Fall 2024 Lunch Box Talks:
“The Multidisciplinary Study of Communication to Promote Public Health” with Dr. Daniel Totzkay, Assistant Professor Communication Studies
September 18th, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Hodges Hall 434, Zoom option available
Dr. Totzkay studies the nature of and reaction to health and risk communication messages. This includes communication to change health and risk behavior, the design and evaluation of health and risk communication interventions, improving healthcare access, and promoting health equity with strategic communication activities. His research has focused on vaccination, cancer control, rural health, and women’s health, but he has broad interests in various prosocial or public interest topics. Overall, Dr. Totzkay's research aims to address how a communicative study of social influence can be better applied to matters of the public interest, as well as how communication theory can be better refined and extended to study social influence and behavior change processes.
“Appalachia Studies Pop-Up: Breaking Down the VP Debate” with Dr. Jessica Wilkerson, Associate Professor, Department of History; Dr. Erin Brock Carlson, Assistant Professor, Department of English; and Dr. Sam Workman, Director, Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs.
October 2nd, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Hodges 434, Zoom option available
Dr. Wilkerson’s research and teaching explores questions of political economy and social change in the twentieth-century South and Appalachia. She is currently interested in exploring—and countering—big narratives: that of Appalachia and how it intersects with ideas of race and gender; and the mainstream history of the modern American women’s movement.
Erin Brock Carlson’s research centers the relationships between place, technology, and power, focusing on how communities work together to address complex public problems through communication and community organizing. She uses community-based and participatory approaches in her research.
Sam Workman is a professor of political science and Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs in the John D. "Jay" Rockefeller School of Policy and Politics at West Virginia University. As a political scientist and statistician by training, his previous work has addressed public policy, regulation, and how governments use information. Workman's area of expertise is constructing large data infrastructures to answer fundamental questions about public policy across time and space. He is a member of the West Virginia Economic Development Council and the Consortium for University Public Service Organizations.
“John Dewey: Philosopher of Democracy in Education” with Dr. Sam F. Stack, Professor
in the College of Applied Human Sciences
November 13th, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Hodges 434, Zoom option available
Dr. Sam F. Stack Jr. is currently the Chester E. and Helen B. Derrick Teacher Education Endowed Professor. His research focuses on the history of progressive education, the thought and application of John Dewey’s philosophy, community and community schools, educational biography, teacher education, Appalachian studies and democratic theory.