Deanna P. Dannels
Director of Graduate Teaching Assistant Development
Associate Director, Campus Writing and Speaking Program
and Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Utah, 1999

EMAIL . VITA . CAMPUS WRITING AND SPEAKING PROGRAM

Dr. Deanna P. Dannels is Associate Professor of Communication, Basic Course Director in Communication and Assistant Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University. Dr. Dannels came to NC State from the University of Utah, where she was the recipient of a campus-wide research grant for her cross-curricular work, as well a College of Humanities award for teaching excellence in the Humanities. At NC State, she is currently co-PI on a $500,000 NSF grant to incorporate writing, speaking, and teamwork in multidisciplinary design teams. She has also been awarded a 2-year instructional grant to facilitate outcomes-based assessment of the public speaking curriculum in the Department of Communication.

Dr. Dannels’ current research explores theoretical and pedagogical frameworks for communication across the curriculum and protocols for designing, implementing and assessing oral communication within the disciplines. She has published in areas of composition, teaching and learning, engineering education, business and technical communication, oral communication genres, and professional identity construction. One of her recent publications: “Time to Speak Up: A Theoretical Framework of Situated Pedagogy and Practice for Communication Across the Curriculum” explores ways in which cross-curricular programs can address discipline-specific practices of oral communication.

Within the Department of Communication, Dr. Dannels is Basic Course Director for COM 110 and GTA Coordinator. In this role, she is responsible for implementing a developmental TA training and development program that includes coursework on pedagogy and instructional design, intensive training on teaching public speaking, and weekly development meetings on current GTA teaching issues. Dr. Dannels is also the Assistant Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at NC State, which is engaged in a campus-wide, outcome-driven effort to provide students with writing and speaking experiences that improve competence in professional, academic, and civic contexts. Her cross-curricular work includes experience with faculty development, TA training, curricular revision, undergraduate consulting and instructional design. In her work with the Writing and Speaking Program, Dr. Dannels has designed and facilitated several campus-wide and department-specific workshops.

Dr. Dannels is consistently sought after as a workshop facilitator and conference presenter, specifically for her focus on incorporating oral communication in technical disciplines such as science, math, design, and engineering. She is the current director of the National Communication Association’s Short Course on Communication Across the Curriculum and is the Guest Editor of a special issue of Language and Learning in the Disciplines focused specifically on oral communication in the disciplines.