Professor Lasher 107 740.597.2783

Education:

Ph.D.  Speech Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1986.

Traveling Scholar, Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 1983.

M.A.    Speech Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1982.

B.A.    With Distinction in Speech, University of Connecticut at Storrs, 1976.

Professional Experience:

9/08-                Professor, School of Communication Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH

8/03 – 6/08      Professor, Department of Communication, Purdue University at West Lafayette, IN

1/ 04 – 5/04     Visiting Professor, Consortium International University, Paderno del Grappa, TV  Italy

8/92 – 7/03      Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Purdue University

8/86 – 7/92      Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Purdue University

8/84 – 7/86      Lecturer, Department of Speech Communication, Indiana University at Bloomington.

 

Research:

I am interested in communication, uncertainty and values, and particularly the social construction ofuncertainty and the profound values associated with health and illness. My work emphasizes variation in the meanings of uncertainty (I have developed atypology that encompasses many, substantially different ontological andepistemological forms of uncertainty), the dynamic relationship betweenuncertainty/expectations and values, the communicative constitution of ambivalence, and the construction of possibility andimpossibility. My work has included collaborative studies of messages relatedto advance care planning in the context of dialysis, breast cancer screening and social support in both popular and scientificliteratures and in interpersonal interaction; uncertainty and value in illnessexplanation; coping with uncertainty in pre- and perinatal care, and ongoingstudies of the social construction of bioterrorism and other risks. I have also begun to studyreligious wisdom traditions related to health, illness, and suffering.

Teaching:

I teach a variety of courses in communication theory, but my main teaching interest is in the area of health communication, where I teaches introductory and various advanced seminars. This Fall quarter I am teaching a graduate seminar on the social construction of risk.

Awards and Honors:

2007    Lead Scholar-Mentor, Applied Communication Theory and Research Section, Doctoral Honors Seminar Co-Sponsored by the National Communication Association and University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.

2007    Distinguished Article Award, Health Communication Division, National Communication Association (for Babrow, 1992, Communication and problematic integration, Communication Theory, 2, 95-130).

2007    Top Four Paper, Spiritual Communication Division, National Communication Association.

2006    Visiting Scholar, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI.

2005-2007  Anne and Charles Redding Faculty Fellow, Department of Communication, Purdue University.

2005    Invited Scholar-Mentor, Communication Theory and Research Section, Doctoral Honors Seminar Co-Sponsored by the National Communication Association and University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.

2004    Director of MA thesis (student E. A. Buenger) receiving the annual National Communication Association/International Communication Association Health Communication Division Thesis of the Year Award.

2003    Rose B. Johnson Article Award for best article published in the Southern Communication Journal, Volume 68, 2003 (with Carol B. Mills).

2003    Charles H. Woolbert Research Award, National Communication Association. For a publication that “has stood the test of time and has become a stimulus for new conceptualizations of communication phenomena” (for Babrow, 1992, Communication and problematic integration, Communication Theory, 2, 95-130).

2001    Top Three Paper, Health Communication Division, National Communication Association (with Marifran Mattson).

1999    Top Three Paper, Health Communication Division, International Communication Association (with Kim Kline).

1996    Nominated for Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA.

1991    Ranked number 20 (out of 686) in a list of the most productive mass communication researchers in the U.S.A. during the years 1984-1989.  Source:  Vincent, R. C. (1991).  Telecommunications Research Productivity of U.S. Communication Programs:  1984-1989.  Journalism Quarterly, 68, 840-851.

1989    Top-rated competitive paper, Health Communication Commission, Speech Communication Association (with D. Black & S. Tiffany).

1983    Top Three Paper, Health Communication Division, Eastern Communication Association (with C. Kasch).

1983    Top Three Paper, Mass Communication Division, Speech Communication Association (with C. Kasch).

1983    Named to "List of Teachers Ranked Excellent by Their Students," University of Illinois.

1982-1984 (summer) University Fellow, University of Illinois.

1976    B.A. Degree with Distinction, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.