology. She continued her studies at Kent State University (M.A. in Interpersonal Communication, PhD in Organizational Communication and Interpersonal Communication).
Dr. Popa teaches a variety of courses at Rowan, including Communication Theory, Research Methods, Intercultural Communication, Organizational Communication, Senior Seminar, and Public Speaking. She has also taught an Honors course on cultural clash between the Arab world and the Western world. The topics of her Senior Seminar classes have been: trust and communication and Western/Arab stereotypes and communication styles.
Dr Popa's research interests are closely related to her teaching interests. She's been studying the communicative aspects of trust in temporary groups, methodological approaches to the study of trust and communication, communication style of Arabs, and the role of values in intercultural communication. She continues to expand her research interests and tries relentlessly to persuade her students to join her.
Dr. Daniel Schowalter, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Indiana University
Phone: 856-256-4351
Email: schowalter@rowan.edu
Dan Schowalter joined the Department of Communication Studies ecstatically in the Fall of 2002. He comes to Rowan University on a twisted path, via the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (B.S., Psychology, Communication), the University of Arkansas (M.A., Communication), and Indiana University (Ph.D., Communication and Culture).
Dr. Schowalter teaches Mass Media and Their Influences, Rhetorical Theory, Rhetorical Criticism, and Senior Seminar.
His research interests include the intersections of rhetoric, visuality, memory and the popular imagination, with special interest in the rhetoric of documentary imagery.
Dr. Maria Simone, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Temple University
Phone: 856-256-4500 X3155
Email: simone@rowan.edu
A southern New Jersey native, Maria Simone found her niche when she began teaching in 1996. She joined the Department of Communication Studies in Fall of 2004. In 1995, she earned a B.A. from Stockton College in Literature, going on to receive her master's degree from the University of North Texas in Rhetoric and Performance Studies. In 2006, Dr. Simone completed her Ph.D. from Temple University.
Dr. Simone teaches a collection of courses, including Political Communication, Mass Media and Their Influences, Communication Theory, Introduction to Communication Studies, Public Speaking, and Public Speaking for the Reticent Student. She has recently taught a Senior Seminar focusing on news coverage of political campaigns. Additionally, she serves as the Course Director for Public Speaking.
Dr. Simone's primary research agenda explores media and democracy through a focused emphasis on a participatory civic culture. This research agenda leads to examinations of the mediated public sphere, and the role of civic engagement in policy decision-making. She has published articles that look at the theoretical foundations of the public interest in media policy, citizen activists uses of the internet for achieving their objectives, and the ways in which governments rhetorically frame surveillance to gain compliance from citizens. She is currently investigating participatory and social networking media, such as YouTube and Facebook, and the ways in which this technology impacts citizen deliberation in the public sphere.
Dr. Edward Streb, Professor, Chair, Ph.D., Northwestern University
Phone: 856-256-4243
Email: streb@rowan.edu
Ed Streb received his B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University. He has taught full time at the college level since 1974, first at SUNY Geneseo, and since 1979 at Glassboro/Rowan.
While he has taught a variety of subjects at Rowan, he is best known for his course in Persuasion and Social Influence. As part of the research for his course, Dr. Streb spent a day visiting the headquarters of the National Enquirer, and an entire semester working at Marvel Comics in New York City. In 2005, he became the first American educator to participate in the International Council of Shopping Center's Study Tour of U.S. Shopping Malls. His work in the area of persuasion and popular culture has been presented at numerous national conferences, covered in a variety of publications, and was featured on the nationally televised CNBC program, "Steals And Deals." His recent seminar on the shopping center industry was profiled in such publications as the Chronicle of Higher Education and Shopping Centers Today. Additionally, Streb has been a guest on numerous radio and television programs, including London's BBC Radio, discussing everything from supermarket tabloids to presidential debates.
Dr. Streb served as speech writer for former Rowan University President Herman James, as the first Chair of Rowan's Department of Communication Studies, and as President of the Rowan University Senate. Since 1993 he has been Rowan's NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative. From January 2003 until January 2004, he was President of the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives Association.
In addition to Persuasion and Social Influence, Dr. Streb teaches Advanced Public Speaking, Argumentation & Debate, Seminar in Communication Studies, and Rhetorical Criticism. His research focuses on the persuasive aspects of popular culture, especially shopping malls, comic books, and supermarket tabloids.
