Stephenson J. Beck, PhD

Dr. Joann Keyton has asked me to join her as a contributing author for her well known Communication Research textbook. I'm very excited to be part of it! The new version is coming out in January, and then we will be coauthors for future editions. This is a great book that I use in research methods coursework, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

My colleagues (Joe Allen, University of Utah and Emily Paskewitz, University of Tennessee) and I received a top paper award at NCA, Group Communication Division. The award is for our study investigating how individual and organizational factors work together (think structuration) to influence meeting participation. The combined influence can change punctuality norms and role identity.

More research on our research team's never ending quest to investigate why people always assume the worst when they say other on a phone in meetings.

We had a receptive audience for my presentation (with co-authors Emily Paskewitz and Joe Allen) on how people pretend to participate in meetings.

My colleagues, Dr. Emily Paskewitz from the University of Tennessee and Dr. Joe Allen from the University of Utah, and I have published a theoretical framework for how meeting members participate in meetings. We juxtapose impression management and resource conservation literature to create five meeting participation types: Full Participation, Pretend Participation, Token Legitimacy, On/Off Participation, and Nonparticipation. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2041

I was awarded an ERASMUS+ grant (European equivalent to US Fulbright program) to spend a week in Babes Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania. I had a great time! Not only did I get to enjoy some beautiful sites and meals in Transylvania, but I also was able to teach a graduate class based on my research in conflict and group communication.

As our university is undergoing transformative change, I've been asked to serve as Interim Dean during 2023.

Today I sent the final page proofs back to the publisher, and we are done. What a great feeling. Very grateful for the 62 authors that...

Do you try to subtle use your phones during meeting? Do people notice? Do people care? Our research says yes! Read my most recent article...

A second article from Dr. DeSutter and myself on the role of special education professional in running the trickiest meeting of them all...