The Department of Communication Studies invites all faculty and staff to attend Valerie Maria Isabella Rathmann’s virtual thesis defense on Friday, September 9, from 9 a.m.–11 a.m. via Zoom. Valerie’s thesis, “What is Wrong with You?”: Culturally-Shaped Interpretations of Professional Identity in International Organizations is a qualitative study of professionals working in international organizations. Her study found that for participants in international organizations, a “professional identity” serves as an ideological belief system performed through different communication practices. The study contributes to research by demonstrating how professional identity is more than simply the acquisition of traits, values, or competencies, but is a socially constructed sense of self. This study illustrates how participants construct this sense of self by identifying primarily with their national culture creating tensions in international organizations. These moments of tension emerge when different, symbolic understandings of professional identity clash together and are made visible through discourse.
If you would like to attend this thesis defense, please contact Natalie Nelson-Marsh at nelsonma@up.edu for a Zoom invite.
The Department of Communication Studies invites all faculty and staff to attend Carly M. Volkmer’s virtual thesis defense on May 1 from 12:30-2 p.m. via Zoom. Carly her thesis, An Empirical (Re)Exploration of Leadership in a Nonprofit: Understanding Leadership as a Perspective and a Practice. Her qualitative study of a nonprofit argues that leadership can be a mechanism for creating an inclusive and diverse culture. She illustrates how organizational participants engage in everyday routine organizing processes that create inclusive cultural assumptions that then lend to constituting leadership as collective agency or a collective ability to act, act for, and act with others toward a purpose.
After 22 years of exemplary cheerful service, Carol Bruce is retiring from her position as office manager and de facto den mother for the mathematics and communication studies office. A farewell party for Carol will take place on Thursday, June 20, from 3 to 5 p.m., in the Pilot House. All are invited to come by and wish Carol well and thank her for all she has done as a faithful University of Portland employee.
