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NYSCA 2010 Conference, October 22-24
Bios for Special Guest Speakers
We have two terrific keynote speakers who will be addressing the conference theme of Communication Matters (?). Our Friday night keynote will be Dr. Donal Carbaugh. Dr. Carbaugh is Professor of Communication, Chair of the International Studies Council (2004-present), and past Co-Chair of the Five College Committee on Native American Indian Studies (2003-2004) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 2007-2008, he was Fulbright's Distinguished Professor and Bicentennial Chair of North American Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He serves as a Charter member of a United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research Advisory Group which is focused on new ways of conducting Security Needs Assessments. He has been elected Chair of the International Communication Association's and the National Communication Association's Language and Social Interaction Division, and the National Communication Association's International and Intercultural Communication Division. His general interests focus upon cultural philosophies of communication, identity, and more specifically, the ways culturally distinctive practices get woven into international and intercultural interactions. His studies focus upon Native American, popular American, Russian, and Finnish communication practices, with special attention to the relationship between language use, culture, spirit, and nature. His published research has appeared in many major academic journals, in several countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, and Russia, in several languages. His most recent authored book, Cultures in Conversation, was designated the Outstanding Book of the Year by the International and Intercultural Communication Division of the National Communication Association. His first book, Talking American: Cultural Discourses on DONAHUE, was identified as "a favorite book of the past 25 years" in Contemporary Sociology by former president of the American Sociological Association, William Gamson. His edited volume, Cultural Communication and Intercultural Contact, received the National Communication Association's Award for Distinguished Scholarship in International and Intercultural Communication.
Our Saturday night keynote will be Dr. Lawrence (Larry) R. Frey. Dr. Frey is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His teaching and research focus on applied communication (communication activism for social justice, communication and community studies, and health communication), group communication, and research methods (both qualitative and quantitative). His work seeks to (a) understand how participation in collective communicative practices (especially by those who are underresourced and marginalized) makes a difference in people's individual, relational, and collective lives; and (b) articulate and promote a perspective of communication scholarship that involves scholars intervening into discourses to promote social justice. He is the author, co-author, or editor of 15 books (including the recent 2-volume set on Communication Activism, Routledge Handbook of Applied Communication Research, The Fragile Community: Living Together with AIDS, Group Communication in Context: Studies of Bona Fide Groups, Group Communication in Context: Studies of Natural Groups, Facilitating Group Communication in Context Vols. 1 and 2), 3 special journal issues, and approximately 70 journal articles and book chapters, and he is the recipient of 14 awards for scholarship, including the 2000 Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship from the National Communication Association. He is a past president of the Central States Communication Association and a recipient of the Outstanding Young Teacher Award from that organization, as well as a recipient of the Master Teacher Award from the Communication and Instruction Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association.
In addition to our wonderful keynote speakers, Dr. Kathleen LeBesco will speak at a special lunchtime plenary session on Saturday. The tentative title of her talk is Why Our Communication About Food Matters. Dr. LeBesco is Professor of Communication Arts and Distinguished Chair at Marymount Manhattan College, where she also coordinates the minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies and directs the Learning Communities Program. She is the author of Revolting Bodies? The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity, co-author of the forthcoming Culinary Capital, and co-editor of Bodies Out of Bounds? Fatness and Transgression, Edible Ideologies: Representing Food and Meaning, The Drag King Anthology, and special issues of The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies on the teacher's body and Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory on excess. She has published over 25 additional journal articles and book chapters on topics including food and popular culture, fat activism, disability and representation, working class identity, ethnographic research methods, and queer politics. LeBesco is a frequent media commentator, featured in The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bitch, The Washington Post Magazine, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Der Spiegel, and The Globe and Mail, as well as on NBC's The Today Show and National Public Radio. She has served as the Chair of the Disability Issues Caucus for the National Communication Association, and Book Review Editor for Disability Studies Quarterly. LeBesco has received multiple grants from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. She is currently writing, producing and directing a documentary film titled “Fat Panic! Health, Morality and the 'Obesity Epidemic'.”
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