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  • CRD 893 - 012
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Dr. William J Kinsella

Picture of Dr. William J Kinsella

Associate Professor

Biography

Dr. Kinsella's research and teaching address the overlapping areas of organizational communication, environmental communication, rhetoric of science and technology, and rhetoric of public policy. He views these areas through an interpretive perspective based in critical theory, phenomenology, rhetoric, and discourse studies. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics (Manhattan College), pursued graduate studies in astronomy and physics (New Mexico State University) and worked as a science educator before completing his master's and doctoral degrees in Communication at Rutgers University. He taught at Ocean County College (NJ), Richard Stockton State College (NJ), and Lewis & Clark College (OR) before joining the Communication faculty at NC State in 2004. He serves as Director of the University's interdisciplinary program in Science, Technology & Society and as a faculty member in the interdisciplinary programs in Communication, Rhetoric & Digital Media and Environmental Sciences. During the Spring 2010 semester he was U.S. Fulbright Scholar at the Institute for Nuclear Energy and Energy Systems, University of Stuttgart, Germany. His work on nuclear energy communication has encompassed the areas of nuclear fusion, environmental cleanup across the US nuclear weapons complex, and commercial nuclear energy in US and global contexts.

Dr. Kinsella's work has received two Article of the Year awards from the National Communication Association's Organizational Communication Division (2000, 2005), two Christine L. Oravec research awards from the Association's Environmental Communication Division (2006, 2008), and the Association’s Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Dissertation Award (1998). He serves on the editorial boards of the Atlantic Journal of Communication, the KB Journal, and Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, and co-directed the Seventh Biennial Conference on Communication and the Environment and the Second Annual Research Symposium on Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media. He served as President of the National Communication Association’s Environmental Communication Division during 2009-2010.

Interests

  • Public discourses on issues with scientific/technical dimensions, especially in energy and environmental contexts
  • Interactions among policy makers, regulatory agencies, technical communities, and public stakeholder communities
  • Knowledge production across disciplinary, institutional, social, and cultural contexts
  • Communication and interdisciplinary collboration in scientific research and technology development settings

Projects

  • Public discourses of nuclear energy in US and global contexts
  • Communicative dimensions of nuclear energy policy making and regulation
  • Critical perspectives on risk analysis and risk communication
  • Emerging genetic engineering technologies

Funded Research

  • Co-Principal Investigator, “Genetic Engineering and Society: Exploring the Case of Transgenic Pests." Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program (IGERT), National Science Foundation
  • U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award, 2010, “Nuclear Energy in Germany: Institutional, Political, and Public Communication in a Changing Social Context." Research and lecturing based at University of Stuttgart, Germany. 

Publications

Articles in academic journals including:

  • Catalan Journal of Communication and Cultural Studies
  • Communication Monographs
  • Communication Yearbook
  • Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture
  • Environmental Communication Yearbook
  • Management Communication Quarterly
  • New Jersey Journal of Communication
  • Qualitative Research Reports in Communication
  • Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  • Science as Culture
  • Technical Communication Quarterly
  • Technikfolgenabschätzung: Theorie und Praxis (Technology Assessment: Theory and Practice)

Chapters in four academic books; essays in five academic reference volumes.

Co-editor, Nuclear Legacies: Communication, Controversy, and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex (Lexington Books, 2007/2008).

Responsibilities