I am an assistant professor in the Linguistics and English Language department at Brigham Young University, where I teach courses in editing and publishing. My primary goal in teaching is to help my students make practical connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they will do in the workplace after graduation. I build my class discussions on my own professional experience and the experience of my students to show how good professional communication can help or hurt a business. I also use simulations, case studies, and live assignments to help my students experience elements of the workplace and develop professional practices.
My research supports my interest in teaching professional communication. I study how communication actually works in the professional world, from how a manager persuades employees to accept change to how an individual uses interactive online tools to make decisions. Currently I have several research projects in progress, including articles onuser/designer agency in interactive data displays, defining rhetorical myth in the workplace, managing organizational change through rhetorical myth, preparing accounting students to give effective professional presentations, teaching technical communication online using a workplace simulation, and revisioning the pedagogy of business communication.