JESSICA MERTURI
Staff Writer
After several months, even years, of searching, the Communication Division is welcoming three new professors to its department. Dr. Valerie Terry, Dr. Keli Finnerty and Dr. Sarah Stone-Watt will begin teaching in the Fall of 2007, according to Dr. Robert C. Chandler, chair of the Communication Division.
The recent search for the three tenure-track positions began in August of 2006. Turnover as well as an increase in student enrollment in certain programs opened positions for an assistant professor of public relations and two assistant professors of communication, specifically a director of Forensics and Quantitative Research Methods needed to be filled, according to Chandler, a member of the search committee.
The search committee sought exceptional teachers and scholars, who would serve the college, their discipline and Pepperdine’s Christian mission, according to Chandler.
“These three [individuals] represent the best faculty in the country in their areas, and we are very pleased that they are joining our professional family,” Chandler said.
Terry will join the Communication Division as assistant professor of Public Relations after more than three years of searching. Terry comes to Pepperdine from the School of Journalism and Communication at Texas State University. She said this will be her first time teaching at a Christian university.
“I believe God has brought me to this time and place and that all the experiences I’ve had prior to this one is extraordinary preparation for work he wants me to do now,” Terry said.
While she said she hopes to be a positive witness and influence on young Christian students who are just starting their journey through life, Terry said she is also excited to make contributions to the development of the public relations curriculum and student involvement.
Terry, who won a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Kazakhstan, said she will integrate her interest in international and cross-cultural issues with the course.
Finnerty will join Pepperdine next fall as an assistant professor of communication and will be teaching Introduction to Communication Research and Communication Theory to undergraduate students and Quantitative Research Methods to graduate students.
Finnerty is finishing her doctorate in communication at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she teaches basic courses in communication.
Her research is on the effects of media on adolescents, college students and families. Specifically, her dissertation research examines the effects of sexual content in television media on the attitudes and behaviors of college students.
Finnerty said her findings, which indicate that the media heavily influences the mindset of students, have furthered her desire to teach students to analyze messages in the media and understand their effects.
“My aim is to lead young people toward wisdom and maturity, enabling them to be able to live joyful, full lives,” Finnerty said.
The third new professor is Sarah Stone-Watt as an assistant professor of communication and director of forensics.
Debate has been a long-time interest of Stone-Watt’s. She received a bachelor’s degree in Rhetorical Studies at California State University Long Beach, where she also participated in forensics events and was captain of the policy debate squad.
During her graduate years at the University of Wyoming, Stone-Watt coached the debate team and studied the rhetoric of anti-rape and anti-domestic violence movements.
Stone-Watt serves as an assistant coach for the debate team at Marist College, while simultaneously working toward her doctorate in Communication Arts and Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation is focused on how the press portrayed women in the 1965 Watts riot.
Stone-Watt will be teaching Message Creation and Effects and Media Impact and U.S. Minorities. She said she strives to teach students how to “argue for what they believe in while constantly considering the beliefs and values other than their own.”
Sue Peterson, the current director of speech and debate who will be assistant director next year, said she is excited to work with each of these professors because their research and their ideas for their classes are unique and interesting. Peterson was also a member of the search committee.
“Each of these women brings a strong academic background as well as a strong commitment to teaching/student relations, which I think is what makes Pepperdine such a quality place of higher education,” Peterson said.
03-22-2007