Department of Communication Studies

Dr. Karen J. Ellison, Assistant Professor, teaches courses in public relations.  Karen earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle, and her B.A. from Boise State University in Idaho.  She taught courses in communication theory, language, gender and skills courses such as public speaking at the University of California in Davis, CA for ten years.  Most recently Karen has worked in the private sector as a regulatory affairs specialist and public relations executive in the telecommunications industry.  Karen joins the faculty Fall of 2007.  Karen enjoys the outdoors and flying – she is a private pilot and owns a small antique aircraft. 

Dr. Kelli L. Fellows, Assistant Professor,  will begin her tenure-track assistant professor position in the Department of Communication Studies in fall 2007. Dr. Fellows received her BA in public relations and MS in speech communication from the University of Southern Mississippi, and PhD from the University of Georgia. Her dissertation, funded by the University of Georgia’s Graduate Dean’s Research Award, is entitled “Deconstructing the Perfect Identity: Exploring the Existence and Role of Smoker Identity in Cognitive Processing of Smoking Cessation Messages.” The dissertation develops a quantitative measure of smoker identity and tests the identity’s impact on cessation message processing. Two-time recipient of the Robert N. Bostrom Young Scholar Award from the Southern States Communication Association, Dr. Fellows’ publications focus on the intersection of health and identity. Her research interests center around tobacco cessation, tobacco document research, and risk and crisis communication.